A pretty good match for Buddhism’s Three Poisons: Delusion, Hatred, and Greed.
The Buddha taught us about the Eight Sufferings in life. Birth, Aging, Sickness and Death are the first four sufferings.
1. Birth
Isn’t it painful when a child is born? The suffering already begins even before birth, as the child is able to feel the physical sensation in the womb. When a mother drinks hot soup, the fetus will find it unbearably warm. When a mother eats ice cream, the fetus will find it similarly uncomfortable. Isn’t being born painful? This is the truth of birth.
2. Ageing
Isn’t aging uncomfortable? You might wish to head out, but your legs fail you. You might wish to eat something, but your teeth fail you. Isn’t growing older a form of suffering? You are unable to do anything you wish to do.
3. Sickness
Needless to say that sickness is a form of pain and suffering.
4. Death
Death is something that everyone is afraid of and involves even more suffering. Regardless of how much wealth and fame you possess, no one can escape birth, aging, sickness and death. It is very fair and that is why they are known as the four sufferings.
5. Having to leave the one you love
When you love someone deeply but you are forced to leave the person, isn’t that miserable? Just take a look at the train stations and airports. They are the prime examples of places of farewells; “Goodbye, when will you come back?”
6. Unattainable wish
The sixth suffering is being unable to get what you wish for. If you pray very hard for something in vain, isn’t that painful? This is the most painful experience. If your prayers are always unanswered, won’t you be suffering?
7. Being with the ones you detest
The next suffering is hatred and resentment. If you are forced to interact daily with someone you dislike at work, wouldn’t you be upset? Resentment is a form of karmic grievance while hatred can be understood in context as having to see a person you loathe every day. There is a traditional Chinese idiom that says, “Enemies often cross each other’s path”.
8. Ills of the Five Yin
Finally, there is the suffering of The Five Yin. There are five things that are Yin in nature. It is an invisible working of the mind involving form, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness. What goes on in the mind is unknown to others, including your desires, love and hate towards others. When these are blazing within you, they will burn just like a fire, causing you much suffering!
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s World Buddhist Fellowship Meeting Milan, Italy，25 September 2017
Hatred is compared to an enemy. This internal enemy, this inner enemy, has no other function than causing us harm. It is our true enemy, our ultimate enemy. It has no other function than simply destroying us, both in the immediate term and in the long term.
– 14th Dalai Lama
from the book “Healing Anger: The Power Of Patience From A Buddhist Perspective”
With thanks to Just Dharma Quotes
It is said that there is no greater evil than hatred and no greater virtue than patience. While a single moment of anger destroys countless aeons of merits and leads to unmitigated suffering in the hell realms, patience towards those who harm you and the sincere wish to bring them happiness will bring you swiftly onto the path taken by all the Buddhas.
There is no better way to deal with enemies than to feel great love for them, realizing that in former lives they have been your loving parents. There is no better way to nurture your family and look after others than to practice the Dharma and dedicate to all beings the merit you thereby obtain. There is no better or more bountiful harvest than the one you sow in the soil of your faith and endeavor so that it ripens into the richness of merit and wisdom.
– Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book “The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones”
With thanks to Just Dharma Quotes
Hatred is compared to an enemy. This internal enemy, this inner enemy, has no other function than causing us harm. It is our true enemy, our ultimate enemy. It has no other function than simply destroying us, both in the immediate term and in the long term.
– 14th Dalai Lama
from the book “Healing Anger: The Power Of Patience From A Buddhist Perspective”
With thanks to Just Dharma Quotes
As the contemporary Tibetan master Chögyam Trungpa explains, ‘When we talk of ignorance, it has nothing to do with stupidity. In a way, ignorance is very intelligent, but it is an intelligence that works exclusively in one direction. That is, we react elusively to our own projections instead of simply seeing what is there.’This fundamental ignorance is linked to the lack of comprehension of reality, that is, the true nature of things, free from mental fabrications we superimpose upon it. These fabrications hollow out a gap between the way things appear to us and the way they are: we take as permanent what is ephemeral and as happiness what is usually a source of suffering – thirst for wealth, power, fame and fleeting pleasures.
We perceive the external world as totally autonomous entities to which we attribute characteristics that seem to us to belong to them by their nature. Things appear to us as intrinsically ‘pleasant’ or ‘unpleasant’ and we rigidly divide people into ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘friends or ‘enemies’, as if these were characteristics inherent to people. The ‘self’, of the ego that perceives them, seems to us equally real and concrete. This mistake gives rise to powerful reflexes of attachment and aversion, and as long as our mind remains obscured by this lack of discernment, it will fall under the sway of hatred, attachment, greed, jealousy, or pride and suffering will always be ready to appear.
– Matthieu Ricard
from the book “Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World”
It is said that there is no greater evil than hatred and no greater virtue than patience. While a single moment of anger destroys countless aeons of merits and leads to unmitigated suffering in the hell realms, patience towards those who harm you and the sincere wish to bring them happiness will bring you swiftly onto the path taken by all the Buddhas.
There is no better way to deal with enemies than to feel great love for them, realizing that in former lives they have been your loving parents. There is no better way to nurture your family and look after others than to practice the Dharma and dedicate to all beings the merit you thereby obtain. There is no better or more bountiful harvest than the one you sow in the soil of your faith and endeavor so that it ripens into the richness of merit and wisdom.
– Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book “The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones”
“Developing the nectar of compassion in our own heart is the only effective spiritual response to hatred and violence.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
“Understanding and Love are not two separate things, but only one. To develop understanding, you have to practice looking at all living beings with the eyes of compassion.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh
In this world hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, ancient and inexhaustible.
~ Buddha ~
The Dhammapada
“In this world, hate never dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, ancient and inexhaustible.” ~The Buddha
“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as One.” ~John Lennon
“It is love alone that leads to right action. What brings order in the world is to love and let love do what it will.” ~Jiddu Krishnamurti
“When we see God in each other we will be able to live in peace.” ~Mother Teresa
“Peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” -Martin Luther King Jr
“If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” -Archbishop Tutu
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” ~Albert Einstein
“Courageous people do not fear forgiving for the sake of peace.” -Nelson Mandela
“You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.”
~Mahatma Gandhi
“The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war.” ~Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
“The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire.” ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
“Peace is the only battle worth waging.”
~Albert Camus
“Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding.”
– Albert Einstein
“Peace, like war, must be waged.”
– George Clooney
“Hatred ever kills, love never dies. Such is the vast difference between the two… The duty of a human being is to diminish hatred and to promote love.” ~Mahatma Gandhi
“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
“If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.”
– John Lennon
“You have heard that it was said, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also… Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” ~Jesus
“Love courses through everything. No, love is everything. How can you say, there is no love, when nothing but love exists? All that you see has appeared because of love. All shines from love, All pulses from love, All flows from love– No, once again, All is love!” ~Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi
“Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, ‘Grow, grow.’ ” ~The Talmud
“See simplicity in the complicated, seek greatness in small things. In the Universe, the difficult things are done ss if they were easy.” ~Lao Tsu
“Peace is always beautiful.”
– Walt Whitman
SPIRITUAL WISDOM: Recognizing the Sacred in Our World
https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/spiritual-wisdom-recognizing-the-sacred-in-our-world/
In ordinary life, we are under the power of disturbing emotions such as self-importance, anger, and desire. We have no control over these emotions, so they torment us and we suffer. We are their slaves, which is unpleasant. The purpose of the Dharma is to reverse that situation and to help us master the disturbing emotions – self-cherishing, pride, desire, anger and hatred – that enslave us. Being a master is much better than being a slave. Do not lose sight of this essential point: The aim of the Dharma is to get rid of disturbing emotions, and this is the only way to attain true happiness.
~ Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche
Source: Eternal Law | Great Middle Way
greatmiddleway.wordpress.com
July 24, 2017
“He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me.”
Those who do not harbor such thoughts still their hatred.
Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world.
By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is a law eternal.
There are those who do not realize that one day we all must die.
But those who do realize this settle their quarrels.
—Buddha Shakyamuni, Udanavarga
Source: A Zen master says this is the most effective way to respond to haters – Ideapod blog
thepowerofideas.ideapod.com
May 18, 2017
If you’ve spent any time on the Internet, you’ve probably encountered a hater or two. Trolls are everywhere it seems.
But what’s the best way to respond them?
Seung Sahn Soen-sa, a Korean-born Zen Master, encountered a some harsh language directed towards him in 1975.
Seung Sahn Soen-sa’s book “Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn Soen-sa” contained many illuminating and sympathetic letters. The letters were his remarkable response to – what in modern times can be called – hate mail.
It’s a known fact that the act of hate reflect the actions of the hater and not their victim. This cynical urge to force our inner pain to take a form of aggression attracts absurd targets. And one of them was Seung Sahn Soen-sa.
“Please answer me soon, but you probably won’t, huh? Anyway, I’d like to tell you to go fuck yourself.
Respectfully, and hope to see you soon,
See Hoy
“You say that you are confused. If you keep a complete don’t-know mind, how can confusion appear? Complete don’t-know mind means cutting off all thinking. Cutting off all thinking means true emptiness. In true emptiness, there is no I to be confused and nothing to be confused about.
A kong-an is like a finger pointing at the moon. If you are attached to the finger, you don’t understand the direction, so you cannot see the moon. If you are not attached to any kong-an, then you will understand the direction. The direction is the complete don’t-know mind.
You must keep only don’t-know, always and everywhere. Then you will soon get enlightenment. But be very careful not to want enlightenment. Only keep don’t-know mind. Your situation, your condition, your opinions — throw them all away.
At the end of your letter you say, “Go fuck yourself.” These are wonderful words that you have given me, and I thank you very much. If you attain enlightenment, I will give them back to you.
Sincerely yours,
Soen-sa
Don’t feed the haters by responding back with more anger. Instead, respond with guidance, empathy and warm wit. According to Thich Nhat Hanh:
“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.”
This is similar to the advice offered from a Zen master on dealing with toxic people:
“The deeper your present moment peace gets, the easier it’ll be to react non- passionately when confronted with hostility. As this gets better, you can begin to realize more deeply just how much someone has to be suffering internally in order to have such harsh reactions. With enough insight, you can develop your empathy and compassion based off this knowledge and these also help you remain even more peaceful in the present moment.
Eventually, with enough compassion and insight on your side, you can begin to extinguish the fires of hostility by extinguishing anger with patience and understanding… It’s hard to continue treating someone harshly when they continue treating you well. In helping them relieve these feelings, you not only help them but you also help yourself, since you no longer have to deal with them as they were.”
Zen Flash 
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