Gautama Buddha once explained how to handle insult and maintain compassion. One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him. "You have no right to teach others," he shouted. "You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake." Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead, he asked the young man, "Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?" The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, "It would belong to me, because I bought the gift."
Gautama Buddha said with a smile, "That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself." Buddha looked into the eyes of the guy. Buddha’s eyelids were hung with compassion and concern. He continued, "If you want to stop hurting yourself, you must get rid of your anger and become loving instead. When you hate others, you yourself become unhappy. But when you love others, everyone is happy." His words changed the young man. Later we see him following the great master.
Redford Williams and Virginia Williams together have presented a deep study on anger – ‘Anger Kills’. The very title tells us how they have concluded their years long research. Modern vision on anger but varies: express, repress, suppress..…all are argued for. In medical history, there is a strange story of a child falling dead while being breast-fed. Later investigations proved that the feeding mother was burning with anger towards her husband. The anger within her could change her body chemistry so drastically, producing deadly hormones all over. Researches have shown that no matter how much we exercise or eat correctly, we are putting ourselves at risk whenever we are angry. While in anger, we experience muscle tension, grinding of teeth, higher blood pressure, chest pains, excessive sweating and severe headaches. This is because all the energy on stock rushes forward to maintain our being (the major portion is consumed by the heart) - mostly leaving only the very necessary for critical mechanisms like breathing and thinking. Our regret on the words used and deeds done are the best example. It happens because we haven’t enough energy to think appropriately.
One of the major effects anger has on the body is the release of chemicals and hormones, primarily the adrenaline and non-adrenaline. Aura readers say that black darts go out random from our bioenergy field, when we are angry. That is why nobody feels comfortable near an angry. Diseases like peptic ulcers, constipation, diarrhea, intestinal cramping, hiccups, chronic indigestion, heart attacks, strokes, kidney problems, obesity, and frequent colds are found to be the results of prolonged anger. Diseases like rashes, hives, warts, eczema and acne are mostly reserved for those holding anger within. Suppressed anger can also have psychological effects, causing depression, eating disorders, addictions to drug and alcohol, nightmares, insomnia and self-destructive behaviours. Do you want to control your anger? There are many techniques that might help you; the easiest but is taking a deep slow breath and counting 1 to 10 or 10 to 1. If this is a physical solution with limited results; absolute forgiveness but is a spiritual panacea that completely heals. It is up to us to explore within for hidden marks of anger and thus clean the spirit from ‘causes’ that might spread havoc physically.
