(iii) How to train in the perfection of patience
(a") What patience is
(b") How to begin the cultivation of patience
(c") The divisions of patience
(1") Developing the patience of disregarding harm done to you
(a') Stopping impatience with those who harm you
(1') Stopping impatience with those who prevent your happiness and with those who cause you to suffer
(a)) Showing that anger is unjustified
(1)) On analysis of the object, anger is unjustified
(a")) On analysis of whether the object has self-control, anger is unjustified
(b")) On analysis for either adventitiousness or inherency, anger is unjustified
(c")) On analysis of whether the harm is direct or indirect, anger is unjustified
(d")) On analysis of the cause that impels the harmdoers, anger is unjustified
(2)) On analysis of the subject, anger is unjustified
(3)) On analysis of the basis, anger is unjustified
(a")) Analyzing the causes of harm and where the fault lies
(b")) Analyzing your commitment
(b)) Showing that compassion is appropriate
(2') Stopping impatience with those who prevent your praise, fame, or honor, and with those who have contempt for you, or say offensive or unpleasant things to you
(a)) Stopping impatience with those who prevent three things—praise, fame, or honor
(1)) Reflection on how praise and so forth lack good qualities
(2)) Reflection on how praise and so forth have faults
(3)) The need to delight in those who prevent praise and so forth
(b)) Stopping impatience with those who do three things to you—have contempt for you, or say offensive or unpleasant things to you
(b') Stopping both dislike for harmdoers’ attainments and delight in their troubles
(2") Developing the patience of accepting suffering
(a') The reason you must definitely accept suffering
(b') The way to develop acceptance
(1') Rejecting the idea that when suffering occurs it is absolutely unpleasant
(2') Showing that it is appropriate to accept suffering
(a)) Reflecting on the good qualities of suffering
(b)) Reflecting on the advantages of bearing suffering’s hardships
(1)) Reflecting on the crucial benefits such as liberation, etc.
(2)) Reflecting on the benefit of dispelling immeasurable suffering
(c)) How it is not difficult to bear suffering if you gradually grow accustomed to it, starting with the small
(c') A detailed explanation from the viewpoint of the bases
(3") Developing the patience of certitude about the teachings
(d") How to practice
(e") A summary
(iii) How to train in the perfection of patience
The explanation of how to train in the perfection of patience has five parts:
1. What patience is
2. How to begin the cultivation of patience
3. The divisions of patience
4. How to practice
5. A summary
(a") What patience is
Patience is (1) disregarding harm done to you, (2) accepting the suffering arising in your mind-stream, and (3) being certain about the teachings and firmly maintaining belief in them. There are three sets of factors incompatible with these: for the first, hostility; for the second, hostility and loss of courage; and for the third, disbelief and dislike. Perfecting patience means that you simply complete your conditioning to a state of mind wherein you have stopped your anger and the like. It is not contingent upon all living beings becoming free from undisciplined conduct because you would not be able to bring this about, and because you accomplish your purpose just by disciplining your own mind. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:243
Undisciplined persons are as limitless as space;
You could never overcome them.
If you conquer the single mental state of anger
It is like vanquishing all your enemies. [398]
Where could you get enough leather
To cover the entire surface of the earth?
Wearing just the leather of your sandals
Is like covering all the earth.
Similarly, I cannot change
External things, but when
I can change my state of mind,
Why do I need to change anything else?
(b") How to begin the cultivation of patience
Although there are many ways to cultivate patience, to begin I will explain the meditation on the benefits of patience and the faults of not being patient. The benefits are set forth in the Bodhisattva Levels:244
Initially, bodhisattvas consider the benefits of patience. They think, “Persons who have patience will not have many enemies later on and will not have many separations from those to whom they are close. They will have much happiness and contentment. They will have no regret at the time of death, and upon the disintegration of their bodies they will also be reborn among the deities in the happy realms of high status.” By looking at such benefits, they too are patient. They engage others in upholding patience, and they also praise patience. When they see patient persons, they are delighted and full of joy.
The Compendium of the Perfections says:245
It is said, “Patience is the best approach
For dealing with the inclination to disregard others’ welfare”;
Patience against the fault of anger protects
All that is excellent in this world.
Patience is the best ornament of the powerful,
The greatest strength for those who practice asceticism,
And a stream of water on the wildfire of malice.
Patience clears away much harm in this and future lives.
The arrows of undisciplined people’s words
Are dulled by a superior being’s armor of patience;
These unruly people then give pleasant flowers of praise
Which become attractive garlands of fame. [399]
And also:
Patience is also the craftsman that creates a buddha’s embodiment of form,
Adorned with the beautiful signs of good qualities.
Thus, Āryaśūra praises patience by way of its many benefits: it stops you from turning away from others’ welfare on account of living beings’ misperceptions; it protects you from anger, the enemy that destroys many roots of virtue; it is a captivating ornament because it endures the harm of those of little power; it is the excellent strength of ascetics who are tormented by the afflictions; it is a stream of water that extinguishes the wildfire of malice; it is armor that cannot be pierced by the arrows of undisciplined persons’ misperceptions; it is the skilled artisan who creates a fine form of golden color that captivates the eyes and minds of beings.
Furthermore, Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:246
Whoever works hard and overcomes anger
Is happy in this and future lives.
When you rely on patience continually, you do not spoil your joyful attitude, so you are always happy even in this life. Moreover, patience stops miserable rebirths in future lives, gives special rebirths in happy realms, and ultimately bestows certain goodness, so you are utterly happy in this and future lives.
Meditate on these benefits until you gain a strong, firm certainty about the cause-and-effect relationship wherein benefits such as these arise from patience.
With respect to the faults of anger, the invisible faults are as follows. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:247
Any good deeds, such as
Generosity and worshipping the sugatas,
You have collected over a thousand eons
Are all destroyed in one moment of anger.
