Transforming adversity · Verse 20 of 37
Verse 20: The Real Enemy Is Your Own Anger
Verse 20 of The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, the fourteenth-century Tibetan poem by Gyalse Tokme Zangpo (1295–1369). It belongs to the section on transforming adversity.
If the enemy—your own anger—is not tamed, subduing outer enemies will only make them increase. Therefore, subdue your own mind with the army of love and compassion. This is the way of a bodhisattva.
The practice of all the bodhisattvas is to subdue the mind
With the forces of loving kindness and compassion.
For unless the real adversary—my own anger—is defeated,
Outer enemies, though I may conquer them, will continue to appear.
If you don't subdue the opponent inside, your own anger,
Although you subdue opponents outside, they just keep coming.
Muster the forces of loving kindness and compassion
And subdue your own mind — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.
A facilitator's reading across the commentaries
Shantideva's leather-soles image appears in four of them independently — it is the verse. KS's lion-and-stone and GR's one-chair are the teachable images; KM's "find what actually works for you" is the honest methodological note a group needs.
GR Garchen Rinpoche · HHDL H.H. the Dalai Lama · AB Dr. Alexander Berzin · KTGR Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche · KS Khenpo Sodargye · TC Ven. Thubten Chodron · KM Ken McLeod
What the teachers say
Garchen Rinpoche Drikung Kagyu
Unsubdued inner hatred multiplies outer enemies until the whole village is one; anger primarily wounds the angry ("like your leg had been stabbed"). Love and hatred can't coexist — a chair seats one person. Story: the monk whose nightmares of killing dissolved through bodhicitta — "images generated from Bodhicitta actualize as pureland and images generated from hatred thoughts actualize as hell." Practical vow: don't speak while angry; explain after it subsides.
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
H.H. the Dalai Lama Gelug
Overtly political: quoting Shantideva's leather-soles image, he points to "the Chinese Communists" — from 1959 to "now in 1974" their troubles increase because the enemy within is unconquered. "We have to defeat the enemy within by the force of love and compassion." Applied to mediation: while "them and us" persists, negotiation worsens things; inwardly pacified people become "like new people."
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
Dr. Alexander Berzin Gelug
The real enemy is internal disturbing emotions; love and compassion are the army. Shantideva: can't cover the earth in leather — cover your feet. Defeating anger once doesn't end the campaign; fittingly, "bodhisattva" in Tibetan means "brave one."
Full commentary: studybuddhism.com
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche Karma Kagyu
The Buddha conquered the maras through the samadhi of loving-kindness; Milarepa conquered ego-clinging with selfless wisdom — and his bitter enemies (his aunt!) became devoted disciples. Taming your own mind literally transforms adversaries.
Full commentary: dharmaebooks.org (Free ebook, trans. Suzanne Schefczyk.)
Khenpo Sodargye Nyingma, Larung Gar
The dog chases the stone; the lion attacks the thrower — fools fight circumstances, the wise attack the affliction. "When your mind is tamed, outside enemies cannot hurt you" (Atisha). With bodhicitta, neither the four elements nor humans and non-humans can truly harm you.
Full commentary: khenposodargye.org (Free ebook PDF.)
Ven. Thubten Chodron Sravasti Abbey, Gelug
Winter Retreat vv16–21 talk.
Full commentary: thubtenchodron.org
Ken McLeod Shambhala / independent
Talk 8, "Transforming Anger and Desire" (vv20–22): seven or eight methods for anger across three levels — direct awareness (anger as clarity), energetic, and emotional-component work; "methods don't work uniformly; find what actually works for you." Compassion and reactive anger cannot coexist. Tricycle v20.
Full commentary: unfetteredmind.org (Tricycle's per-verse written commentary is behind a subscriber paywall.)
Further reading: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Heart of Compassion (Shambhala). A purchased book — no text is reproduced here.