Friday 9 July 2010

What is Wrathfulness?

It a wake up call. Not a awake up call that awakens anger but one that wakes a person to new ideas and breaks their stubbornness which is stopping a situation from changing for the better. This can sometimes involve quite strong speech. Examples can be when your parents or someone you love got through to you when no one else could. Perhaps they told you off even making you feel a bit embarrassed. If you wish to benefit from a wrathful approach you might try debating people who hold a different viewpoint simply to challenge yourself. The articles here are written in that spirit. I myself challenge each viewpoint I develop strongly to check it is correct. So my articles write a challenge to each viewpoint. I'm not saying one viewpoint is right & the other is wrong. Basically if these articles help then good if not try something else. Ultimately these are all subjective experiences its about finding a setup that works & is comfortable for the majority of people. And since that involves a degree of flexibility on both sides of a stubborn stand off then both extremities need to be undermined. Its much more useful to meet in the middle than to hold at an extreme polarity as this creates concrete obstacles in a world where nothing is concrete except the truth of Dharma.

Wrathful actions are results orientated. If its not producing a good result & instead making things worse you need to review your techniques & motivation. Most people will put up with a lot from a person if they know that person loves them. When people develop a loving friendship they accept tellings off from each other. So one key to reviewing if telling off someone has gone badly is to check that person knows you love them. For example people say Geshe la has sometimes seen to be wrathful. I am certain that when he does he reminds the person how much he loves them. Or certainly the people the person being told off has harmed. Most people when they are deciding how to take your criticism base their decision on their conclusions about your motivation.

Wrath towards critiques of the tradition I say critique because the wrath is towards the viewpoint itself
Wrath towards the people making policy This article says the complete opposite of the previous. I believe we all need to change not just one extremity overcome but all extremities
The Bumbling Novice This article is wrathful in a general way towards our interaction with the Three Jewels