Āryaśūra formulated this exactly as it is presented in Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds. The Play of Mañjuśrī Sūtra (Mañjuśrī-vikrīḍita-sūtra) mentions the destruction of virtue accumulated over a hundred eons, and also Candrakīrti’s Commentary on the “Middle Way” says that virtue accumulated over a hundred eons of conditioning to the perfections of generosity and ethical discipline is destroyed even by the generation of just a momentary angry thought. [400]
Concerning who or what the recipient of such destructive anger must be, some say that it must be bodhisattvas, while others assert that it is recipients in general. The former accords with the statement in the Commentary on the “Middle Way”:248
Therefore, a moment’s anger toward a conquerors’ child Destroys the virtue arising from generosity and ethical discipline Accumulated over a hundred eons.
With respect to the person who gets angry, Candrakīrti’s Explanation of the “Middle Way” Commentary says that if anger even by bodhisattvas destroys their roots of virtue, it goes without saying that the anger of non-bodhisattvas toward bodhisattvas does. Regardless of whether the recipient of the anger is ascertained to be a bodhisattva or whether the perceived faults that cause the anger are real, the destruction of virtue is said nonetheless to be just as explained above [i.e., the virtue accumulated over a hundred eons is lost].
In general, for there to be destruction of the roots of virtue it is not required that the anger be toward bodhisattvas. The Compendium of Trainings states:249
The text of the Ārya-sarvāstivādins also says: The Bhagavan said, “Monks, consider a monk who makes a full prostration to a stūpa that contains a buddha’s hair and nails and who has an attitude of faith.”
“So be it, Revered One.”
“Monks, this monk will experience reigns as a universal monarch a thousand times the number of grains of sand eighty-fourthousand leagues under the ground his prostrate body covers—down to the disk of gold that supports the earth.”
Then the venerable Upāli, who was located off to the side from where the Bhagavan was seated, bowed with hands joined respectfully and asked, “The Bhagavan has said that this monk’s roots of virtue are so great. O Bhagavan, how are those roots of virtue used up, diminished, erased, and extinguished?” [401]
“Upāli, when such a sin as malice is done to fellow practitioners, it is like a wound or maiming. I cannot see its full impact. Upāli, this diminishes, erases, and extinguishes those great roots of virtue. Therefore, Upāli, if you would not feel malice toward a burned stump, what need to mention feeling that way toward a body with consciousness?”
Some scholars’ position: “The meaning of destroying the roots of virtue is that in destroying the capacity of previous virtues to issue their effects speedily, you delay the issuance of their effects. So anger, for instance, will give its effect first, but it is certainly not the case that the seeds of the roots of virtue will not issue effects when they later meet with the requisite conditions, because, given that no mundane path can eliminate the seeds that are to be eliminated, it is impossible to have an elimination of the seeds of the afflictions.”
Reply: This reasoning is unsound because (1) even the purification wherein ordinary beings clear away nonvirtue by means of its remedy, the four powers of confession, is not an elimination of its seeds; nevertheless, though the seeds of this nonvirtue may later meet with the requisite conditions, they cannot issue a fruition; (2) even virtuous and nonvirtuous karma that are spent upon issuing their individual fruitions do not lose their seeds; nevertheless, even when the seeds of such karma meet henceforth with the requisite conditions, it is impossible for fruitions to arise; and (3) when you attain the peak and forbearance levels of the path of preparation [the second and third of four levels], you do not eliminate the seeds of nonvirtue that cause wrong views and miserable rebirths; nev-ertheless, even though the seeds of this nonvirtue may meet with the requisite conditions, they cannot give rise to wrong views or a miserable rebirth.
Furthermore, the reasoning is unsound because, as the earlier citation [Vasubandhu’s Treasury of Knowledge Auto-commentary] says:250
As to the actions that give rise to cyclic existence,
There are those that are weighty, those that are near,
Those to which you are habituated, and those you did earliest.
Among these, the former will ripen first.
Any virtuous or nonvirtuous action that comes to fruition does temporarily stop the opportunity for the fruition of another action; however, it is not said nor can it be established that a mere preceding fruition destroys virtue or nonvirtue. Nor is it appropriate for “destroying the roots of virtue” to mean the mere temporary postponement of fruition; otherwise, it would absurdly follow that all powerful nonvirtuous actions must be considered destroyers of the roots of virtue. [402]
Therefore, concerning this the master Bhāvaviveka states (as already explained)251 that in the case of both the purification of nonvirtue by the four powers of confession and the destruction of roots of virtue by wrong views and malice, the seeds of the virtue or nonvirtue cannot give rise to effects even though they may later meet with the requisite conditions, just as spoiled seeds will not give rise to sprouts even though they may meet with the requisite conditions.
Moreover, as already explained,252 even though you cleanse your accumulation of sins through purification by the four powers, this does not contradict the fact that you are slow to produce higher paths. Accordingly, for some persons anger destroys, for instance, their resources and excellent body—the respective effects of giving gifts and safeguarding ethical discipline—but is unable to destroy their ability to easily produce roots of virtue again through giving gifts and safeguarding ethical discipline by means of the causally concordant behavioral effect of their habituation to generosity and an attitude of abstention. For other persons, anger destroys the continuous occurrence of a similar type of causally concordant virtuous behavior like ethical self-discipline and so on, but does not destroy the occurrence of an excellent body, resources, and so forth. Some [bodhisattvas] realize a path through which they progress to perfection within one eon, for instance, if they do not generate anger toward a bodhisattva who has obtained a prediction of his or her upcoming enlightenment (as explained earlier). 253If they produce a single angry thought toward such a bodhisattva, this path is not expelled from their mind-stream, but their progress on the path becomes slow for the length of an eon.
In brief, just as in the case of the purification of nonvirtue there is no need to purify every behavioral effect, so with respect to the destruction of virtue there is no need to destroy every behavioral effect. However, as this is important and as it is critical to analyze it using the scriptures of the unique Buddha and the reasoning based on them, you should research the scriptures well and do an analysis.
