Summary
Title: Anger: The Seven Deadly Sins
Author: Robert A. F. Thurman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195169751
Pro:
• Offers some interesting insights on what anger does to people
• Has nice suggestions about how to redirect anger
Con:
• None
Description:
• Analysis of the nature and uses of anger
• Describes various approaches to anger
• Compares/contrasts Western and Eastern religious ideas about anger
Book Review
Of all the “seven deadly sins,” anger may be the deadliest — the one most likely to lead to harm, injury, and even death. Holder of the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West (at Columbia University) and once a personal student of the Dalai Lama, Robert A. F. Thurman explores various perspectives on anger in order to help readers come to a better understanding of it for their own lives.
Book Review
A critical discussion of anger puts Thurman in what he recognizes to be a difficult situation: if he criticizes too strongly and goes so far as to “hate” anger, then he only ends up being angry — a contradiction, if his point is to convince people to let go of anger. If he is too gentle and even indifferent, then he won’t get angry but he also won’t motivate people to give up their anger. What’s a good Buddhist to do?
Thurman strives to find a middle path between two extremes, one being the idea that there is nothing we can do about anger (and that it’s even a good thing at times) and the other being the idea that anger can (or should) be completely eradicated. Thurman regards both human nature generally and anger specifically as being far more complex than either of these two positions would allow for.
It’s interesting to find a Buddhist writing this book in Oxford University Press’ series on the Seven Deadly Sins. It makes a lot of sense to have a Buddhist perspective on anger, but it’s odd for a Buddhist to be writing on a traditional facet of Christian doctrine. As Thurman observes, though, this is a “sin” that many in the Christian West, including ostensible Christians, have stopped having much of a problem with:
- “Anger is not really thought of in the contemporary religious West as that serious a problem. It’s kind of like a natural phenomenon, like a storm or a bolt of lightning, and perhaps even rather respected as a male prerogative and a privilege of authority. Women’s anger is perhaps more frowned on behaviorally, thought of as shrewish and hysterical. Then there is righteous anger, against criminality and injustice, slackers and busybodies, luxury and destitution, which ranges from individuals to be punished to communities against whom there are crusades to be waged.”
It is perhaps understandable, then, that a Buddhist would be chosen for this task — I’m not sure that many Christians would have the moral authority to challenge fundamental Western notions about anger. Thurman even argues that anger holds a central position in Western religion because the Old Testament portrays God being perhaps the angriest character of all — an argument that won’t please many Christian readers, but one that would be difficult to refute.
Secular nonbelievers wouldn’t be much better off better off because they, too, tend to look upon anger as having a lot of positive value in the right situation and when channelled properly. Instead of trying to overcome anger, we have “anger management” classes which implicitly assume that there is nothing inherently wrong with our anger, so long as we properly “manage” it.
When was the last time you saw an atheist, agnostic, or freethinker arguing that we need to overcome our anger over injustice and seek instead to show more tolerance and compassion for our enemies? This is a rare move even for the Christians who believe that they have been instructed to do so by Jesus.
