How to control anger?

"In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves. " ~Buddha

Once a man came to a master, and said that he is a very angry person. He told that he become really mad and he easily lose his control. He do stupid things. He can not believe later on that he can do such nonsense. So he requested to the master to guide him how to drop his anger, how to control it.

Master took the head of the man in his hands and looked into his eyes. The man became a little uneasy, and master said, "Where is that anger? I would like to see into it".

The man laughed uneasily and said, "Right now, I am not angry. Sometimes it happens."

So the master said, "That which happens sometimes cannot be your nature. It is an accident, It comes and goes like clouds,so why to be concerned so much about the clouds? Just think of the sky which is always there."

Anger comes and goes. But the sky remains there. It never comes and goes. There is a gap between two thoughts. It never comes or goes. The clouds of anger, fear, frustration comes and goes but the sky remains the same, untouched. 

Once a warrior came to a Zen master and asked "Is there such a thing as heaven and hell?
Master asked "Who are you?"
The warrior replied "I am chief samurai to the emperor."
The master said, "You, a samurai? With a face like that, you look more like a beggar."
At this the warrior became so angry he drew his sword.
Naturally he was a chief of samurai, his pride was hurt.He forgot for what he had come to the master and he drew his sword.
Standing calmly in front of him the master said,"Here open the gates of hell."
Perceiving the master's composure, the samurai enclosed his sword and bowed.
Master then said "And here open the gates of heaven."

Anger means your ego gets hurt. Ego is just an image which you build in years. It is a kind of hypnosis. It is not real. If you don't have any self image then you will never get hurt. Having a strong self image means having great possibility of getting hurt by others.

In above story you can see that the anger of samurai disappeared within a moment when the master said, "This is the door of hell." What happened in that moment? The samurai suddenly becomes alert. The moment he becomes alert he realizes why he come to the master and he bow and the master says, "This is the door of heaven". The doors of heaven and hell are very close to each other. A small mistake and you are in the hell. And a moment of alertness and within a fraction of second you are in the heaven.

To get free from anger you don't have to go through therapies and you don't have to waste your time and money on psycho analysis. Anger is like clouds, just try to look beyond the clouds. There is sky which is always there. It is your real nature.

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