When I speak to people about Buddhism and mention the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance, it is that mention of anger that gets people's heads nodding in agreement. Ideally, we want to control our own tempers for the sake of all beings. An angry person cannot help others.
But what if we're not at that point? What if we have enough trouble just trying to do what is right for ourselves? If the only person we can think of helping at this moment is ourselves, we still need to realize the harm becoming angry does.
Losing one’s temper hurts both oneself and others. It is particularly harmful to one’s physical health. When one loses one’s temper, even for only a minute, it takes three days for all the cells in the body to return to normal. Imagine how much worse it is to lose one’s temper every day. Clearly, losing one’s temper is the same as gradually committing suicide.
Now that we know this, we should not lose our temper no matter what provocation we encounter. Why? Because we must protect our bodies and minds from being affected by the external environment. We should gradually reduce emotional afflictions for they are harmful to our bodies and minds. This way, we will be able to maintain mental and physical well-being. With the reduction of afflictions our wisdom will naturally increase. We should know that the true way of maintaining good health is nurturing a loving heart. We should never dislike anyone or anything. Doing this is the fulfillment of the paramita of patience. We will be living in gratitude and enjoying a life of the utmost happiness.
~ Ven. Master Chin Kung