Practice 15 · Meeting Anger
From Lesson 11: You Are Not the One Who Is Suffering · Replaces the guided section “Exploring Our Nature: An In-Depth Inquiry”. In the book: ▶ Practice 15 — pathtounknowing.com/practice15 [QR]
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Founding readers receive every recording as it is released. Until then, the full practice is below, exactly as it appears in the book.
Let us make a practice of it together. Sit up comfortably, but without tension, and let your body relax into stillness. Take a deep breath, as though you were arriving all the way here, letting the noise of the day be forgotten a little.
Now, very tenderly focus your mind on your breath. There is no need to regulate it. Just notice:
- Every breath has an apparent start.
- It hovers awhile.
- Then it goes away, letting another one come in.
The breath continues to vary, but observe this: you, the one who has knowledge of the breath, are unchanging.
Rest in this breathing awareness for five minutes.
Bringing Up Anger
Now we can speak of something more difficult: anger. Remember some incident that fanned this fire in you. Maybe:
- A treacherous injury.
- An unjust work situation.
- An occasion when you felt unacknowledged or unrecognized.
Just feel it a moment. Take note of the entire system reaction:
- The body contracts.
- The breath quickens.
- You feel heat in your chest or face.
- Thoughts fly in, stinging and cutting.
Here is anger in its entirety.
Key Investigation
Now, see how this anger behaves up close. Almost like a scientist observing a living specimen:
- Is the anger always here, or did it just now occur?
- Is it constant, or does it change, one moment to another?
- What is the result of just looking at it without trying to fuel it?
And observe the reply of your mind:
- What does it want to do with this anger?
- Attack? Defend? Escape?
- How does it try to control or express it?
Look back on your history:
- How have you behaved when anger got control of you?
- Were the actions really beneficial?
- Or did they frequently leave more pain?
The Crucial Question
And now ask: Who am I, concerning this anger? Am I the anger, rising and falling, hot and dim? Or am I the one who sees anger come, and turn, and vanish?
Remain with this question. Look directly.
Letting Go
Now, let the anger melt, like smoke in the air. When anger passes, what is left? Did you slip away with it? Or do you remain: knowing, stable, unchanged?
See: you have not departed. Awareness remains, subtle, even in the absence of anger.
A New Understanding
Suppose this were in everyday life:
- In a relationship, could you feel anger escalating, yet decide to respond calmly rather than react?
- At work, could you see the rush of irritation, but still let your deeds serve the true end?
- During conflict, can you hold the awareness that you are not the anger, and allow it to flow without it making you?
This is freedom:
- To feel anger without being anger.
- To allow emotion to rise and yet not be overthrown.
- To remain as the unchanging awareness in which all states come and go.
And, with a final breath, draw the air through you in a refreshing wave. When you are ready, you may open your eyes.