Krodha

See also: Anger

krodha (T. khro ba ཁྲོ་བ་; C. fen 忿) is translated as "belligerence," "fury", "rage", "indignation", etc. Within the Sanskrit Abhidharma tradition, krodha is defined as an increase of anger (pratigha) that causes one to prepare to harm others.

Krodha is identified as:

• one of the twenty secondary unwholesome factors in the Abhidharma-samuccaya.
• one of the ten minor unwholesome factors within the Abhidharma-kosa

Explanations

The Khenjuk states:

Krodha belongs to the category of anger (pratigha). Its function is to be uncompassionate and cause harm.

The Abhidharma-samuccaya states:

What is indignation (krodha)? It is a vindictive intention which is associated with anger (pratigha) when the chance to hurt is near at hand. Its function is to become the basis of taking hold of a knife, killing, and preparing to strike.

The Necklace of Clear Understanding states:

It is a vindictive intention which intends to strike... when any one of the nine chances for a vindictive attitude is near at hand.

The nine chances for a vindictive attitude are the three ideas of, "he has harmed me, he is harming me, he is going to harm me'"; the three ideas of, "he has harmed my relatives, is harming them, and is going to harm them"; and the three ideas of, "he is siding with my enemies, has sided with them, and will side with them." These nine are called the basis of harm according cording to the previous explanation of their causes.

In case one wonders what the difference is between anger in view of being it basic emotion (pratigha) and indignation in view of being a proximate emotion (krodha), the answer is that anger (pratigha) is a vindictive mind when the above three ideas come before one's mind [dmigs-yul], but indignation (krodha) is an increase in anger when the chance for harming is at hand and is a very turbid state of mind leading to actual physical harm.

In explaining anger (pratigha), the Abhidharma-samuccaya says that it is it vindictive attitude concerning the above three ideas and explains indignation (krodha) as 'the opportunity to harm and 'taking hold of it weapon'. The Pañcaskandhaprakaraṇa on the other hand explains anger as 'vindictiveness towards living beings, but explains indignation as the immediate act of harming. If this is what the two brothers, Asanga and Vasubandhu, have to say, intelligent people should study the problem deeply since it is very difficult to understand. The function of indignation as harming others offers no problems.

Chim Jampaiyang states:

Wrath (krodha) is the deep disturbance of the mind manifesting with respect to sentient beings who harm oneself and so on. It functions to provoke contempt.

StudyBuddhism states:

Hatred (khro-ba) is a part of hostility (dvesha) and is the harsh intention to cause harm.

Alternate translations

Dan Martin states:

The preferred translation is 'belligerence,' since it is an intention to harm beings directly visible in one's immediate environment (not beings in the past or future).

Other translations include:

• fury
• rage
• indignation (Guenther)
• hostility (Kunzang, Gateway to Knowledge)
• hatred (StudyBuddhism)
• wrath (Ian James Coghlan)

See also

• Kleshas
• Mental factors

Sources

• Chim Jampaiyang (2019), Jinpa, Thupten, ed., Ornament of Abhidharma: A Commentary on Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa, translated by Coghlan, Ian James (Apple Books ed.), Library of Tibetan Classics 
• Mipham Rinpoche (2004), Gateway to Knowledge, vol. I, translated by Kunsang, Erik Pema, Rangjung Yeshe Publications 
• Yeshe Gyeltsen (1975), Mind in Buddhist Psychology: A Translation of Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan's "The Necklace of Clear Understanding", translated by Guenther, Herbert V.; Kawamura, Leslie S., Dharma Publishing 
• Primary Minds and the 51 Mental Factors, StudyBuddhism

External links

• khro_ba, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
• Primary Minds and the 51 Mental Factors, StudyBuddhism