法苑珠林 72.60

72.60

Seventh, explaining the fault of the proclivity of anger (pratigha): it refers to resentment, hatred, jealousy, and displeasure; such afflictions are all the proclivity of anger. The Mahālaṅkāra-śāstra says: 'The body is like dry firewood, and anger is like fire; before it can burn others, it first scorches one's own body.' Moreover, the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna-sūtra says: 'An angry mind is like fire burning all precepts; anger is like a great axe capable of destroying the bridge of the Dharma; residing within the heart, it is like an enemy entering the house.' Therefore we know that giving rise to anger obstructs all wholesome dharmas. Furthermore, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'Among all evils, none surpasses this evil; giving rise to a single thought of anger, one then receives hundreds of thousands of barrier gates to the Dharma.' Moreover, the Bodhisattvabhūmi-sūtra says: 'If bodhisattvas commit greed as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, it is not called breaking precepts; if they commit a condition of a single anger, this is called breaking precepts. A mind of anger can abandon sentient beings, whereas a mind of greedy craving can protect sentient beings and is not called an affliction; anger abandoning sentient beings is called a heavy affliction.' Therefore the Tathāgata stated in sūtras: 'The fetter of greed is difficult to sever, but is not called heavy; anger is easy to sever, but is called heavy.' This is also a brief account; to explain it fully would be endless.