Thus, the invisible faults of anger are that it projects its own fruitions, which are extremely unpleasant, and that it prevents the arising of the measureless very pleasant fruitions of its opposite [virtue]. [403]
The faults of anger visible in this lifetime are that you do not experience a peaceful and good mind; the joy and happiness that you had previously perish, and you cannot regain them; you cannot sleep well; and you weaken the stability wherein your mind stays calm. When you have great hatred, even those for whom you formerly cared forget your kindness and kill you; even friends and relatives will get annoyed and leave you; although you gather others with your generosity, they will not stay; and so on. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:254
In the grasp of the mental pains of hate,
Your mind does not experience peace,
You do not find joy or happiness,
Sleep does not come, and you become unstable.
Even those who depend on a master
Who cares for them with wealth and services
Will overcome and kill
A master who gets angry.
His anger disheartens friends.
Though he gathers people with gifts,
They will not serve him. In brief,
No angry person is happy.
The Garland of Birth Stories also says:255
When your complexion is spoiled by the fire of anger,
You cannot look good, though adorned with jewelry.
You may sleep on a good bed, but
Your mind suffers the sharp pains of anger.
You forget to achieve goals beneficial to yourself;
Tormented by anger, you take an evil path.
You ruin the achievement of your aims and your good name.
Your grandeur fades like the waning moon.
Though your friends love you,
You fall into an abyss of wrong.
Weakening your intelligence about what is helpful and what harmful,
You mostly transgress and your mind becomes confused.
Through anger you are accustomed to sinful acts,
So you suffer for a hundred years in miserable realms.
What harm greater than this could be done
Even by enemies avenging the great harm you have done?
This anger is the inner enemy;
I know it to be so.
Who can bear
Its proliferation? [404]
Meditate until you are firmly convinced that grave consequences such as these arise from anger. Thus, Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:256
There is no sin like hatred
And no fortitude like patience.
Therefore, earnestly cultivate
Patience in a variety of ways.
First, understand the benefits and faults, and then strive to cultivate patience in many ways. The reason behind the first line is set forth in Candrakīrti’s Explanation of the “Middle Way” Commentary:257
You cannot measure the fruitions of anger, just as you cannot measure the water in the ocean with a balance scale. Therefore, for projecting unpleasant effects and damaging virtue, there is no sin greater than a lack of patience.
For, although other sins result in extremely unpleasant fruitions, they are not great sins on that account alone, given that they do not destroy roots of virtue. Still, there are many wrongs other than anger that combine both production of a terrible fruition and destruction of the roots of virtue: wrong views that deny cause and effect; abandoning the sublime teachings; generating pride in relation to bodhisattvas, gurus, and the like and thus terribly belittling them; and so forth. You can know of these from the Compendium of Trainings.
(c") The divisions of patience
The section on the divisions of patience has three parts:
1. Developing the patience of disregarding harm done to you
2. Developing the patience of accepting suffering
3. Developing the patience of certitude about the teachings
(1") Developing the patience of disregarding harm done to you
Developing the patience of disregarding harm done to you has two parts:
1. Stopping impatience with those who harm you
2. Stopping both dislike for harmdoers’ attainments and delight in their troubles
(a') Stopping impatience with those who harm you
Stopping impatience with those who harm you has two parts:
1. Stopping impatience with those who prevent your happiness and with those who cause you to suffer [405]
2. Stopping impatience with those who prevent your praise, fame, or honor, and with those who have contempt for you, or say offensive or unpleasant things to you
(1') Stopping impatience with those who prevent your happiness and with those who cause you to suffer
Stopping impatience with those who prevent your happiness and with those who cause you to suffer has two parts:
1. Showing that anger is unjustified
2. Showing that compassion is appropriate
(a)) Showing that anger is unjustified
Showing that anger is unjustified has three parts:
1. On analysis of the object, anger is unjustified
2. On analysis of the subject, anger is unjustified
3. On analysis of the basis, anger is unjustified
(1)) On analysis of the object, anger is unjustified
On analysis of the object, anger is unjustified has four parts:
1. On analysis of whether the object has self-control, anger is unjustified
2. On analysis for either adventitiousness or inherency, anger is unjustified
3. On analysis of whether the harm is direct or indirect, anger is unjustified
4. On analysis of the cause that impels the harmdoers, anger is unjustified
(a")) On analysis of whether the object has self-control, anger is unjustified
Analyze, thinking, “What would be reasonable grounds for anger toward harmdoers?” Whereupon, you might think, “They first had the thought of wanting to harm me, prepared the method, and then either prevented my happiness or inflicted unpleasant physical or mental suffering, so my anger is justified.” Are you angry because they inflicted harm while they had the self-control not to harm you, or are you angry because they were utterly without any self-control and hurt you while helplessly impelled by something else? In the former case, your anger is unjustified because those who inflict harm do not have control over themselves, for, when the conditions and causes—seeds left by afflictions to which they were previously habituated, a nearby object, and erroneous conceptions—come together, they give rise to the thought to harm, even though the harmdoers do not think, “I will feel malice”; whereas if those causes and conditions are not complete, they will never produce the thought to harm, even if the harmdoers think, “I will feel malice.” These causes and conditions produce the desire to harm; this in turn produces the work of harming; and this produces suffering for someone else, so those harmdoers do not have even the slightest self-control. Moreover, they have become like servants of their afflictions, because they are under the control of others, i.e., their afflictions.
In the latter case—you are angry because the harmdoers are utterly without any self-control and, being helplessly impelled by something else, they hurt you—then your anger is totally unjustified. [406] For instance, some people who have been possessed by demons and have come under their control may wish to hurt those who are helping them to get free of their demons and thereupon beat them, etc. However, their helpers think, “They do this because their demons have eliminated their ability to control themselves,” and do not have even the slightest anger toward them. They then strive to the best of their ability to free them from their demons. Likewise, when bodhisattvas are hurt by others, they think, “They do this because the demons of the afflictions have eliminated their ability to control themselves.” Without being even the slightest bit angry with those persons they then must generate the spirit of enlightenment, thinking, “I will strive at the bodhisattva deeds in order to free them from these afflictions.” Accordingly, Āryadeva’s Four Hundred Stanzas says:258
Just as a doctor does not fight but helps
Patients who are possessed by spirits, though they get angry,
So the Sage sees that the afflictions are at fault,
Not the persons who have the afflictions.
