The Importance of Anger

Spirituality, just like many other matters of life, has a yin aspect and a yang aspect. Yin and yang are the dual aspects of the Tao. They appear to be opposite and contradictory to each other. Yet, they also complement each other. The yin aspect has to do with the Divine Feminine. It emphasizes the nurturing, yielding, and inactive dimensions of spirituality. The yang aspect has to do with the Divine Masculine. It emphasizes the assertive, protective, disciplinary, and active dimensions of spirituality. I recently started watching a new TV show, titled Cobra Kai. It is a continuation of the Karate Kid story. While the original Karate Kid story features the martial arts philosophy of Mr. Miyagi, the Cobra Kai series’ main character is Johnny Lawrence, who believes in a very different martial arts philosophy. I find the new series very inspiring. While Mr. Miyagi symbolizes the yin aspect of spirituality, Johnny Lawrence symbolizes the yang aspect. In the spiritual life, we need both in order to have balance.

Among the practitioners of Buddhism and other forms of spirituality, there are many who see no place for anger in the practitioner’s life. To them, anger is necessarily a “negative” emotion and the antithesis of what is spiritual. But is that so? It is a fact that in many Buddhist traditions, there are wrathful deities. Wikipedia has this to say about them: