Question asked by WLY
I saw rhis tiktok that was very famous (700k likes), the video itself was nothing bad, it was just a video suggesting Buddhism. Bu trhe comments were something else, they said somrthing like folloe the rules by how YOU see them or somrthing like you interpret the rules themself? Seeing those comments made me have many emotions. Anger, ego, yet at the same time I wanted to help them get out of that mindset out of kindness. I have no idea how to go about this. I feel angry at them for getting such a basic thing wrong (this anger was stupid in a way, because I was once in their shoes) and I had ego because I thought I knew more than everyone in the comment section (it may be true, but it’s still arrogant ans egotistical) so again how should I go about this?
Dear WLY,
Thank you for your question. When you study the Dharma and know more, you can have these sorts of feelings when you come across people who have their own interpretations of the Dharma, or try to interpret the Dharma by how they see it and not how it was taught. It is natural to have such feelings, so you shouldn’t feel bad about them.
The very fact that you saw and realised you were angry and that ego arose, is a good sign! It means that what you have been studying or learning has gone in, you were able to recognise those feelings when they arose and you want to do something about them!
From the side of those people, they also have their own emotions and thoughts so perhaps that is why they think in that manner. These days people ‘practise’ Buddhism for a whole host of reasons, some of them practise to simply feel good, others maybe because it’s a fad, and others because they are serious about their spiritual journey. Whatever the reasons, we should try not to judge them. Everyone has the potential to become a Buddha, hence at the very core we are all pure in nature but this innate potential is clouded by many things – emotions, delusions, etc.
From our side, such an experience is good in that you saw how your emotions affected you and more than that, you want to do something about that. There is no need to feel bad. You saw how your anger and ego work. So the question arises, how do you use this on your spiritual path? You need to work with this anger and ego by utilising it to transform your mind so you can progress. This can be done many ways, I’ll mention two.
The first is to practise humility. Yes, this means in physical interactions, but more importantly, it also means internally. Mentally. So, as it is said in the Eight Verses of Mind Transformation, “Whenever I associate with anyone, May I view myself as least of all, And, from the depths of my heart, May I cherish others as supreme!” People will always have differing thoughts then ourselves, there is no way that everyone will think the way we think or want them to think. When we practise humility, that will lessen our angry or ego.
The second method I can suggest is to use such experiences in contemplation meditations that work with the emotions of anger and ego directly. It’s a bit too complicated to explain all of that here, but you can get one of our books here which deals with contemplation/insight meditations working to overcome certain emotions (including anger/ego) : https://www.vajrasecrets.com/insightful-meditation You can use these meditations whenever you get angry or your ego comes up. I hope this helps.