The master Candrakīrti also states:
“This is not living beings’ fault,
Rather it is the fault of the afflictions.”
So the learned analyze
And do not fight with others.
Although many reasonings are set forth in Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds, it is easy to be certain of this one, and it is a very powerful remedy for anger. Also, the Bodhisattva Levels has the same meaning where it states that you can bear harm after you meditate on the idea of mere phenomena, so meditate repeatedly on this remedy until you reach certain knowledge of it.
If these beings had self-control, they would not have any suffering, because they would not want suffering and because they could control it. Furthermore, you should stop your anger by also thinking, “When these beings are moved by strong afflictions, they commit suicide, leap from cliffs, harm themselves with thorns, weapons, etc., and stop eating and so forth. [407] If they do this to even their greatly cherished and dear selves, of course they will hurt others.” Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:259
Thus, everything is dependent on something else,
And, because that in turn is dependent, it is not autonomous.
Understanding this, do not be angry
At anything, all things being like illusions.
And also:
Therefore, if you see an enemy or friend
Doing what is wrong, think
“This arises from certain conditions,”
And remain happy.
If all beings could achieve results
According to their wish, then,
Since no one wants suffering,
No one would suffer.
And also:
While under the control of their afflictions,
Some people will kill even their dear selves.
So how can you expect them
Not to harm the bodies of others?
(b")) On analysis for either adventitiousness or inherency, anger is unjustified
The fault of doing harm to others either is or is not in the nature of living beings. If it is in their nature, it is wrong to get angry, just as it is wrong to get angry at fire for being hot and burning. Similarly, if it is adventitious, it is also wrong to be angry, just as when smoke and the like appear in the sky, it is wrong to be angry at the sky on account of these flaws of smoke and so forth. Thinking in this way, stop your anger. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:260
If doing harm to others
Is natural for the childish,
It is wrong to get angry at them,
Just as it is at fire’s burning nature.
Still, if the fault is adventitious,
And the nature of beings is good,
My anger is wrong, just as is
Anger at smoke’s appearance in the sky.
(c")) On analysis of whether the harm is direct or indirect, anger is unjustified
If you are angry at the agent of harm that directly inflicts the harm, you will have to be angry at the stick, etc., just as you are at the person. If you are angry at the harmdoer who indirectly inflicts harm, then, just as the person impels the stick and so forth to do the harm, so hostility impels the person. [408] Therefore, get angry at the hostility. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:261
The stick and so forth directly cause the harm.
But if I am angry at the one who throws it,
Then, since hostility impels them,
It is better to get angry at hostility.
If you are not angry at the stick, it is also wrong to be angry at the one who throws it; if you are angry with the one who throws it, it is correct to be angry also at the hostility. Not believing this, your mind has gone down a wrong path. Therefore, become certain about the overall sameness of the logic here and direct your mind toward not being angry at the person in the same way that you are not angry at the stick. Furthermore, use the reasonings taught earlier that negate the idea that anything has self-control in order to understand that you should not differentiate the stick and the one who throws the stick by whether they have a harmful intent.
(d")) On analysis of the cause that impels the harmdoers, anger is unjustified
The experience of suffering produced by those who harm does not occur causelessly or from discordant causes, so it occurs from concordant causes; that is to say, from nonvirtuous actions you have done in the past. Therefore, harmdoers are helplessly impelled to do harm by the power of your karma. Consequently, blame yourself, thinking, “This is my fault, and I am wrong to get angry at others,” and stop your anger on all occasions. For example, it is similar to the way that beings produce the guardians of hell with their own bad karma, and these guardians then inflict harm on them. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:262
I, at a former time, inflicted
Harm such as this on living beings.
Therefore, it is fitting that I, who hurt others,
Should receive this harm.
And also:
The childish do not want suffering,
Yet crave the causes of suffering.
So why should I be angry with others
When it is my own fault that I am hurt?
For example, just like the guardians of hell
And the Sword-leafed Forest,
I produce this harm with my own actions. [409]
So at whom should I get angry?
Those who do me harm arise
Impelled by my own karma.
If thereby they go to a hell,
Have I not ruined them?
Also, Sha-bo-ba said, “When you say, ‘I am not at fault,’ it indicates that you, in fact, have not internalized even a bit of the teaching.”
(2)) On analysis of the subject, anger is unjustified
If you get angry at a harmdoer through an inability to bear suffering, it is contradictory because, even as you are failing to bear slight suffering in the present, you are aggressively creating the cause of measureless suffering in the miserable realms. Therefore, induce a sense of embarrassment, thinking, “I am very stupid,” and work to contain your anger. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:263
If I cannot endure
Even the slight suffering of the present,
Then why do I not stop my anger,
The cause of suffering in the hells?
The suffering generated by harm is the effect of previous bad karma; by experiencing it, you exhaust this karma. If you bear the suffering, you do not accumulate new sins and you greatly increase your merit. Therefore, you must not consider how harmdoers ruin their virtue, but view them as kind in that it is as though they are engaged in actions for the sake of clearing away your sins. The Garland of Birth Stories says:264
I do not think about this person ruining his virtue,
But that he is as if engaged in actions to clear away my sins;
If I am not patient even with this person,
How could I be any more unkind?
And Candrakīrti’s Commentary on the “Middle Way” says:265
You want to say that you are exhausting
The effects of nonvirtuous karma done in the past;
How then can you sow the seeds of further suffering
By getting angry and harming others?
Therefore, just as you tolerate bleeding or burning as a treatment to cure a severe illness, it is appropriate to bear small sufferings for the sake of preventing great suffering. [410]
(3)) On analysis of the basis, anger is unjustified
On analysis of the basis, anger is unjustified has two parts:266
1. Analyzing the causes of harm and where the fault lies
2. Analyzing your commitment
(a")) Analyzing the causes of harm and where the fault lies Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:267
His sword and my body
Are both causes of suffering.
