What Is Anger in Buddhism? Understanding Aversion, Ill Will, and How to Let Go
- David Roylance
- 2 days ago
- 13 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Anger is something nearly everyone has experienced.
Someone says something we do not like. A person does not behave the way we expected. A relationship does not develop the way we wanted. Something changes unexpectedly. We lose something. We feel hurt, frustrated, irritated, or annoyed.
The mind may immediately conclude:
“That person made me angry.”
But The Teachings of The Buddha guide us to look more deeply into the mind.
Rather than continually looking outside of ourselves for the cause of anger, we learn to investigate what is occurring within the mind.
Anger does not need to remain a permanent part of our human experience. The mind can be trained. Through learning, reflecting (i.e. independently verifying), and practicing The Teachings of The Buddha, a Practitioner can gradually understand the cause of anger, recognize anger when it arises, and ultimately eliminate anger, hatred, and ill will from the mind.
Once eliminated, the mind will never again experience anger. It is impossible for an Enlightened being to experience anger.
Anger is one of The Three Poisons, alongside craving and ignorance (i.e. unknowing of true reality). The goal is to eliminate these poisons through non-craving or generosity, non-anger or loving-kindness, and non-ignorance or wisdom.
Table of Contents
What Is Anger in Buddhism?
In Buddhism, anger is an unwholesome mental state associated with hatred, ill will, hostility, aggression, aversion, and resentment. Anger is one of The Three Poisons, together with craving and ignorance (i.e. unknowing of true reality). The Teachings of The Buddha guide a Practitioner to understand its cause, cultivate loving-kindness as its antidote, and ultimately eliminate anger from the mind.
Anger can appear in many forms:
hatred
hostility
aggression
aversion
resentment
ill will
frustration
irritation
annoyance
Anger does not always need to appear as shouting, violence, or obvious hostility.
The mind can be angry while quietly holding resentment toward someone. It can experience irritation because something did not happen the way it wanted. It can develop aversion toward a person, circumstance, or even its own uncomfortable feelings.
Anger, hatred, and ill will can be acted upon through hostility, aggression, aversion, and repulsion toward unpleasant circumstances, uncomfortable feelings, or people the mind considers to be unpleasant.
Understanding this broader definition is important because we may believe:
“I am not an angry person.”
But when we observe the mind carefully, we may discover irritation, annoyance, resentment, hostility, or aversion.
These are opportunities to learn about the mind.
Anger is a condition experienced within the mind; it is not a permanent self or identity.
Anger Is One of The Three Poisons
The Teachings of The Buddha identify three primary unwholesome roots:
Craving — Anger — Ignorance
These are referred to as The Three Poisons, The Three Unwholesome Roots, and The Three Fires.
They affect our thoughts, intentions, speech, actions, relationships, and decisions.
The problem is not simply that anger feels unpleasant.
When The Three Poisons motivate unwholesome intentions, speech, and actions, they produce unwholesome Kamma (i.e. unwholesome results).
Therefore, a Practitioner is not merely trying to temporarily feel less angry.
The goal is much deeper.
The goal is to understand anger, identify its causes, train the mind, and eventually eliminate anger from the mind.
What Is Aversion in Buddhism?
Aversion is an important aspect of anger.
When the unEnlightened mind experiences something unpleasant, it often wants to push it away.
You may resist:
people you do not like
circumstances you do not want
uncomfortable experiences
painful feelings
situations that do not satisfy your expectations
Aversion occurs when the mind habitually resists, denies, avoids, or pushes away painful feelings, circumstances, and people.
The unEnlightened mind wants experiences to be pleasant, comfortable, and satisfying at all times.
When painful feelings arise, the unEnlightened mind will falsely attribute those feelings to another person or an external circumstance.
It then thinks:
“You are causing my problem.”
The mind does not understand that its painful feelings are caused by its own cravings, desires, and attachments. Instead, it concludes that another person or situation is responsible.
Wanting to eliminate the painful feelings, the mind pushes the person or situation away.
It mistakenly believes that removing the external object will solve the internal problem.
This behavior reinforces the perception of separation and prevents healthy relationships with all people.
This can gradually build walls between ourselves and others.
This is important to understand because pushing someone away does not eliminate the underlying cause.
If the cause remains within the mind, the anger will continue to arise in future situations.
What Causes Anger in Buddhism?
Our anger is not caused by other people.
The mind frequently believes someone else caused its anger.
But The Teachings of The Buddha direct the Practitioner inward.
Anger and hatred are caused by our own cravings:
“No one can cause us anger or hatred, we cause it ourselves.”
Because we cause our own anger, hatred, and ill will, a Practitioner can train the mind to completely eliminate it.
This shifts the entire way we understand anger.
If someone else creates my anger, then eliminating my anger depends upon controlling that person.
