Today’s Dharma Talk is on the 6th chapter on patience from Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva. This is perhaps my favorite Dharma book and chapter 6 is my favorite chapter. The thing that I have benefitted from most in my study of the Dharma are teachings related to negative emotions and their antidote. I had the pleasure of studying this text in detail while in Nepal. First, I received a brief explanation of the text over the course of about six weeks from a monk from India. The second time I studied the text, I was able to study it in more detail over the course of eight or nine months with a very well educated monk from Tibet.

The very first verse in this chapter makes it crystal clear how important patience is:
1. All the good works gathered in a thousand ages,
Such as deeds of generosity,
And offerings to the Blissful Ones--
A single flash of anger shatters them.

This first verse points out how destructive anger is. A thousand ages of merit can be destroyed by one instant of anger. Everything comes from the mind, both happiness and suffering. So, if we train the mind in patience, we can avoid a great deal of suffering.

Of course, this depends on how strong the anger is. Relatively mild anger will do less damage than overwhelming rage. However, it is important to note that even if we do not tend toward extreme anger, indulging relatively minor episodes of anger will lead to the habit of responding with anger. Over time, perhaps more than one lifetime, the habit will simply grow. It’s like running a cart over a dirt road. At first, there is no change to the road, but over time deeper and deeper grooves appear until the cart wheels can only run on the road in those grooves. If you want to turn the cart in a different direction, it will take a great deal of effort to get the cart out of those grooves. If we create too strong a habit toward reacting with anger, it will be difficult to avoid anger in the future, even if we want to.

Verse two states:
2. No evil is there similar to anger,
No austerity to be compared with patience,
Steep yourself, therefore, in patience,
In various ways, insistently.

This verse shows us that patience is the antidote to anger. A mind that tends toward patience--a mind trained in patience--will not react with anger when difficult circumstances arise. The next several verses show us how we benefit ourselves by avoiding anger.

3. Those tormented by the pain of anger,
Never know the tranquility of mind--
Strangers they will be to every pleasure;
They will neither sleep nor feel secure.

The first line reminds us how our own anger is painful to us. A while ago I spoke briefly to the kids on a Sunday morning. I simply asked them if it feels good to be angry or jealous and they all said, “No.” It is obvious even to children how painful anger and other negative emotions are. And yet, as adults, we still do so little about it. We say we cannot help it when we get angry, but all the Buddhist masters have taught that we can. We simply have to pay attention and train our minds in patience.

The second line talks about tranquility. Tranquility, however, isn’t the absence of emotions. We are not trying to become robots without any feelings. We are simply trying not to be overcome with negative emotions.

Look at the Buddha statue behind me. They always have a slight smile on their faces, right? This is because the mind of a Buddha is at peace. Think of a clear pool of water. If the water is calm we can see our own reflection in it. We can also see deep into the water. If, however, the water is disturbed, whipped about by wind that churns up the mud, we can’t see anything. The mind of a Buddha is calm. The mind of a sentient being is almost constantly disturbed by this or that emotion rooted in ignorance.

Verse 7 addresses the cause of anger:
7. Getting what I do not want,
And all that hinders my desire--
In discontent my anger finds its fuel.
From this it grows and beats me down.

“Getting what I do not want” is rather clear. Having to deal with people I don’t like, getting sick, and so on leads to dissatisfaction and ultimately to anger. “And all that hinders my desire” refers to loosing what we want to keep. Anything that gets in the way of our accomplishing our worldly desires makes us upset and potentially angry.

Verse 10 describes patience:
10. If there’s a remedy when trouble strikes,
What reason is there for dejection?
And if there is no help for it,
What use is their in being glum?

Day to day difficulties are generally easy to overcome. Or at least they don’t last long. What use is there getting angry in traffic? We know we’ll get to our destination, though perhaps not as quickly as we’d like. Sometimes, though, there’s nothing that can be done about a situation we don’t like. In that case, there is no use in getting upset or angry. Being in that situation is suffering enough. If we get angry about it, we only add to our suffering. So indulging anger is really foolish.

