A monk decided to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He took his boat out into the middle of the lake, anchored it there, closed his eyes and began to meditate. After several hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly felt another boat collide with his own. With his eyes still closed, he felt his anger rise, and the noment he opened his eyes, he was ready to scream at the boatman for so carelessly disturbing his meditation. But when he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find that it was an empty boat that had hit his. Perhaps it had broken away and floated into the middle of the lake. At that moment, the monk had a great realization. He realized that the anger was within him; it needed only the collision of an external object to provoke it from it. Since then, whenever he encountered someone who irritated him or provoked him to anger, he reminded himself that the other person was just an empty boat, the anger was inside him.