Bodhisattvacaryavatara, 8 June 1989

So incurring the wrath, the displeasure of the king, there’s nothing more that he can do but take our, to torture this one body and perhaps destroy it, take our life. That he doesn’t it’s not within his power even though he has great power to to force to undergo the the sufferings of hell. It’s only that is within our own power. By harming sentient beings, all sentient beings, you know, one amongst all sentient beings who have the who are under the care of the Buddha and creating the dislike of the Buddha, creating the negative karma.

Then we are going to experience the consequences of that which is to be reborn in such a situation as hell which even the king cannot does not have the power but we have such power over ourselves to be reborn in such a situation due to harming others. Therefore, Śāntideva advises us understanding the far reaching consequences of harming others that we should practice patience even over and above patience seek to develop, cultivate love, caring, and benefit towards sentient beings. So there’s a difference in the consequences between harming the subjects of a king and harming sentient beings in this analogy. That even if we were to incur the displeasure of the king that he doesn’t it’s beyond his power even if to send us to hell. That’s only within our own power that he doesn’t his power doesn’t extend that far but in fact ours does.

But this is on the negative side that the ability, potency of the negativity that we create by harming whether it’s the subject of the king or whether it’s sentient beings in general. If on the other hand, we were to treat the servants of the king with very respectfully, then he may we may gain his favor but how wonderful how much can he actually reward us? How much can he benefit us? There’s nothing really wonderful so much that he can do for us. But on the other hand, by respecting sentient beings, we can actually reap the fruit of Buddhahood.

That that in treating sentient beings with respect, caring for them, loving them, and that we the Buddhas delight in such and such types of conduct that we we create a great deal of personal power and thereby are empowered to eventually reach Buddhahood and which is an extremely wonderful goal to accomplish. Therefore, there’s a great deal of difference in both in the negative on the negative side and the positive side in in the consequences from our actions. So, you know, if we were to state you know, summarize this, we’re we’re talking about the benefits with respect to caring for sentient beings as opposed to harming sentient beings. That in the case of the positive aspect that is caring for sentient beings that we create personal power, we delight all the Buddhas, and we bring our own ultimate welfare closer and closer. Why, you know, why is it that I don’t see that my that my own future welfare is dependent upon caring for others?

That ultimately that I will attain Buddhahood in dependence upon this. By caring for sentient beings is an extremely skillful action because it brings delight to all the Buddhas and in dependence upon that I create a wealth of personal power. And dependent upon that, I will ultimately achieve my final goal of Buddhahood. But not only that ultimate goal but even the temporary goals within this life itself will be attained by caring for others, by respecting others. That I will attain, there will be a harmonious atmosphere will be created around me that I will experience happiness, that I will be renowned.

I will have experience a great deal of glory and peace within my soul by enacting in such a way. So in this way, in respecting caring for others, we become we will be highly regarded by others since they they they gain respect for us by respecting them. By caring for them, we we too will be cared for and we will experience happiness. So all happiness comes about in dependence upon caring for others. Our welfare both to oneself and others.

That until the time that we actually achieve liberation, until we achieve Buddhahood, that through practicing patience we will we will have a beautiful appearance that we will others will like us and we will experience happiness all in dependence upon this. So additionally, in dependence upon the practice of caring for others, I will have a long life. And no sickness. So as the temporal bits the temp the temporal benefits of practicing patience and caring for others, that I will have a long life, I will be healthy, that others will have a liking toward me, I will be highly regarded, that this type of regard, this reputation will not be one that will be unstable. You know, sometimes the people are hardly regarded and the next day they’re looked down upon.

But as in the case of Mahatma Gandhi that he, even after his death, he’s still held in high regard. That and I will attain the position of a universal monarch, universal emperor, chakravartin emperor who has extremely great power. These are some of the temporal benefits to be gained through the practice of patience and caring. So if we simply state very briefly what’s being said here that we want happiness, that we don’t want to suffer and that the out of the consequence of caring for others, respecting others is happiness and the absence of suffering. Then ultimately, that’s the temporal benefit.

