aggression

When we are not running after certain desirable things, the Buddha discovered, we are prone to running away from the things we do not want [but which come our way nonetheless].
This also leads to a profound state of unhappiness.

We become exhausted and worn down by seemingly always meeting the very circumstances we wish to avoid. A new negative pattern, a strong habitual tendency, is born within our fragile ego-mind. As usual, we blow it out of all proportion and fixate onto it.

Now we dwell in a paranoid state of dreading that which may never even come our way. We become worriers, ever-watchful, guarding our ego-selves against the unwanted dreaded bogey-man.

I expend precious energy avoiding like the plague anything and everything I feel may possibly bring me suffering. And, if my repulsive scowls and growls don’t ward off life’s unwanted visitors, woe betide all the uninvited undesirables that dare to cross my path.

Aggression, according to the Buddha, is one of humankind’s most profound obstacles to uncovering our True Nature. It is never helpful. It can only lead to a negative outcome. Reacting aggressively always makes things worse and is a hard habit to break.

For this reason, the Buddha’s core teachings were dedicated to cutting through aggression. Each one of us can and must eventually achieve this by disarming, pacifying and stabilising ourselves. Ultimately, the teaching goes, I personally must make a solemn vow to bring about world peace and harmony – starting with me.

The way of the Buddha is perhaps the most challenging assault on the ego. It goes against all that we believe in.

In our current way of seeing things we have a primary duty of self-preservation and self-defense. We practise fight or flight, just like our animal cousins. But we are not merely animals. Fear should not dominate our lives like that.

We must learn the crucial difference between my ego and my true self.

Leading by example, I must learn to observe my body, speech and mind.
I must learn to perfect these methods of mindfulness, and from moment to moment I will consciously work towards total non-violence.
The good news is that this sacred goal is actually achievable. Many saints, and masters, and ordinary people like you and me have done it.
It is not even a question of becoming a Buddhist.

As human beings, we must all learn to go way beneath the apparently crazy, chaotic, and almost unnatural surface energy of the mind. We must learn to go deep into the heart of the enlightened mind, the Natural Mind. Once we connect with the stability of our Core Being, we tap into the limitless [and largely unused] resources there.

Then everything is possible! Happiness. Peace of mind. Non-violence. Unconditional love.

Revealing our True Nature, according to the deepest teachings of the Buddha, is not about turning our being into something new – something it was not beforehand. Neither is it a kind of spiritual evolution… becoming enlightened. The most profound, ultimate truth is that we have always been enlightened. There has never been a single nano-second when we were not already awake - just like the Buddha.

However, the Natural Mind, our Buddha Nature, is temporarily obscured. At the moment, we are unable to perceive its luminous primordial purity. It’s as if our Core Being is covered up, like a dust sheet over a priceless antique, or a precious wish-fulfilling jewel that has become dull, smeared with the darkest slime, the filth of countless lifetimes of neglect and disuse.

In our case, the two obscurations that prevent our Natural Mind from spontaneously radiating benefit for all beings, are Addiction and Aggression, also known as Attachment and Aversion.
Whatever we call these pair, they are ruining our lives! Although we claim not to want suffering, we run headlong towards it. We experience suffering acutely, yet we do nothing about its causes.
Our state of mind is the key to our lasting happiness.

When I react to the world with aggression, I reduce myself to the level of a trapped animal or some kind of caveman. If only I could remember my true nature - how it could never ultimately be harmed, in any way whatsoever. My view of life would be so different.

Maybe I could finally realise a few much-needed home truths:

There’s more to me than meets the eye.

Aggression makes things worse.

The more stable I am, the happier I become.

Ultimately, there is nothing to fear.