Verse 12 goes on to say something quite interesting:
12. The cause of happiness is rare,
And many are the seeds of suffering!
But if I have no pain, I’ll never long for freedom;
Therefore, O my mind, be steadfast!

The causes of our temporary or worldly happiness, such as wealth, fame, romance and so on are few in number. These forms of happiness don’t last, no matter what we do. But our suffering has countless causes. The loss of things we want, poverty, illness and injury, enemies, and so on.... The list goes on and on. So happiness comes in this life but we loose it. Misery, though also temporary, comes as well. It seems as though suffering and dissatisfaction are the only constant things in life.

However, if we can approach our problems with the right frame of mind, it can be a catalyst for us to overcome suffering. Without suffering, we would have no motivation to seek an end to suffering. We would feel no need to overcome our ignorance and achieve perfect enlightenment. On the other hand, if we do have suffering and if we pay attention to the Buddha’s teachings that suffering can be overcome, that very suffering is the fuel for our eventual liberation from suffering. So in this verse, Shantideva is speaking to himself, encouraging himself to practice patience in the face of suffering. This is the positive side of suffering--it’s what encourages us to overcome ignorance and find release from samsara.

Verse 20 shows us how our normal reaction to being harmed is foolish:
20. Thinking scorn of every pain,
And vanquishing such foes as hatred:
These are exploits of victorious warriors.
The rest is slaying what is dead already.

The true battle we are all in, whether or not we realize it, is with our own negative emotions, such as hatred. This is rooted in ignorance. But usually we attack what we wrongly perceive to be our enemy--outside forces, such as people who are mean to us or who attack us in some way. The last line of this verse, “The rest is slaying what is dead already,” means that those who harm us are mortal. What point is there in killing an enemy who already has one foot in the grave? If we kill an enemy who is going to die already, the effort is wasted. In addition, we generate the negative karma of having killed them. Someone might say that if they don’t kill their enemy, they will just get away with their crimes against us. However, there is no escape from karma. Everyone will have to answer for their wrongdoing even if we aren’t the ones who dole out their punishment. The law of karma guarantees that every sentient being will experience the results of their deeds.

Of course, it’s best to not have enemies at all. So even if someone attacks us, we should practice patience, recognizing that they are acting badly out of ignorance and their own misguided attempt to be happy. If we can remember this, feeling compassion for them and practicing patience is much easier.

Verse 39 addresses this point:
39. If those who are like wanton children
Are by nature prone to injure others,
There’s no reason for our rage;
It’s like resenting fire for being hot.

We don’t get angry at fire for being hot, do we? But we do get angry at other people, even though they are compelled to act out of ignorance. It’s in the nature of ignorant beings to cause harm, so it’s pointless to get angry at them for it. Of course, we can often say that they should know better than to purposefully cause harm and conventionally speaking, that’s true. But we all have the experience of doing something wrong even if we know it’s wrong. That’s because we have countless lifetimes of negative habits born of ignorance. We ourselves do wrong things, so we really have no reason to be angry at anyone else. Besides, as I already pointed out, the experience of anger is itself suffering. So if we indulge our anger, we’re only making things worse.

Verse 42 shows us that we are ultimately the cause of our own pain:
42. In just this same way in the past
I it was who injured living beings.
Therefore, it is right that injury
Should come to me their torturer.

As Buddhists we already know that our experiences are the result of the causes we have created in the past. So if someone harms me, my own bad behavior in the past created the cause for me to experience harm. On top of that, because of my bad behavior, this person I call my enemy is compelled to harm me. How can I be angry with them? I am actually the cause of their accumulation of negative karma. If we can see things this way, it’s much easier to have compassion.

45. We who are like children
Shrink from pain, but love it’s causes.
We hurt ourselves through our misdeeds!
So why should others be the object of our rage?

