To “know” the emotion is to understand that, as it has no root, there is and never has been an emotion. Some people talk about emotion, particularly the negative emotions, as if they were some kind of hideous, demonic force that willfully invades your being, but they are not like that at all.
When you feel angry, just watch your anger. Not the cause of the anger or its result, just the emotion of anger. As you stare at your anger, you will discover there is nothing you can point to and say, “That is my anger.” And the understanding that there is absolutely nothing there is what is called the “dawn of wisdom.”
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices
Read a random quote or see all quotes by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.
Further quotes from the book Not for Happiness:
- Dealing with Emotions
- Intention to benefit all sentient beings
- Sadness
- The decision to follow a spiritual path
- Absolutely nothing genuinely works
- Right intention
- As they truly are
- To reject your aggression is a weakness
- Spiritual practice is like riding a bicycle
- Maintaining a strong grip on the habits
- The signs of progress
- Rip that ego apart
- No substitute for being guided by a guru
- Wealth is contentment
- It’s all a matter of motivation
- No end to samsara’s sufferings
- The merit of maintaining mindfulness
- What Is Bodhichitta
- What is merit