法苑珠林 71.55

71.55

Second is the hindrance of malice: anger is the root of losing all wholesome dharmas, the karmic condition for falling into the evil realms, the enemy of the joy of the Dharma, the great thief of wholesome minds, the storehouse of harsh speech, and the ax of misfortune and calamity. When cultivating the path, one contemplates: 'This person annoys me, annoys my relatives, and praises my enemies'; calculating past and future is also like this. These are the nine grounds of vexation, due to which anger arises. Thoughts of anger cover the mind; hence it is called a hindrance. One should urgently discard it and not let it increase. As the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra states, Śakra Devendra asked the Buddha in a verse, saying: