○Ego [9]

     When confronted with intense anger or fear, you may feel a reaction in your abdomen or elsewhere, such as a stomachache from stress. Even if you become no-minded, the signs of calming down may not appear immediately, and it requires concentration and patience. Looking directly at your angry ego is effective for moving away from anger. If anger continues for a long time, it can lead to illness.

    The ego gossips and speaks ill of others. Generally, at such times, it slightly alters the story to suit its purposes and speaks in a way that belittles the other person. The listener, hearing only this one-sided information, may take it as the whole truth. It's not fair unless you hear both sides. But if the subject of the rumor is a person with little ego attachment, they tend to explain only the facts without making excuses or criticizing, and do not stoop to the level of the person spreading the gossip. For a calm and pure person, engaging in insidious and vulgar actions is not an option.

    Those who spread bad rumors about others everywhere are being swayed by their ego. Therefore, they try to make themselves look good or expect someone else to fail. Therefore, they distort the truth when they speak. People with thin egos don't gossip about others or spread bad rumors in the first place.

    When someone gossips, some of the listeners may think, "I wonder if they're saying bad things about me somewhere else." As a result, they start withholding their true feelings from the gossip-lover, and people with good character begin to distance themselves.

    When someone criticizes you, you may want to retort or make excuses. Even in such times, remaining patient and silent can be a training to not be swayed by the ego.

    The ego tends to get angry when it seems like one's faults are about to be exposed. This is the resistance of the ego that refuses to admit defeat.

    People who often complain are rarely able to build harmonious relationships, whether in their families or workplaces.