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34 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

then on, as our mind reacts to the object, influenced by all our accumulated habits
and past experiences, the whole process is entirely subjective. So, when our mind is
full of anger, the whole world seems to be a hell realm. But when our mind is peaceful,
free from any clinging or fixation, we will experience everything as primordially pure.
Thus, it is said that while the Buddha sees hell as a paradise, deluded beings see
paradise as the hells.

The person who has attained a broad outlook, a spacious, and a serene mind, can
easily accept and deal with any difficulty. A person who is frustrated, hyper sensitive
and easily dissatisfied will find problems and pain everywhere. Thus, it is said that
even if one is staying in a beautiful surrounding with all sense pleasures, but due to
one’s negative mental state, one will feel like one is sleeping on a thorny bed.

The first step is to visualize the person who makes you angry. Contemplate how
forcefully your own anger arises. Then think of how the other person is under the
control of delusion which is equally strong and is acting out of fear, confusion, and so
on. In some cases, people are so obsessed with their strong anger, attachment, and
ignorance that they commit suicide. If these delusions can drive a person to do such
a negative action, is it surprising that he or she wishes to harm you? If he had any
control, he would certainly not wish to create the cause for future unhappiness and
conflicts by harming himself and others but will feel strong compassion for the other
person.

The second contemplation is to consider whether or not it is the nature of the other
person to inflict harm on you. If you can think of numerous instances in which the
other person has inflicted harm on you or on someone else, then you must have
been aware that it was in that person's nature to cause harm. If this is the case, it is
better to avoid dealing with that person in the first place, by not giving him or her the
opportunity to cause you harm. We need to understand the nature of the person and
deal with him or her accordingly.

On the other hand, you might conclude that it is not the nature of that person to cause
harm. In this case, the third contemplation is to think of the person's habitual good
qualities and view the disturbing incident as a temporary cloud, which will eventually
disappear without a trace. As no one is perfect, everyone will have occasional lapses
and thus there is no reason to bear a grudge over a minor matter.

The fourth contemplation is to search for the true source of your problem, developing
a perspective of interconnectedness and concluding that there is no intrinsic source.
If someone hits you with a stick, the harm arises from the contact between the stick
and your body. Why be angry with the person wielding the stick? You can also think
it is reasonable to be angry at the person who uses the stick, but again he or she is
controlled by delusions. So by that logic it is more reasonable to be angry with the
person's delusions than with the person himself. It is also appropriate to realize that,
in the past, you have inflicted similar harm to another person so that you are now