Why do people get so angry sometimes when they don't even mean to get angry? Very angry sometimes. Why do people get so angry and why do their hearts get so filled up with anger when they don't even mean to get that angry?

Dear Thầy, our friend is asking: why do people get so angry and their hearts so filled up with anger when it's not what they really mean to do?

That is a good question. There is a grain, a seed of anger in ourselves. And there is also a seed of love, compassion in ourselves. And a person who allows the seed of anger to be watered every day gets angry much more easily than the person who doesn't allow the seed of anger in him or her to be watered. If you watch television, and if you see a lot of anger in television, and then you help the seed of anger in you to grow, grow, grow every day. And if the seed of anger in you is strong, and then you get angry so easily. And anger does not exactly come from the outside, it is from inside.

So we should be careful when we watch television and play electronic games or having a conversation with other people. Don't allow these things to water the seed of anger in us. Because if the seed of anger in us grows big, then we can get angry very easily. And when we get angry, we suffer and we will make the other person suffer.

And there is a seed of compassion, a seed of love in you. And if you read books, listen to Dharma talks, listen to conversations that have a lot of love and compassion, then the seed of love in you will grow. And if you have a lot of love in you, you are a happy person. And you never get angry. So you have to take care of the two seeds in us, anger and love. And meditation can help you a lot.

And when you have more compassion in yourself, you are happy. And even when there is a provocation, you can smile. You can smile. In the beginning, we can smile to our anger. And when we succeed in smiling to our anger, we will be able to smile to the anger and violence of the other person. The other person is very angry. The other person is very violent. And she is saying something very strong, very mean. And she is about to hit you. And yet, because you are protected by the energy of love and compassion, you don't get angry and you smile to him. "Dear friend, I know you suffer. You don't have to suffer like that." And that is a success, that is a victory for you and for the other person. And that victory a practitioner of meditation can have every day. Okay. Thank you for asking that question.