Question

My compassion has a long way to go. On hearing a barking dog or a noisy engine my first reaction is usually anger and a desire to fix it. Only later and often through clenched teeth can I arise compassion.

Answer

Well, it's better late than never! At least you understand the results of anger and desire and are able to have compassion for yourself. After a while you'll see that this type of reaction only causes suffering for yourself, and gradually that experiential understanding of suffering and the true cause of it will help you to bring up the compassion for yourself to try to prevent these things from arising.

There are Four Great Efforts. Sometimes people think there is only the effort to let go in meditation, but when we look at right effort in the Noble Eightfold Path there are Four Great Efforts. The first effort is the effort to prevent, the next effort is the effort to let go, then the next two efforts are the effort to develop beneficial qualities and the effort to maintain them. All of these great efforts are needed in meditation.

So if we have some problems with noise, we try to understand this particular tendency and bring up the effort to prevent this by trying to be more aware of our sense doors and noting "hearing, hearing," even if it's through clenched teeth. Eventually the mind will realize that it's a sound, and sound arises and passes away. We may have got to a point where we are having compassion for our anger, but it may also be a helpful investigation at that time to note that the anger arose just by the ear coming into contact with the sound. This is practicing the third listing of the fourth foundation of mindfulness of mind objects from the Satipattana Sutta, which is seeing the senses and the problems that arise due to these. If you see that this is a pattern for you, bring up the effort to prevent it by being aware of the sense contact. Sometimes this may also involve being more aware in your normal life to see whether you have an excessive attachment to pleasant sound. Often an excessive attachment to pleasant sound causes one to have an aversion to what we consider to be unpleasant sound.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.