He obtained the sword, I obtained the body;
At which should I be angry?
If, blinded by craving, I have obtained
This abscess with a human form,
So painful that it cannot bear to be touched,
With whom should I be angry when it is hurt?
And also:
If some people, out of confusion, harm others
While others in confusion get angry with them,
Who is blameless
And who is to blame?
(b")) Analyzing your commitment
Develop the fortitude of patience, thinking, “It is wrong for even śrāvakas, who act for their own purposes alone, to be impatient and get angry. So of course it is wrong for me. I committed myself to achieving the benefit and happiness of all living beings when I generated the spirit of enlightenment. I act for others’ welfare and care for all beings.” Also, Bo-do-wa said:
The Buddha’s teaching is to commit no sin. When you fail to cultivate patience with a slight harm, you make the curse, “May this eradicate the teaching.” Thereby you give up your vow, and this eradicates the teaching. We do not have the teaching as a whole; when we break our vows, we dissipate what we do have.
And also:
When a yak has been saddled up for carrying goods, if the saddle tightens around his tail, he bucks, and the saddle beats against his legs. If the saddle is loosened, the straps drop, and the yak is happy. Similarly, if you do not relax around a harmdoer, the harmdoer matches what you do, and you steadily become more unhappy.
(b)) Showing that compassion is appropriate
Contemplate from the depths of your heart, “All living beings have been in cyclic existence since beginningless time, and there is not one who has not been my friend and relative—father, mother, etc. Being impermanent, they lose their lives and are miserable due to the three types of suffering. Crazed by the demon of the afflictions, they destroy their own welfare in this and future lives. [411] I must generate compassion for them. How could it be right to get angry or to retaliate for harm?”
(2') Stopping impatience with those who prevent your praise, fame, or honor, and with those who have contempt for you, or say offensive or unpleasant things to you
Stopping impatience with those who prevent your praise and so forth, and with those who have contempt for you and so forth has two parts:
1. Stopping impatience with those who prevent three things—praise, fame, or honor
2. Stopping impatience with those who do three things to you—have contempt for you, or say offensive or unpleasant things to you
(a)) Stopping impatience with those who prevent three things—praise, fame, or honor
Stopping impatience with those who prevent three things—praise, and so forth—has three parts:
1. Reflection on how praise and so forth lack good qualities
2. Reflection on how praise and so forth have faults
3. The need to delight in those who prevent praise and so forth
(1)) Reflection on how praise and so forth lack good qualities
When others praise you and spread your fame, it serves neither of two purposes: for this life it does not bring you long life, health, and the like, and for future lives it does not bring merit and so forth. Therefore, do not get attached to fame and praise, but reproach yourself by thinking, “My displeasure when my praise and fame are ruined is no different from when small children cry upon the collapse of their sand castles, which lack any of the requisites for a dwelling.” Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:268
Praise, fame, and honor
Do not cause merit, nor longevity,
Nor cause strength, nor health,
Nor bring physical well-being.
Once I understand my own welfare,
What meaning is there for me in those?
And also:
When their sand castles collapse,
Children cry in great distress.
Likewise, my mind is childish
When my praise and fame are ruined.
(2)) Reflection on how praise and so forth have faults
Develop disgust for praise and so forth, thinking, “Praise, fame, and honor distract my mind with the meaningless, destroy my disenchantment with cyclic existence, make me jealous of those with good qualities, and spoil my virtuous activities.” Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:269
Praise and so forth distract me,
Destroy my disenchantment,
Promote my jealousy of those with good qualities,
And destroy all that is good. [412]
(3)) The need to delight in those who prevent praise and so forth
Stop your anger and feel delight from the depths of your heart, thinking, “In that case, damage to my praise, fame, gain, and honor protects me from going to miserable realms, cuts the bonds of my attachment, and, like the Buddha’s blessing, blocks the door through which I am about to enter into suffering.” Thinking like this, you should from the depths of your heart stop anger and feel happy. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:270
Therefore, are not those involved in destroying
Praise of me and the like
Engaged in protecting me
From falling into miserable realms?
I diligently seek freedom
And do not need the bonds of gain and honor;
How could I get angry
With those who free me from bondage?
I am about to descend into suffering,
But, like the Buddha’s blessing, they are
Giving me an opportunity to avoid it.
How could I be angry with them?
(b)) Stopping impatience with those who do three things to you— have contempt for you, or say offensive or unpleasant things to you
Prevent your unhappiness, thinking, “Since the mind is not material, it cannot be directly harmed by others. While the mind is indirectly harmed by directly harming the body, the body cannot be harmed by contempt, offensive speech, and unpleasant words. These harm neither body nor mind, so I should be delighted.” When you prevent your unhappiness, you do not give rise to hostility. Thus Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:271
Since the mind is not physical,
No one can ever destroy it.
It is strongly attached to the body
And so it is harmed by physical suffering.
Contempt, offensive speech,
And unpleasant words
Do not harm the body,
Then why, mind, are you so angry?
Sha-ra-wa said:
No matter what the three geshes Kam-lung-ba, Neu-sur-ba (sNe’u-zur-pa) and Drap-ba (Grab-pa) heard, it was no different from speaking to dirt and rocks, so they remained happy. Since everyone nowadays reacts quickly to what is said, they become unhappy.
When somebody whispered to Shen-dön (gShen-ston), “He said this and then that,” Shen-dön replied, “People also say things behind the king’s back. You have committed divisive speech, so confess it.” [413]
When someone said to the yogi Shay-rap-dor-jay (Shes-rab-rdo-rje), “People are talking about us and saying that our attendants are too lax,” he replied, “Well, the talk of the people will be about people; what else would they talk about?” Thereafter that person completely stopped the spread of his divisive speech.
Objection: When someone has contempt for me, etc., other people will not like me, so this is why I am unhappy about it.
Reply: This would have some truth if others’ dislike were to harm you. However, since their dislike does nothing to you, give up your unhappiness about others’ contempt. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:272
Others’ dislike for me
Does not devour me
In this or other lives.