We cannot make everyone:
speak as we want,
behave as we want,
agree with us,
treat us exactly as we want,
or create circumstances exactly as we want.
Trying to control the world around us will not produce a permanently peaceful mind.
Training our own mind can.
The Relationship Between Craving and Anger
Anger and craving are deeply connected.
Craving is the mind wanting something.
Craving/Desire/Attachment/Wants/Expectations/Grasping/Holding/Clinging: a mental longing for something with a strong eagerness. The mind pulls in a direction toward the objects of its affection.
The mind is wanting circumstances to be a certain way.
The mind may think:
“This should happen.”
“That person should behave differently.”
“I should have this.”
“I should not have to experience this.”
When reality does not conform to what the mind wants, discontentedness will arise.
Outward searching through craving creates further frustration, anger, and confusion.
This provides us with a valuable method for investigating anger.
When anger arises, rather than thinking:
“What did that person do?” because it is not other people nor the outside world that is causing the anger.
We can investigate more deeply:
“What is the mind craving, desiring, or attached to?”
Perhaps the mind wanted a person to speak differently.
Perhaps it expected a relationship to develop differently.
Perhaps it expected something to remain permanent.
Perhaps it wanted an unpleasant circumstance to disappear.
Perhaps it simply wanted reality to be different from what it currently is.
Expectations within relationships are cravings, desires, and attachments. When those expectations are not met, the mind becomes discontent.
The work to improve this and solve it, therefore, begins within the mind.
Stop Blaming Others for Anger
This may be one of the more challenging aspects of The Teachings to practice when first getting started.
The unEnlightened mind naturally looks outside of itself.
“He made me angry.”
“She irritated me.”
“They ruined my day.”
But blaming another person prevents us from investigating the actual condition of our own mind.
Right View is understanding that another person or external circumstances do not create our discontented mind. The Practitioner needs to accept responsibility for understanding and eliminating their own discontentedness.
This does not mean that every action another person takes is wise or wholesome.
Another person can certainly make an unwise or harmful decision.
But their decision belongs to them and did not cause the anger or other discontent feeling.
The condition of your mind and what is experienced in the mind belongs to you.
This distinction gives the Practitioner the ability to make progress.
Instead of endlessly attempting to change other people, we train our own mind, the true source of the problem.
How Anger Damages Relationships
Anger creates conflict.
When anger, hostility, resentment, and aversion repeatedly enter the mind, they will also affect our relationships. The mind can begin finding enemies everywhere.
We may push people away.
We may become defensive.
We may react rather than respond.
We may speak harshly.
We may develop resentment.
We may become unwilling to associate with people who do not meet our conditions or expectations.
Eventually, the mind can become increasingly isolated.
Aversion can make relationships difficult and unsuccessful, while anger creates conflict and perceived enemies both externally and within ourselves. Anger degrades concentration and wisdom.
Therefore, eliminating anger is not merely about feeling better.
It improves the way we interact with the entire world around us so that we can experience improved results in our daily life.
Anger and The Natural Law of Kamma
Anger also affects our Kamma.
Three Causes for the Origination of Unwholesome Kamma
Craving (Desire/Greed/Attachment)
Anger (Hatred/Ill Will)
Ignorance (Delusion/Unknowing of True Reality)
When anger is present in the mind, it can influence intentions.
Those intentions can influence speech.
Speech can influence actions.
The Five Precepts provide additional guidance for training the mind away from harmful intentions, speech, and actions.
And those decisions produce unwholesome results (i.e. unwholesome Kamma).
This is another reason a Practitioner learns to recognize anger before allowing it to influence intentions, speech, and actions.
The opposite can also be understood:
Non-Anger — Loving-kindness — is a cause for the origination of wholesome Kamma (i.e. wholesome results).
We are therefore not simply attempting to remove something unhealthy.
We are replacing anger with something wholesome.
What Is the Antidote to Anger in Buddhism?
The primary antidote to anger is loving-kindness.
Loving-kindness is defined as: active goodwill towards all beings without judgment—a genuine interest in seeing all beings be well.
This is very different from simply telling ourselves:
“Do not be angry.”
The mind needs training.
Instead of feeding anger, resentment, hostility, or ill will, a Practitioner deliberately cultivates:
loving-kindness
compassion
patience
politeness
kindness
friendliness
respect
These qualities help us let go of resentment and hostility that have accumulated in the mind.
Loving-kindness will then need to become part of daily life.
A Practitioner trains to treat all beings: politely, kindly, friendly, and respectfully—without expecting anything in return.
This is how the mind gradually changes and transforms towards the elimination of anger, hostility, and bitterness.
How Does Meditation Help With Anger in Buddhism?
Breathing Mindfulness Meditation is another important part of eliminating anger.