But ultimately, in dependence upon respecting and caring for others, we will finally attain liberation and Buddhahood. So that completes the sixth chapter of the which is entitled patience or forbearance within the text Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds. Yeah. So, essentially, patience is the secondary mental factor which forbears in in the which for is has has the function of forbearing harm by others. We can there are occasions when we might be sitting quite peacefully in a relaxed manner and somebody comes up to us and says some unkind words and harsh words to us.

As soon as they enter into our ear, our happiness is lost. Our peace is lost. And we we get very upset. You know, someone just in a very minor instances, somebody gives us a dirty look. And though we might have been happy just previous to seeing that, we our mind get becomes upset.

We it gets agitated. But with this this quality of patience which has the ability to forbear, then then the the mind does not get upset. There’s There’s no thought to retaliate. There’s a quality of non attachment. One has feeling quality.

It’s okay. Therefore, the mind is able to maintain its relaxed and happy state. So there there are three types of patience. There’s the patience of forbearance. There’s the patience of not retaliating in the face of harm, voluntarily tolerating voluntarily accepting suffering, and a forbearing attitude with respect to spiritual practice.

So with regard to the the first not returning not not returning harm in the face of harm. That is a verse from the the ritual of the offering to the spiritual master which says, though the three realms, they’re all the beings in the three realms. The three realms of, for example, desire realm, form realm, and formless realm which are inhabited by by all sentient beings. That even if all these beings were to rise up against me as my enemies, that they were to become angry at me, that they were to say terrible things about me. You did this.

You were a thief. You to disparage me. That if they were to beat me and even if they were to kill me that I will not get upset. That I will not retaliate. That thinking that you remain in a in in the in a that I will forbear remaining remaining in a state of forbearance that in the thinking it doesn’t matter.

That it it doesn’t matter. Not not seeking, you know, I will not return harm for any type of harm. That that not returning harm for harm, not retaliating in the face of harm is the is the patience of not of not returning harm for harm. However much harm that may be directed toward us by however many people that, you know, whether they might speak harshly about it, they might speak unkind words, you know, describing all our various faults that that the quality of mind which which does not retaliate, which which does not get upset, which does not become angry is the this first type of patience. It is the non-retaliation in the face of harm.

So as was mentioned previously by Śāntideva that even if all beings were to step on my head and kill me, that I would not retaliate. And this is the the patience as a tolerance of not returning harm for harm or non retaliation. So then the second type of patience in in carrying on our practice of Dharma to engaging in the activities of listening, reflecting, and meditating. Sometimes these can be quite difficult and one has to forbear in these all the necessary hardships which these might in fact entail and developing a willingness to voluntarily take on these difficulties. This is the second of these pay two of the three patients is voluntarily accepting suffering.

So we can take the example of Milarepa who underwent great hardships for the sake of his practice of Dharma. That he went to the place that he lived was bare. It didn’t have a cushion to sit on. He had very torn clothing, bad food. He experienced cold.

He experienced heat. He went through all these various sufferings for the for the sake of his practice. And this is the the tolerance of voluntarily accepting suffering. The third, I don’t think I translated very well previously. It’s the attitude of abiding in the Dharma.

The tolerance of the quality of mind which is the remaining within the Dharma. And this would be when you know that going through meditation is sometimes quite to engage in meditation is very difficult. But you know we are examining the various points of Dharma. We’re looking at the law of cause and effect. We are looking at perhaps meditating on disadvantages of cyclic existence, the advantages of liberation.

And to actually carry on these examinations in our meditation is quite difficult. So we have to develop the the the state, the attitude to to to abide in these difficulties for the sake of Dharma. Abiding. So, the attitude of abiding for the sake of Dharma. So I still have to refine what I said.

So the the I asked Rinpoche what was the difference between the second and third, and that actually obviously, I didn’t explain it. I didn’t translate it well. I didn’t understand it well. The second was just in generally accepting, tolerating, voluntarily accepting difficulty, suffering for the in these examples that were given for the sake of one’s Dharma practice. The third one is attitude, forbearing in the attitude of examining the nature of phenomena.

