In Christian tradition, anger is a very powerful and coercive force and therefore a problem for the spiritual life. Christians think of anger as one of the “seven deadly sins” which afflict and distort the soul. Some of the spiritual masters of Christian tradition, however, recognize that anger has many causes and therefore many effects, not all of them bad. For example, Christians often look on anger as a proper response to injustice. In some cases, Christian teachers even speak of anger as being “justified” or “righteous,” words that, I presume, mean very little to Buddhists. For this reason, I believe that Buddhists and Christians coming together to learn from one another about anger and its role in human life serves a useful purpose. In this essay, I wish to reflect on what “practicing with anger” might mean for both Buddhists and Christians.
