Chapter 19: One Thought of Wrath Arises, and a Million Gates of Obstruction Swing Open

Wrath is one of the three poisons. Every flicker of resentment, every impulse to compare and keep score — all of these are the wrath-mind at work.

We who cultivate Dao possess an original nature that is lively, natural, and effortless. Dao moves in accord with heaven's timing, adapting and transforming with circumstance. Human nature — luminous, complete, and free-flowing — should likewise adapt and transform. One must never, at the slightest discomfort to the heart, allow oneself to be swept away by external conditions, for a single thought of wrath opens the door to dark demons.

In the past, when Patriarch Qiu was cultivating Dao, he first encountered a physiognomist who declared his facial features most inauspicious and predicted he was certainly destined to starve to death. Yet Patriarch Qiu's merit and practice reached completion; he did not starve but became an immortal.

On one occasion, however, his wrath-mind stirred. He rode high upon the cloud-tops and sought out the physiognomist to demand why the prediction had failed. The physiognomist explained that his hidden accumulated merit had grown immense and his features had already turned from ill fortune to good. Only then did Patriarch Qiu realize it was his own wrath-mind that had been stirred. Immediately he stilled his heart, quieted his thoughts, withdrew into the mountains, and sat deep in meditation.

But since the wrath-mind had already arisen — though he awakened to it quickly — heaven's trials would not be remitted. In the end the matter could not simply be settled. Various dark demons descended upon him, throwing his body and mind into turmoil. Fortunately, Patriarch Qiu recognized the danger early, held firm, and was never shaken. Otherwise, through the error of a single thought, all his prior merit would have been wasted, and he would have sunk forever into perdition.

The harm caused by wrath is truly terrifying. Let all take warning and guard against it!