We cannot eliminate what we do not recognize.
A Practitioner first needs to become aware of what is occurring within the mind.
Through Breathing Mindfulness Meditation, the mind is trained to develop awareness of thoughts and feelings, cut off the thoughts, and let them go without evaluating or reacting to them.
As this skill develops, the Practitioner becomes increasingly aware when disturbing thoughts, feelings, and emotions begin to arise during everyday life.
This awareness gives us an opportunity to work with these mental states before they grow and cause harm to ourselves or others.
Therefore, meditation is not separate from daily life.
Meditation is training the mind for daily life.
In addition to Breathing Mindfulness Meditation, a Practitioner will need a well-developed practice of Loving-kindness Meditation.
Loving-kindness Meditation will cultivate this wholesome mental quality to be available throughout your day.
Because your intentions, speech, and actions originate from the mind, with the mind permeating with the wholesome quality of loving-kindness through cultivating it in meditation, a Practitioner's intentions, speech, and actions can be infused with loving-kindness.
This is how the mind and your relationships improve, through training the mind to be filled with loving-kindness and then functioning through your intentions, speech, and actions infused with loving-kindness.
Instead of being bitter, harsh, and hostile, a Practitioner learns and trains the mind to be loving, kind, and gentle with all those around them.
Through these improved interactions, the mind and a Practitioner’s life gradually transform, producing more peaceful and joyful relationships.
Respond Rather Than React
When anger arises, the untrained mind reacts.
Something happens.
The mind becomes disturbed.
The reaction follows.
But a trained mind can gradually develop the ability to respond instead.
For example, if you lose a mobile phone and attachment to the phone is strong, its loss can produce anger and frustration. But understanding impermanence allows the Practitioner to respond wisely to the situation rather than react through anger.
The principle can be applied more broadly.
The situation already exists.
Anger does not solve the situation.
The question becomes:
What is the wisest response available to me right now?
A peaceful mind can still take action.
A peaceful mind can still solve challenges.
A peaceful mind can still communicate.
But it does not need anger to do so.
The anger would only get in the way of making wise decisions to produce a wholesome outcome (i.e. wholesome Kamma).
Practicing The Eight Fold Path to Eliminate Anger
The Eight Fold Path provides the broader life practice for eliminating discontentedness.
Several factors are especially relevant when anger arises.
Right View
Understand that the condition of your mind is your responsibility.
Do not falsely attribute the discontentedness within your mind to another person. Anger is caused by craving/desire/attachment.
Right Intention
Right Intention includes:
renunciation or letting go
non-ill-will
harmlessness
Non-ill-will is developed through loving-kindness—a genuine interest in seeing all beings be well. You will need Loving-kindness Meditation to cultivate this in the mind.
Right Speech
Anger can easily become harmful communication.
If the mind is angry, that is not the proper time to speak.
The Five Factors of Well Spoken Speech teach us to:
speak at the proper time,
speak what is true,
speak gently,
speak beneficially,
speak with a mind of loving-kindness.
The mind should be clear and concentrated rather than angered when speaking. Therefore, when anger arises, it is not the proper time to speak and it would be unwise to do so. Restrain the mind by walking away, calm the mind, and if needed, have the conversation at a different time when anger is not present in the mind.
Right Action
It is important to not allow the anger to influence bodily actions. Harmful bodily actions to a living being's physical body, material possessions, or reputation will only produce unwholesome results (i.e. unwholesome Kamma) for the Practitioner. Any harmful actions will return based on The Natural Law of Kamma.
Right Effort
We apply effort to prevent unwholesome mental states from arising, overcome those that have arisen, develop wholesome mental states, and maintain the wholesome states that are present.
Anger therefore becomes part of our daily training.
Not something merely discussed intellectually.
Something we actively work to understand and eliminate.
Right Mindfulness
We practice The Four Foundations of Mindfulness to become aware of the arising anger starting as a bodily sensation. Then, the mind applies Right Effort to "cut it off and let it go" prior to entering the mind. This is a practice that needs to be developed over time.
Right Concentration
Practicing focus and concentration will bring the mind away from its anger to have clarity. Rather than allowing the mind to be shaken up with anger, practicing "singleness of mind" helps the mind to reside peacefully and joyfully.
A Practical Way to Work With Anger
A Practitioner can work with anger in the following way:
First, become aware.
Notice anger, irritation, frustration, resentment, hostility, or aversion when it begins arising.
Second, do not immediately react.
Use the training developed through Breathing Mindfulness Meditation applying effort to cut off the disturbing thoughts and let them go. Then, apply effort to arise loving-kindness developed through Loving-kindness Meditation.
Third, look inward.
Once the mind is calm, investigate:
What craving, desire, attachment, or expectation is producing this discontentedness?
Fourth, stop blaming.
