Anger is inside us.

Anger, like all emotions, are mental objects, existing only in your mind.

Emotions aren't directly triggered by external events and circumstances though they can certainly feel that way. Emotions are triggered by what's happening in your mind, by your perception of things, by the thoughts you are having.

The monk's anger arose from a false perception; that a human was bothering him on purpose. He was judgemental, not curious. Only after he got curious and opened his eyes, did he realize he'd perceived wrongly. Once his perception changed, his anger vanished.

The beginning of mindfulness, is realizing, in the heat of the instant, that there are choices of how to perceive the right now, a choice in what emotion to feel.

Most people respond to particular kinds of events in a habitual way, so ingrained they've forgotten there ever was any other way to respond.

When I was a pizza driver, one thing I strongly noticed was how differently people would respond to the same event, like me being late with their order. Some would get intensely angry with me. Others didn't get angry at all, forgave me instantly, expressed empathy "Tough night, hunh?", or just laugh it off, "Hey, no big deal! Here's an extra $10 for you...have an awesome night!"

What was the difference? Not in the lateness. It was in their minds, in how they perceived the situation. Change your perception, change your emotion.

If an event or situation is triggering anger, it's not really the external situation doing that, it's the thoughts and perceptions in your head in response that gives rise to the anger.

Change your perception of that situation, and you change your emotional response. One begins to see, there no longer is any need to feel anger at all, not even a tiny bit. One can instead feel amused, or empathetic, or compassionate, or undisturbed peace. Letting go of expectations.

What the monk was doing at the end was reminding himself, his anger came from a perception that turned out to be wrong, illusion. Change the perception, and you change the emotion you feel. He was reminding himself of this.

/r/Mindfulness Thread Parent Link - i.imgur.com