Verse 20 teaches us to tame our anger. It says,

If one does not conquer one’s own hatred,

The more one fights outer enemies, the more they will increase.

Therefore, with the armies of loving-kindness and compassion,

To tame one’s own mind is the practice of a bodhisattva.

Dilgo Khyentse writes, “Once you overcome the hatred in your own mind, you will discover that in the world outside, there is no longer any such thing as even a single enemy. But if you keep giving free reign to your feelings of hatred and try to overcome your outer adversaries, you will find that however many of them you manage to defeat, there will always be more to take their place.” He continues, “Hatred itself is the true enemy.”

To tame our anger means we first realize it is a foe and not a friend, and then we neutralize it. And the only thing I know that can neutralize anger is love. That’s why verse 20 says we need “the armies of loving-kindness and compassion.” We need love in full force. Dilgo Khyentse invites us to meditate on patience and love. Let it be present within us so much that there isn’t room for anger to take root.

Ken McLeod rightly notes that the war imagery of armies here may not be the most helpful. Waging war against anger still contains anger, right? So he agrees that we can think about it instead as force. He says, “Tenderness is where the ‘forces’ of loving kindness and compassion come in.” If we want to dissolve our anger, we can choose to sit with it as if it is a hurting child. We listen. We hold. As we hold the anger, we “experience it without getting lost in it.” This ends our reactive cycle because the love actually transforms the anger.

Where might your anger need to be transformed by love this week?