anger_with_a_touch_of_compassion perfectly_chaotic I am reminded of a story I read of two women who had been on some retreat in Asia, can't recall the country any longer, who were on the long way back to civilization after a lot of meditation. Normally, they would have gotten a ride back into town on an ox cart, but it was broken and they had a plane to catch and could not wait until morning. It was a particularly rainy evening. On the way back they ran into a man who tried to kidnap one of them. As they were struggling another man yelled and the attacker slipped, fell and ran away. The man who had startled the would-be kidnapper happened to be these young ladies' Rinpoche from the retreat. Another ox cart had arrived back at the monastery from getting supplies and he had come so that they would not be forced to continue through the rain. "Good thing you showed up when you did," said one of the ladies as they went on to explain what had happened. She said she was not sure what to do when the man had been attacking because she did not want to react with violence. Rinpoche simply said "My dear, you should have taken your umbrella, and with all of the compassion in your heart you should have hit him over the head." 150106 ... unhinged trunga_rinpoche would call that idiot_compassion , giving up your own safety in the name of compassion. dorje_trolo has helped me find a path for all the anger, anger without hatred can be a powerful tool indeed 150106 ... perfectly_chaotic Not to sound too hinayana or anything, when people do rotten stuff it could be said they are making bad karma. I am thinking of a popular story from Sutras of the Wise and the Foolish(Tibetan/Mongolian tales of Gotama's past lives, I believe there are roughly 50 of them) where Gotama kills 1 man who plans to kill 500 on a ship he is aboard. Not only does he save the 500 on the ship, but he also stops the man from what would likely have been a lot of time in a hell realm. One may argue that killing the man was an act of compassion. 150106 ... epitome of incomprehensibility The story - its ending, rather - made me grin. I need to get this balance better, too, to be less annoyed and annoying. 150107 ... unhinged this kind of anger compels you to act 'he acts when action is required' this kind of anger tempered with bodhisattva_vow and a good dose of equanimity = karma_is_my_lamp glowing for all to see this dark age is not the time to sit idly by while fascists and theocrats roam free i feel ya maxine 180710 ... unhinged (the tibetans have always understood the relative aspects of karma. i love stories like that too; they remind me to always weigh the scales carefully and step_lightly ) 180710 ... unhinged compassion is not having any hesitation to reflect your light on things - chogyam trungpa rinpoche notice there is nothing about kindness in that sentence 180711 what's it to you? who go blather from