Recognize that another person does not control the condition of your mind.
Fifth, cultivate the antidote.
Fully replace anger and ill will with loving-kindness and wholesome intentions.
Sixth, respond wisely.
If communication is necessary, when the mind has been calm for an extended period of time, practice Right Speech.
If action is necessary, when the mind has been calm for an extended period of time, take wholesome action without anger.
Seventh, continue the life practice.
The mind needs gradual training and gradual practice to experience gradual progress.
Anger does not disappear because we intellectually understand one Teaching.
The mind changes because we repeatedly learn, reflect, and practice.
Can Anger Be Completely Eliminated?
Yes.
The goal is not merely learning how to control anger more effectively.
The goal is not learning how to remain angry without expressing it.
The goal is eventually eliminating anger, hatred, ill will, hostility, aggression, aversion, and resentment from the mind.
Because we cause our own anger, hatred, and ill will, we can eliminate them through the pursuit of Enlightenment.
The process needs a well-developed life practice.
It needs meditation.
It needs loving-kindness.
It needs The Eight Fold Path.
It needs learning to recognize craving.
It needs accepting responsibility for the condition of our own mind.
And it needs gradual training and gradual practice to experience gradual progress.
Frequently Asked Questions About Anger in Buddhism
What is anger in Buddhism?
Anger includes hatred, hostility, aggression, aversion, resentment, and ill will. It is one of The Three Poisons along with craving and ignorance (i.e. unknowing of true reality).
What is aversion?
Aversion occurs when the mind resists or pushes away unpleasant circumstances, feelings, and people you do not like. The mind falsely blames external people or situations for painful feelings caused by its own cravings, desires, and attachments and thinks the way to solve its painful feelings is to push away a person or situation.
Can another person make me angry?
No. Another person may act unwisely, but you cause your own anger and therefore you have the ability to eliminate it.
What causes anger in Buddhism?
Anger is caused by craving, desire, attachment, wants, and expectations. The mind wants circumstances to be a certain way and becomes discontent when reality does not conform to its cravings. The mind lacks wisdom that the world is impermanent and circumstances will not permanently happen as the mind wants and expects.
What is the antidote to anger in Buddhism?
Loving-kindness.
Loving-kindness is active goodwill toward all beings without judgment and a genuine interest in seeing all beings be well.
Can Buddhist meditation help with anger?
Yes. Breathing Mindfulness Meditation trains the mind to become aware of thoughts and feelings, cut off disturbing thoughts, let them go, and avoid automatically reacting to them. Loving-kindness Meditation cultivates the wholesome quality of loving-kindness which is then applied in daily life through a Practitioner’s intentions, speech, and actions to remedy the anger, eventually leading to the complete elimination of anger.
Should I act while angry?
Communication should occur only when the mind is clear and concentrated rather than angered. Practicing Right Speech allows the Practitioner to communicate at the proper time, truthfully, gently, beneficially, and with loving-kindness.
How do you let go of anger in Buddhism?
Become aware of anger, do not immediately react, identify the craving/desire/attachment causing it, cultivate loving-kindness, and respond when the mind is calm.
Is it possible to eliminate anger completely?
Yes. Anger, hatred, and ill will can ultimately be completely eliminated through a well-developed life practice and the pursuit of Enlightenment.
Letting Go of Anger
Anger gives us an opportunity to investigate the mind.
The normal response for the unEnlightened mind is to look outward:
“Who made me angry?” but this is not the source of the true problem and only causes significant difficulties and struggles.
The more useful question is:
“What is happening within my own mind?”
What am I craving?
What am I attached to?
What expectation am I holding?
What am I resisting?
Why does the mind think this situation needs to be different for it to remain peaceful?
Each experience of anger can become an opportunity to develop greater awareness of the mind and eliminate its cause - the craving that produced it.
Instead of blaming others, we take responsibility.
Instead of reacting, we learn to respond.
Instead of feeding resentment, we cultivate loving-kindness.
Instead of pushing unpleasant experiences away through aversion, we train the mind to remain peaceful and calm.
And instead of accepting anger as something we must experience for the remainder of our lives, we learn that the mind can be trained to eliminate it.
The antidote to anger is non-anger—loving-kindness. Generosity, loving-kindness, and wisdom are The Three Wholesome Roots that replace craving, anger, and ignorance and gradually transform the mind.
Through learning, reflecting, and practicing The Teachings of The Buddha, we gradually train the mind to let go.
And as the mind lets go of anger, hatred, resentment, aversion, and ill will, it moves closer to a mind that is peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy.
David Roylance is a dedicated Practitioner, Teacher, and published author who has taught The Teachings of The Buddha since 2005. Based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, he guides Household and Ordained Practitioners worldwide through courses, retreats, and special events on The Path to Enlightenment.
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