U Mad? Wisdom for Rageful Times

Screaming at your phone silently? Or not so silently?

Just because you're a spiritually-minded activist doesn't mean you can't confront anger.Anger is useful: It cuts through our over-stimulation and overwhelm, and helps us see injustice clearly. Black lesbian feminist Audre Lorde reminds us how women (and, by expansion, all people of oppressed or marginalized genders) can channel anger into action:

Every woman has a well-stocked arsenal of anger potentially useful against those oppressions, personal and institutional, which brought that anger into being. Focused with precision it can become a powerful source of energy serving progress and change. And when I speak of change, I do not mean a simple switch of positions or a temporary lessening of tensions, nor the ability to smile or feel good. I am speaking of a basic and radical alteration in those assumptions underlining our lives.

Still, if anger is your only fuel to action, you’ll be quick to lose steam. And we've all heard that the Buddha isn't the biggest fan of anger. In some traditions, he even admonishes his most devoted students to train anger completely out of their hearts:

Monks, even if bandits were to carve you up savagely, limb by limb, with a two-handled saw, he among you who let his heart get angered even at that would not be doing my bidding. Even then you should train yourselves: 'Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words.  — Buddha, Kakacupama Sutta

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Want to know what today's teachers say?Sign up today for U Mad?: Wisdom for Rageful TimesA 6-week online course beginning March 14, 2017

Dharma teachers of multiple lineages will provide guidance on our biggest questions about anger, including:

• Can I calm my anger and still fight for justice?
• How do I work alongside people bursting with rage?
• How do I work with those who shame me for being angry?
• What fuels my activism beyond anger?
• Is anger as bad as the Buddha says?
• Is anger as useful as the activists say?
• What practices can help me transform rage into wisdom?
• When, if ever, can I punch Nazis?

Ready to transform your anger into power and liberation?

Register today, and we'll send your first email on March 14th! We look forward to being in this course with you — see you soon!