$JES 401 Jain Philosophy and Practice 2 Level 4 Book

Author(s): JAINA Education Committee
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

Page 90

Chapter 08 - Virtues: Kshamä, Vinay, Saralatä and Santosh
. (Forgiveness, Humility, Straightforwardness and Contentment)
The key to achieving a higher level of inner happiness is to get rid of all passions (Kashäya). The basic passions are attachment and hatred; we can subdivide them into anger, ego, deceit and greed. Nobody is free from these; and, unless checked, they build up in the individual, leading him or her to more and more destructive thoughts and behavior. It can be very hard to get rid of these unpleasant passions. It might take lifetimes and require hard spiritual effort. Even when the individual has controlled them, it is always possible to slip back. The path is still difficult and the individual must be prepared to avoid the most harmful activities: cheating, hurting others' feelings, killing, lust for material things, and so on.
Kshama (Forgiveness)
Forgiveness is a very important part of both our religion and daily life. It is an inherent quality of the soul. Forgiveness is the antithesis of anger, which contaminates the soul. To forgive is a most difficult thing to do. Therefore, it is considered a quality of brave people. It is easy to resort to anger. Anger demolishes the very foundation of love, rational thinking, and intelligence. Anger is harmful to our physical, mental, and emotional health. One's greatness is measured by his/her practice of forgiveness.
There are many reasons why people become angry. Passions of greed, ego, and deceit brings on anger. Some key ones can be listed; certain types of anger are due to: the nature of the individual (consequences of his/her past Karma); the outward approach, such as someone else considered responsible when something goes wrong; frustration, like getting stuck in a traffic jam; disappointment, such as not getting desired results; hurt feelings, when someone said or did something which was not desirable; annoyance, when one does not like certain things; harassment; jealousy; ego; greed; lack of knowledge that forgiveness and tolerance are the best responses; and consideration that forgiveness is weakness.
Effect of Anger
Anger makes one forget about the difference between good and bad, and reacts blindly without discretion. Anger ruins relationships and love in a split second. Some anger causes violence. Some anger starts verbal war. Anger can be classified as follows: like a line in water, that goes away quickly; like a line in sand, that takes a little while to go away; like a line on a muddy road, that requires more time before it goes away; and like a line on rock, that stays for a long time. Anger brings in more Karma and Karma brings more anger. This cycle of acquiring Karma continues as long as we do not learn to control our anger.
The upsurge of anger creates several physical reactions that develop in the body of the angry person. Our sympathetic nervous system is activated. The brain releases a flood of adrenaline from the adrenal gland, which races through the blood stream and upsets the normal function of the body. Usually 90% of our cell's energy is spent in building new proteins and building new DNA and RNA. When we become angry, our body needs lots of energy. Sugar is needed to create the energy. First, the reserved sugar from the liver is used. When the liver sugar is used up, stress hormones break down proteins. Under an extremely stressful condition, additional sugar is released from muscles and muscles are consumed. Anger speeds up blood circulation, breathing becomes shallow and fast, other desires and hunger are suppressed, digestion stops, the brain becomes hyperactive alert, and muscles become tight. Every time the adrenal gland makes stress hormones respond to a threatening situation, it accelerates the aging process. A prolonged stressful situation leads to fatigue, muscle destruction, diabetes, hypertension, ulcers, impotence, neuron damage, heart attacks, and so on. In addition, as mentioned before, anger results in the influx of bad Karma and delays the purification process of consciousness.
Ways to Conquer Anger
During an anger-provoking situation, there are two possibilities: 1) anger is created or 2) anger is prevented. When anger is created, there is either an instant reaction or a delayed reaction. When anger
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JAIN PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE - 2