A man struggled with anger significantly. All his life he was angry. One day, he went to a Zen master who told him to go out to the place by the old, withered tree, a place where weary travelers passed, and offer water to those who came by. He did this, and through the years of focusing on helping others, his anger subsided.
Then one day, a traveler came by, ignored this man’s offer of water, and kept going. Instantly, this man was flooded with all his old anger. He was so overcome with rage that he shouted at the traveler, “How dare you ignore me! How dare you not even say thank you for the offer!” And still, the man ignored him. His anger was so gripping that he pulled out a gun and impulsively shot this traveler dead on the spot. The instant the man died, the old withered tree immediately came fully to life with the most beautiful flowers and leaves.
You see, the man he killed was the worst murderer the land had ever seen, and he was on his way to cause unspeakable pain to others. That is why the tree sprouted with life; it was the planet expressing joy that this terrible being could not hurt others anymore.
Now, to be sure, there are those of dogma who hear this tale and say that the angry man was wrong for disobeying fixed principles that they believe should be followed mechanically. And then there are those of knowledge – those who understand that truth is truth, and what’s right is right, even if it’s not comfortable, and even if it doesn’t fall in line with how they have been told that things “should” be. It is the latter who understand.
There is another, practical lesson here, too. Although all anger feels righteous, it is not. Sometimes, however, it is. Train yourself to discern the difference between anger feeling righteous and anger actually being righteous, and you will be led by knowledge, not dogma. If you find that all, or even most of your anger is what you believe to be righteous, then rest assured that your ego has far more control of your mind than you realize. Righteous anger is indeed real, but it is also rare.
