Thank you, firewns, for sharing your experience. That is a text book example of “cooling down”.
– You said, “Had I seethed with anger, my day would have been ruined and my mood would have turned dark and bitter.” That is exactly right.
– Furthermore, you also possibly “stopped arising of suffering in future rebirths” from that incident too; sometimes things get escalated and get out-of-hand.
Both Aniduan’s and firewns’s experiences are mostly related to anger.
We should not forget that we get “attached” (tanha) via greed (both due to ignorance) too; see, “Tanhā – How We Attach Via Greed, Hate, and Ignorance“.
– For example, one could get attracted to a married person and start an affair.
Both versions of tanha lead to distress (soka) and danger (via getting frightened) (bhaya), as pointed out in the following Dhammapada gatha:
“Tanhaya japati soko
tanhaya jayati bhayam
tanhaya vippamuttassa
natthi soko kuto bhayam”.
Here vippamutta comes from “vippa” (separate or get released) and “mutta” (become free), i.e., become free by separating from tanha, in this case. So, the verse reads:
“Tanha leads to distress and danger (getting frightened)
By detaching from tanha, one will be free of distress and danger”.
The more one goes through experiences like Aniduan’s and firewns’s, one’s gati will change and then more and more one will be responding correctly in such situations. And the more one responds like that (automatically), that is the confirmation of comprehension of Tilakkhana, i.e., not acting with avijja. It may not happen under strong sense influences, but one needs to correct oneself as soon as one realizes that one is not “acting properly”. That is the real practice of Satipatthana.