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I consider myself new to being a Buddhist. I've been practicing mindfulness for the past two and a half years . Most of what I have learned and what seems practical are teaching from books written by Thich nhat hanh .

I've had much success dealing with anxiety. Lately though I've been unable calm my anger and it seems to be getting worst not better. No matter how much I focus on breathing.

I live near Vancouver BC, Canada. How do I find other Buddhists or teachers for support? Something in line with Thich nhat hanh's books.

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In an answer to another question, Buddhist Centres in Paris?, Andrei said that he

had success with http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/ when looking for local communities.

Here is a link to all its search results for British Columbia (about 100 results), which you can filter etc.

Thich Nhat Hanh is I suppose Mahayana, more specifically Vietnamese Zen. Among the search results is a "Mindfulness Practice Centre" in Vancouver which says that its "spiritual director" is Thich Nhat Hanh.

Their web site says,

We practice in the tradition of Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. We are peer-facilitated and volunteer run, without a formal teacher or leader.

Still that might be a good place to start.

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  • Mindfulness Practice Centre looks very good thank you.
    – strings
    Feb 8, 2016 at 18:52
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The 2 components to this:

  1. the 1st case that made you angry
  2. what kept you rolling in anger

Initially when some unwanted thing happens you get angry. The subject of anger can be towards a person of situation you are in. The 1st the initial experience cases your 1st unpleasantness (i.e., you get angry) and then subsequently through proliferation or thinking and pondering on the experience, how you could have handled it, how you would retaliate, etc. keep you in misery or sustains the unpleasantness (in this case your anger).

If you are angry or unpleasant due to what someone has done then you keep rolling in anger when you think "x did y to me". Here you have a notion of a doer and you the receiver or experiencer or some other association. When it is a situation you still may have the self identification as experiencer or receiver or some other association with the situation.

Now this can be due to your Karma and also the experience of what was done maybe in the past. Dwelling on this makes anger into feud if it is to do with a person. Contemplating this as past Karma, disidentification of the action from the identity of self as oneself and the other person or people, contemplating that situation will not last for even and subjected to change, also contemplating that there is no entry who did this and no entity who experienced this and whoever perceive has the doer has changed and no more and whoever you perceive as the experiencer has also changed and no more, etc. can help reduce this. Here the remedy is at rectifying the perceptional or the view which cases anger to arise.

At a more advance stage you can contemplate on the sensation this bring. You have a Perceived ideal as in how you should be treated or an ideal situation you should be in which what you experience deviates from then this results in unpleasantness. Similarly for when a pleasant situation or treatment changes and finally when you are in a situation or treatment which you do not evaluate positively or negative hence which is neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Though this you study the full sphere of sensation (vedana) or unsatisfactoriness (dukkha). This is more or a permanent solution whereby you eradicate the roots which case this type of unpleasantness and your bondage to becoming which can cause future experiences of such nature.

This is easy said than done for and also influenced by personal temperament.

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First of all here is a place for you to go and learn Buddhism. You will find good friends there. This is the monastery where i learned from and that's why i mentioned it so as it might be a bit far away use the Web Site mentioned and it will help you immensely.(I learned most of what i know from the site too, so i'm sure you will learn a lot of things.)

Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery and Buddha Meditation Centre of Greater Toronto

Address - 11175 Kennedy Rd, Markham, ON L6C 1P2, Canada

Phone:+1 905-927-7117

Website : mahamevnawa.ca

Now lets see what is wrong with your efforts....

Anxiety,Anger,Hate,Pressure all are generated from something called "Patigha". The proper English translation would be "Colliding with thoughts".

Now lets see what it is all about and how to fix it......

"Patigha" Or colliding with thoughts happen because of one reason and that is the willingness to accept Aggressive thoughts. When you accept Angry or violent thoughts what happens is very simple, Your Mind start to react to it. What it does is feeding more emotions and thoughts that goes along with the Aggression that already exist.

This causes you to feel angry and then you are anxious Eventually you are frustrated. This situation is completely normal and it is very simple to fix.

Now lets see how to fix the issue....

Anger has a way of becoming a big cloud that shadows a persons judgement. Before you know it the anger that you had for something or for someone turns into hating yourself and sooner it turns into an anger towards the world. This turns a person into a dull angry one and ironically that very person start to get attached to that anger even though he knows it makes him miserable.

This happens because of his mind actually reacting to aggression time and time again and eventually getting attached to feeling aggressive.

Here are the solutions that has been mentioned in Buddhism....

Lord Buddha mentioned a direct cure for Aggression and it is called "Meththa".

Here is a Link to Meththa Meditation (Audio file- Click on the link below)

Meththa Meditation

Loving kindness Meditation

Practice these and in a short time you will feel better. Every time you feel anxious or angry start doing this meditation. This does not require you to sit down in a position, you can do this meditation while doing anything that you do. Anger can only be overcome by Kindness & Anxiety can only be overcome by calmness, That's why we are doing this meditation.

Here is a Link on Mindfulness

Mindfulness : Correct observation of thoughts

Also watch -

self-hatred

Meththa sutra

Trauma & Meditation

Useful Meditation practices

Video Links are from - Dhammasith.blogspot.com

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  • Markham is too far away for me about 3000km. The information on anger and Meththa Meditation is very informative though thank you. I'll combine the link to the Vancouver Mindfulness center and your answer. I personally think joining a Sangha is the best answer at this time.
    – strings
    Feb 8, 2016 at 18:57
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    After rereading your answer, I'm getting a better understanding. I will practice the Meththa meditation more. Thank you for your time.
    – strings
    Feb 9, 2016 at 7:23
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Since giving is the first step to be able to understand Dhamma, maybe you like to scarify some time and simply visit a monastery where people are practicing and not just making business with teachings. That means a monastery where are monks who stick to Vinaya and are serious to practice the path for them selves in first place. Do not look for Buddhists, and something in line with Thich nhat hanh can not teach the abounding of aversion, since it teachers the twin brother. You might do oppressing training and just wait to find even a bigger disaster at least, this life or later. Just a short good advice from the Buddha in this Question regard of anger: "There are these ten ways of subduing hatred. Which ten?"

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