For example, meditation, looking at the law of cause and effect, looking at the disadvantages of cyclic existence, the advantages of liberation, all these various dharmas or phenomenon or situations but willing to tolerate the process of really looking into them, examining them, trying to understand them. This kind of patience is tolerance. It’s what it meant for this type. The attitude of abiding in the difficulties of examining, coming to understand these phenomena with the Dharma of these phenomena. So such types of practices, you know, prostration, reading of text, etcetera.

That these are all difficult practices that we voluntarily accept suffering for the sake of our Dharma practice. But in these types of practices, there’s not one is not really trying to understand the nature, of the phenomena. This would be the second, voluntarily accepting suffering, not the third that is tolerating the tolerant attitude toward persevering in trying to understand the nature of of phenomena. It’s said that there’s no evil like that of anger and that what we have been discussing patients or tolerance is the direct antidote to anger. Anger has two negative qualities.

One, that it itself is negative. We create as it is a negative action, create negative karma. But additionally, it has the power to destroy previously previously created positive karma. So it has this dual negative quality about it. And therefore, it is considered amongst all the various afflictive emotions to be the worst.

So though the other afflictive emotions such as attachment, pride, etcetera are negative that they don’t have this ability to destroy previously created positive actions. That, you know, we go through a great deal of difficulties in creating positive karma and it is only in this hatred which can destroy all the consequences of all the difficulties that we went through. Therefore, that’s why it’s considered such a negative affliction. So in this this explanation by Śāntideva on the cultivation of patience, it’s extremely extensive and it’s it’s presented in a very profound manner that in dependence upon that we can begin to forgo much of our negativity, begin to create various positive types of actions and increase those positive types of actions which we have already cultivated. Yeah.

So we’ll stop there. And if you have any questions, we’ll answer questions. So this is when the ways of the world and the ways of spiritual practice part. You know, it’s it’s true what you say that that if you don’t retaliate, people think you’re a coward. But, you know, you don’t have to think of yourself that way.

This isn’t a spiritual this isn’t a very skillful way of acting and thinking. So in, I mean, in the world, when someone hurts you, if you don’t retaliate, then they think you they call you very weak that you have no you aren’t brave. This is the way the world looks at the situation. Situation. At If we take an example of meditation, you know, meditating for one hour, most people would find quite difficult.

And, but we have to be willing to voluntarily take on this difficulty. If, if we knowing that it’s difficult, we say, Oh, I’m not going to do it. I’m tired. You know? Then we will never progress.

But on the other hand, thinking, okay, I’m tired. It’s difficult but I’m going to for forbearing this difficulty because through this meditation I’m going to progress and go beyond my difficulties altogether. And this is the, you know, forbearing in difficulties is what is meant here by voluntarily seeking out suffering. So Śāntideva mentions that in all of the difficulties that I’ve gone through previously, you know, what good did they do me? You know, did they bring me the happiness that I wanted?

Am I am I happy now even though, I went through all these difficulties in the path? Am I happy now? In the case of and this way of acting has no end. But in the case of Dharma, though we might be have to again go and undergo difficulties, we voluntarily undergo these difficulties because we can begin to understand that this type of difficulty has a final end. That we will by going through the difficulties within our practice of Dharma that we’re purifying various negative actions, we’re creating various positive qualities and by taking on the difficulty involved in this voluntarily, then our suffering can come to an end.

Other types of suffering will never come to an end. In in in a worldly sense, you know, people, for example, who fight in wars in the army, they by they go through a tremendous amount of hardship in killing their enemies. Okay? And they think of themselves as being very brave and as great people. Fact, they’re only creating more suffering for themselves in all these difficulties that they’re going through.

But in respect to spiritual practice, that again, we have to we go through difficulties that we may have to go through hardships. But as a consequence of all these difficulties, for example, persevering in our meditations that we are purifying negativities, that we’re gaining realizations. And the fruit of all these difficulties is that we will be happy in the future. So, there’s a difference in consequences of these two types of difficulties. One will bring happiness and one will bring suffering.