“He makes me furious”. “ that news channel really makes me angry”. “ I have a coworker that drives me crazy”.
“The bills have me livid”.
WRONG! The anger is already in there.

The story of The Empty Boat by Thích Nhất Hạnh

A monk decides to meditate alone. Away from his monastery, he takes a boat and goes to the middle of the lake, closes his eyes and begins to meditate.

After a few hours of unperturbed silence, he suddenly feels the blow of another boat hitting his. With his eyes still closed, he feels his anger rising and, when he opens his eyes, he is ready to shout at the boatman who dared to disturb his meditation. But when he opened his eyes, saw that it was an empty boat, not tied up, floating in the middle of the lake…

At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization and understands that anger is within him; it simply needs to hit an external object to provoke it.

After that, whenever he meets someone who irritates or provokes his anger, he remembers; the other person is just an empty boat.

Anger is inside me.

🌷

The story of “The Empty Boat” is a Zen Buddhist parable that teaches the lesson of self-reflection and the importance of recognizing the source of one’s emotions. It highlights the idea that anger is a feeling that arises from within and that external events or circumstances only trigger it. The monk’s realization that the boat was empty helped him understand that the cause of his anger was within himself, and not due to the actions of others. The story serves as a reminder to look within and to recognize the role of one’s own thoughts and emotions in shaping our experiences.