Why am I averse to it?
Objection: Indeed I am not harmed by their dislike, but in dependence on it I may be hindered in acquiring things from them, so I will get angry at those who have contempt for me, scorn me, or say unpleasant words to me.
Reply: Even if you acquire things, you must leave them here, whereas the sin of your anger at them will follow you. Hence, of the two choices—dying quickly in destitution or living for a long time improperly—the former is better.
Even if you acquire things and live for a long time, you must die since you are not liberated from death. At the time of death, it is the same whether you have enjoyed pleasure for the previous hundred years or enjoyed it for merely one year, for both alternatives are nothing more than mere objects of memory; and at that time it makes no difference at all for your happiness or suffering. It is analogous to how in a dream the experience of pleasure for one hundred years and the experience of a mere moment’s pleasure have no difference at all with respect to your happiness or unhappiness at the time of waking.
When you contemplate in this way and turn away from attachment to gain and honor, you will not become unhappy with unpleasant words and contempt. You have no interest in being special in the eyes of others, so you do not lose your contentment. Thus, Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:273
While I do not like contempt and so forth
Because they interfere with my prosperity,
I leave my acquisitions here
But firmly keep my sins. [414]
Better that I die today
Than live a long, improper life.
Those like me might live a long time,
But then there is only the suffering of death.
Someone might wake from a dream
After experiencing happiness for one hundred years;
Another might wake from a dream
After experiencing happiness for a mere moment.
For both persons once they awaken
Happiness does not return;
It is like this at the time of death
Whether your life was long or short.
After acquiring many things,
I may enjoy pleasure for a long time,
But just like one robbed by a thief
I will leave naked and empty-handed.
(b') Stopping both dislike for harmdoers’ attainments and delight in their troubles
Contemplate as follows, “After I have generated the spirit of enlightenment for the sake of accomplishing all living beings’ benefit and happiness, I get angry at harmdoers when they obtain happiness on their own. After I have said that I want all beings to become buddhas, I get unhappy when harmdoers get even minimal prosperity or honor. This is extremely contradictory.” You must eliminate your jealousy regarding any sort of attainment by other persons and delight in it from the depths of your heart. Otherwise your spirit of enlightenment and the achievement of the welfare and happiness of beings are nothing but words. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:274
Since you want all beings to be happy,
You have generated the spirit of enlightenment.
Then, when beings find happiness themselves,
Why do you get angry with them?
If you wish to attain for living beings’ welfare
Buddhahood, which is worshipped in the three worlds,
Why are you tormented when you see
Their most paltry gain or honor?
When a relative finds sustenance
For those whom you should nurture—
Objects of your care and generosity—
Instead of being pleased, are you angry again?
If you do not wish even that for beings,
How can you wish them enlightenment?
Where is the spirit of enlightenment
In someone who gets angry at others’ attainments? [415]
Whether your enemy gets something from someone
Or it remains in the benefactor’s house
It is never yours, so why be angry—
Whether it is given or not?
Even your mere malicious thoughts that delight in your enemies’ troubles or that wish for their destruction do not harm your enemy; they lead only to your own suffering. Yet, if such malice were to harm them, you should stop it completely, reflecting on the drawback that this would bring ruin to yourself and others. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:275
When my enemies are unhappy,
What am I pleased about?
My wishes alone
Will cause them no harm.
Even if I should effect their suffering with my wish,
What could I be pleased about?
If I say I will be satisfied,
What could be more ruinous?
Once I am caught by the terrible, sharp hook
Cast by the fishermen, the afflictions,
I will surely be cooked by the hell-guardians
In a kettle for the beings of hell.
You will be unhappy if you view as absolutely undesirable the obstacles to what you and your friends want, movement in directions you do not want, and the prosperity of your enemies. If this unhappiness increases, you become hostile. If you stop your absolute dislike of these three things, you prevent unhappiness. Once you do this, you will not feel hostile. Thus, dispel your absolute dislike of these by using the reasonings previously taught. Take many approaches to stop your anger, because it is a very great fault.
These instructions—the lines of reasoning of the conquerors and their children presented above—provide the techniques for defeating your greatest enemy, anger. They involve arguing with your own afflictions and looking within yourself. When you analyze well with discerning wisdom and stop anger with many lines of reasoning, you prevent many different types of anger, and you become patient in many ways. [416] Since this is an experience engendered by penetrating understanding that uses flawless reasoning to get at the meaning of correct scriptures, it leaves an extremely stable latent propensity.
Those who reject meditative analysis with discerning wisdom are those who reject the whole of the great undertaking of bodhisattva deeds such as these. Understand that such rejection is the worst hindrance to using a life of leisure for the benefit of yourself and others. Get rid of it as you would poison.
(2") Developing the patience of accepting suffering
Developing the patience of accepting suffering has three parts:
1. The reason you must definitely accept suffering
2. The way to develop acceptance
3. A detailed explanation from the viewpoint of the bases
(a') The reason you must definitely accept suffering
Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:276
The causes of happiness sometimes occur,
Whereas the causes of suffering occur frequently.
As you continually experience whatever suffering is appropriate to you, you absolutely must know how to bring it into the path. Otherwise, as the Compendium of Trainings says, you either generate hostility or you become discouraged about cultivating the path, either circumstance interfering with applying yourself to virtue.
