THREE POISONS
As human beings, we are subject to many negative habits.
The most serious and detrimental being craving and anger, which
stem from our emotional attachments to the concept of having an
individual and permanent self, and to our lack of understanding our
true place in the universe and our relationships with all those who
inhabit the universe with us.
This lack of understanding is ignorance—having wrong views and
knowledge, and lacking correct knowledge
These three—greed, anger, and
ignorance—are
called the three poisons.
Greed, or craving, arises from the mistaken idea that we can
obtain and hold on to possessions, to ideas, and even to other
people. Greed arises from selfishness, from the misconception that
our bodies are who we are. Our greed and attachments tie us to
unhappiness and lead us to much harmful behavior.
Because of greed, we become angry as others have or take
something we want. Anger so often arises when our greed is
unrestrained. Or when we do not get what we want, because others
reject our ideas or obtain what we had wanted for ourselves. Or
when what we have is taken from us, or those we love are lost to
us. The ways that greed and attachments can overwhelm us and, then,
lead us to anger are endless. And the pain generated, as a
consequence, is infinite.
Anger in all it's forms, ranging from frustration to resentment,
animosity, and even cruelty, is one of our greatest problems. It
arises before we even realize what is happening. Somebody says
something and, in a flash, we are angry.
Why do we so easily become angry? We do so because we are do not
understand, we are ignorant of reality. We are attached to
self-importance, our view of who we are, to the concept of "I."
When my concept of "I" is threatened, "I" very often strikes out in
anger.
How can we eliminate our three poisons?
Letting go and giving offset greed. Patience and loving-kindness
counteracts hatred. Wisdom, which already lies within our true
nature, counter ignorance.