"There are people who act in ways that are grossly unacceptable to society, and if no one were to admonish or punish them, they might only be emboldened, and their behavior would worsen. In this sense, anger has a place; the fear of righteous anger can serve to suppress such misbehavior, and this is provided for in our legal systems. In law, however, it isn't referred to as anger, but as punishment, and generally involves the deprivation of personal liberty for a specified time. Many people exercise self-control and obey laws because they fear the wrath of the law and the loss of freedom.

"This definition of anger applies only to the legal system; people as individuals should not take enforcing the law into their hands. A system cannot get truly angry in the sense we're discussing in this book — only individuals. Anger is a destructive force of the mind.

"In Buddhism, there is no concept of becoming angry with people for their misdeeds. That said, there are appropriate punishments for those who might mistakenly think that this absence of anger gives them a license to do whatever they wish: brahma danda, for instance.

"One metaphor for the cultivation of a Buddhist is 'to show him a mirror.' This means to teach someone who does bad things to look at his or her own behavior objectively. Such people are told to 'look in the mirror'; Buddhist monks are constantly engaged in this kind of self-observation, always checking whether or not they're conducting themselves properly. Without this self-reflection, the rest of spiritual practice is meaningless, for without it, fixing error is impossible. People who want to improve themselves should think about how willing they are to look objectively at what they have done.

"Simply put, avoiding anger is not a simple decision on the part of a weak personality — one must be honest and strong."