Moreover, some sufferings will be caused by others, and some will be produced by your former karma, whether or not you strive at the path. Some, as will be explained below, occur when you engage in virtuous activity but do not occur when you are not so engaged. For the time being, you cannot dispel the sufferings definitely produced by the power of former karma and immediate conditions. You must accept them when they arise, because (1) if you do not do this, in addition to the basic suffering, you have the suffering of worry that is produced by your own thoughts, and then the suffering becomes very difficult for you to bear; (2) if you accept the suffering, you let the basic suffering be and do not stop it, but you never have the suffering of worry that creates discontentment when you focus on the basic suffering; and (3) since you are using a method to bring even basic sufferings into the path, you greatly lessen your suffering, so you can bear it. Therefore, it is very crucial that you generate the patience that accepts suffering. [417]
(b') The way to develop acceptance
The way to develop acceptance has two parts:
1. Rejecting the idea that when suffering occurs it is absolutely unpleasant
2. Showing that it is appropriate to accept suffering
(1') Rejecting the idea that when suffering occurs it is absolutely unpleasant
If you can remedy a situation wherein suffering occurs, you do not need to feel that it is unpleasant. If you cannot remedy it, it is not helpful to find it unpleasant, so there is no need for, or effectiveness to, your displeasure; there is even a disadvantage. If you are very impatient, a slight suffering is extremely difficult to bear, whereas if you minimize your impatience, you can endure great suffering. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:277
If there is a remedy,
Why be displeased?
If there is no remedy,
What is the use of being displeased?
And also:
I shall not be impatient with
Heat, cold, wind, and rain,
Illness, bondage, beatings, and so on;
If I am, the harm increases.
(2') Showing that it is appropriate to accept suffering
Showing that it is appropriate to accept suffering has three parts:
1. Reflecting on the good qualities of suffering
2. Reflecting on the advantages of bearing suffering’s hardships
3. How it is not difficult to bear suffering if you gradually grow accustomed to it, starting with the small
(a)) Reflecting on the good qualities of suffering
Suffering has five good qualities: (1) The good quality of spurring you on to liberation. This is because if you had no suffering, you would not develop the determination to be free of it. (2) The good quality of dispelling arrogance. This is because when suffering strikes you, it reduces your sense of superiority. (3) The good quality of causing you to shun sin. This is because when you experience very painful feelings, they arise from nonvirtue, so if you do not want these effects, you must avoid their causes. (4) The good quality of causing you to like cultivating virtue. This is because when you are tormented with suffering, you desire happiness, and once you want it, you must cultivate the virtue that causes it. [418] (5) The good quality of producing compassion for those who wander in cyclic existence. This is because after you have assessed your own situation, you think, “Other beings suffer like this.” From these five and what they indicate, recognize other good qualities on your own and then repeatedly train your mind to think, “This suffering is a condition that I want.” Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:278
Since without suffering there is no determination to be free, You, mind, stay fixed!
And also:
Furthermore, the good qualities of suffering are that you
Dispel arrogance with disenchantment,
Develop compassion for the beings of cyclic existence,
Carefully avoid sin, and delight in virtue.
(b)) Reflecting on the advantages of bearing suffering’s hardships
Reflecting on the advantages of bearing suffering’s hardships has two parts:
1. Reflecting on the crucial benefits such as liberation, etc.
2. Reflecting on the benefit of dispelling immeasurable suffering
(1)) Reflecting on the crucial benefits such as liberation, etc.
Repeatedly make your mind steadfast, thinking, “I know that in the past while passing through cyclic existence I suffered for the sake of trifling desires and minor needs, yet I disregarded the many sufferings, undergoing a great deal of purposeless suffering that will in turn cause immeasurable suffering for me in my future lives. Given this, now that I know that I am engaged in virtue that will accomplish immeasurable benefits and happiness for myself and others, it is appropriate that I accept suffering a trillion times more than before—so of course I will accept sufferings smaller than that.” Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:279
For the sake of my desires I have experienced
Being burned, etc., thousands of times in the hells,
But have not achieved either my own welfare
Or the welfare of others.
This is not as harmful as that,
And it achieves great purpose,
So it is correct here only to delight
In suffering that clears away all beings’ hurt.
Thus, after you reflect on how you have previously created only hardship that did not accomplish any of your own or others’ aims, uplift your mind, thinking, “Why am I not now bearing a suffering that achieves great purpose? Although I am suffering, how excellent that I have found something like this to do.” [419] Moreover, develop a fearless attitude toward hardship, thinking how you were misled by bad teachers to ignoble, purposeless paths whereon you endured ascetic practices such as leaping on a trident, sitting close to five fires, and the like. Also think how for the sake of inferior, mundane purposes you made yourself bear many sufferings in farming, business, and war.
(2)) Reflecting on the benefit of dispelling immeasurable suffering
Reflect well on the differences between short-term and long-term suffering, thinking, “A man who is to be executed is overjoyed when he is freed from execution by having merely his finger cut off. How excellent it would be if similarly, by means of this slight suffering of human hardship, I could permanently dispel the suffering of limitless cyclic existence in general and in particular the suffering of miserable rebirths such as the hells, etc.” If you do this well, you produce fearless courage with respect to hardship. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:280
How is it unfortunate if a man who is to be executed
Is freed from that by having his hand cut off?
How is it unfortunate if by human suffering
You are released from hell?
(c)) How it is not difficult to bear suffering if you gradually grow accustomed to it, starting with the small
Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:281
There is nothing whatsoever
That does not become easier through habituation.
So by becoming used to small harms
You will bear great harms as well.
After you have conceived the armor-like thought to accept suffering, you gradually blend it with suffering, starting with small sufferings. When you do this, you steadily increase your capacity to accept suffering. The Compendium of Trainings says:282
Once you have first grown used to small sufferings, you will become accustomed to the difficult and the very difficult. For example, just as all living beings have the idea that suffering is happiness through the power of conditioning, so you maintain the idea of joy whenever you experience suffering by becoming used to applying the idea of joy to these experiences. [420]
As to how this comes about, the Questions of Householder Ugra Sūtra states:283
Free yourself from a mind that is like a piece of cotton.
And the Array of Stalks Sūtra says: 284
Daughter, in order to destroy all afflictions you should develop a mind that is hard to defeat.
Thus, you need courage that is very firm and stable; you will not be able to accept suffering with a fragile mind.
If you initially develop a significant degree of courage, even great suffering becomes helpful. It is just like the case of warriors entering a battle and using the sight of their own blood to increase their boldness. If right from the start you belittle yourself, saying, “I have never heard of such a thing, and even if I had heard of it, I could never do something like that,” then even a small suffering becomes a cause for you to turn back from the path. It is just like the case of cowards who see others’ blood and, fainting, fall unconscious. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:285
Some, seeing their own blood,
Become more intrepid.
Some, seeing others’ blood,
Fall unconscious.
This comes from the mind’s fortitude
Or from its timidity.
(c') A detailed explanation from the viewpoint of the bases
Question: Given that one must accept the suffering that occurs, from where do these sufferings come and how does one accept them?
Reply: There are eight bases for accepting suffering:
1. Acceptance of suffering that is based on objects. Robes, alms, bedding, seat, medicine, and necessities are objects that enhance pure conduct. Without displeasure and disappointment you accept the suffering that arises when these are given to you and you find them to be inferior or too few, or when they are given with disrespect or after a long delay. [421]
2. Acceptance of suffering that is based on worldly concerns. The nine worldly concerns are: (1) loss; (2) disgrace; (3) blame; (4) pain; (5) disintegration; (6) extinguishment; (7) aging; (8) sickness; and, (9) the death of what is subject to death subsequent to its decay. After you have analyzed the sufferings based on all or each of these, you accept the suffering.
3. Acceptance of suffering that is based on physical activities. The four physical activities are moving around, standing, sitting, and lying down. When all day and all night you purify your mind of obstructions by means of the first [moving around] and third [sitting] of these four, you are accepting the sufferings that arise from them; however, you do not relax on a couch, chair, or bed of straw or leaves when it is not the time to do so.
4. Acceptance of suffering that is based on upholding the teaching. The teaching is upheld in seven ways: by (1) worshipping and serving the three jewels; (2) worshipping and serving the guru; (3) understanding the teachings; (4) teaching extensively to others what you have understood; (5) reciting its praises in a loud, clear voice; (6) correctly reflecting on it in solitude; and (7) cultivating meditative serenity and insight that is imbued with yogic attention. When you strive at these, you accept the sufferings that arise.
5. Acceptance of suffering that is based on living by begging. The seven aspects of living by begging are (1) you experience having an ugly appearance due to shaving off your hair, beard and so forth; (2) you experience wearing cloth that is patched together and is of poor color; (3) you live by restraining yourself from the conduct of worldly persons and act in a way other than they do; (4) you give up farm work, etc., and then live by getting material goods from others, so you live in dependence on others; (5) since you do not
accumulate or employ material gain, you seek things such as robes, etc., from others for as long as you live; (6) since you give up sexual intercourse, you turn away from human desires until you die; and (7) since you give up dancing, laughter, and the like, you turn away from human merriment until you die in order to give up friends, intimate companions, childhood friends, and the like, as well as pleasures and enjoyments. You accept the suffering that comes about based on these. [422]
6. Acceptance of suffering that is based on fatigue due to perseverance. You accept the suffering that arises from mental and physical fatigue, hardship, and disturbance while you are persevering at cultivating virtues.
7. Acceptance of suffering that is based on acting for the welfare of living beings. There are eleven activities for others’ welfare; you accept the sufferings that occur because of these.286
8. Acceptance of suffering that is based on current tasks. You accept the suffering that arises from tasks for a renunciate, such as the work associated with the begging bowl, robes, and so forth, or from the tasks for a householder, such as faultless work on a farm, in business, as a government employee, etc.
Even if you are stricken with any of the sufferings that arise in dependence on these eight bases, you do not give up your joyous perseverance at each. You act for the sake of enlightenment, joyfully, not letting such sufferings become an obstacle that causes you to turn back once you have set forth.
(3") Developing the patience of certitude about the teachings
The patience of certitude about the teachings means generating the forbearance of conviction. It has eight objects:
1. The object of faith. This is the good qualities of the three jewels.
2. The object to be actualized. This is the reality of the two selflessnesses.
3. The desired object. This is the great powers of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, of which there are three—the power of the superknowledges, the power of the six perfections, and the power which is innate.
4. The object to be adopted. This is wanting both the cause—good deeds—and the effect of these deeds.
5. The object to be discarded. This is wishing to avoid both the cause—misdeeds—and the effect of these deeds.
6. The object of meditation that is the goal to be achieved. This is enlightenment.
7. The object of meditation that is the method for achieving the goal. This is all the paths of training in the spirit of enlightenment.
8. The object of subsequent practice through study and reflection. According to Dro-lung-ba (Gro-lung-pa), this refers to the province of what is to be known, such as impermanence and so forth. [423] The Power-Lineage Chapter (Bala-gotra-parivarta) of the Bodhisattva Levels mentions that the eighth is the sublime teaching—the twelve branches of scripture and so forth—so I think you have to take it as being this.
The way to have conviction is to become certain about these objects just as they are, and then to think about them again and again, apprehending them without conflict.
In accordance with passages in the Bodhisattva Levels, I have set forth the set of eight bases with respect to the patience of accepting suffering and eight objects with respect to the patience of certitude about the teachings. In particular, there is extensive coverage there of the patience of certitude about the teachings.
(d") How to practice
When practicing any kind of patience, you practice it in association with the six supremacies and all six perfections. These are the same as in the earlier explanation, except the generosity of patience means to establish others in patience. 287
(e") A summary
The recollection and cultivation of the spirit of enlightenment—the basis of the bodhisattva deeds—is the root of the wish to establish all beings in a patience wherein they have extinguished the contaminations. After you steadily increase this spirit, aspire to practice the patience of those at high levels and then train your mind in it. Distinguish the trainings for the patience of a beginning bodhisattva, and then learn these properly. If you transgress the boundaries as explained, you must make an effort to amend this. If you neglect these transgressions at the time of practicing these trainings, you will be continually tainted by many great misdeeds, and even in future lifetimes your practice of the marvelous deeds of the bodhisattvas will be extremely difficult. Seeing that the essentials of the path are supreme, practice right now what you can, and inculcate the intention to practice even those you now cannot. If you do this, then, as the Questions of Subāhu Sūtra says, you will bring the perfection of patience to completion with little difficulty and minor suffering. [424]