Contemplating the faults of anger

02 Working with Anger

A talk given during Venerable Chodron's 2025 European Teaching tour at Institu Vajra Yogini in France

  • The problem with “righteous anger
  • Anger destroys our hard-earned merit
  • Anger causes unhappiness for everyone involved
  • We can’t leave a single being out of our compassion
  • Questions and answers:
    • Can you explain how collective karma works?
    • How does karma work when forced to go to war?
    • What can we do after we notice a red flag with someone?
    • If we’re all compassionate won’t aggressive people overrun us?

Part 1 of this talk:

Part 3 of this talk:

Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.