We’re like children who want to eat candy all the time, but hate going to the dentist to get our cavities filled. Even when we know that something is the cause of suffering, all too often we pursue it anyway. I think I’ve said in previous Dharma Talks that we are like drug addicts, constantly sticking a needle in our arms, trying to overcome the suffering of life with the very causes of suffering. We say we want real, perfect, complete, lasting happiness, but we grasp after happiness in things that directly cause suffering, like revenge and violence. So, we created the causes of our own suffering, if not in this life than in the past. So how can we blame anyone else for something we caused? If I crash my car and then come to the temple and blame all of you, that would be really stupid, right? If I crash my car, it’s my fault, not yours. It’s also certainly not the fault of whatever I crash into, like a wall. Perhaps we could say a car crash is the fault of snow on the road or rain, but we don’t get out of the car and scream at the snow or rain. Similarly, if someone harms me, I was originally the cause of that harm because I created the karma to be harmed, so the blame ultimately lies with me. Verse 47 makes this point:

47. Those who harm me rise against me--
It’s my karma that has summoned them.
And if through this these beings go to hell,
Is it not I who bring them ruin?

Verse 48 goes on to say:
48. Because of them, and through my patience,
All my sins are cleansed and purified.
But they will be the one’s who, thanks to me,
Will have the long-drawn agonies of hell.

So if I can remain patient and calm in a frustrating situation, I avoid additional suffering in that moment and I avoid more suffering in the future. As for the suffering in that moment, the suffering caused by the harm I am receiving, I am actually purifying some of my negative karma. So instead of thinking of those who cause us harm as enemies, as practitioners of the Buddha’s teaching, we should see them as friends helping us to purify our own negative karma.

We should also feel compassion for them. Even though we ourselves created the karma to be harmed, the one harming us is still creating negative karma themselves. They are creating the causes to be harmed in the future or perhaps to be reborn in a lower realm, such as one of the hell realms. By practicing patience, we can maintain a clear mind unclouded with anger. With a clear mind, we can perhaps help that other person to see the harm they are doing to themselves and help them avoid creating any more negative karma. Patience is the practice of bodhisattvas.

51. If I repay them harm for harm,
They’ll not be saved thereby.
My conduct will in turn be marred,
Austerity of patience brought to nothing.

If I fight with my enemies, with those who try to harm me, I am not helping them. If I respond to their attacks with anger and violence, they won’t be brought any closer to buddhahood. And nor will I. I will simply being creating even more negative karma for the future.

Karma isn’t fate. The word “karma” means action, so it doesn’t simply refer to what happens to us. Our response to what comes our way creates more karma for the future. So if I want to stop the cycle of suffering, patience is required. It is not possible to end suffering with anger. Revenge won’t bring us or anyone else peace. So it is to everyone’s benefit that we practice patience.

Overcoming anger with patience is, of course, easier said than done. We have imprinted upon our minds the habit of responding with anger and other negative emotions over countless lifetimes. It will take time and effort to undo such bad habits.

Verses 52 and 53 points to one way we can overcome our habit of getting angry at those who harm us:
52. Because the mind is bodiless
It cannot be destroyed by anyone.
Because of the mind’s attachment to the body
This body is oppressed by pain.

53. Scorn and hostile words,
And comments I do not like to hear –
My body is not harmed by them.
What reason do you have, O mind, for your resentment?

If someone attacks me, they can’t really do me harm. My body is not me. It’s simply a temporary house for my mind. Even if they cause me some mental harm or stress, perhaps by damaging my reputation, it’s also temporary. Even if that mental harm lasts my whole life, eventually I’ll die and whatever harm someone has done me will die with me. The problem is that we are too attached to our bodies. We think we are our bodies. So if someone tries to harm my body, I become afraid and get angry.

This doesn’t mean we should let people harm us, though. In another part of the text, Shantideva says the people can do to him whatever they want, as long as it doesn’t cause them harm. As I’ve already pointed out, those who harm us create negative karma for themselves, so we should try to stop those who try to harm us. Only, we have to do so without anger. Compassion should always be our motivation.

Although this is not directly related to anger, I am reminded of the story of the wealthy daughter of an American actress and a former Russian prince who got involved with Tibetan Buddhism in India in the 1960’s. She showed up in India and burst in on a Tibetan lama who could speak a little English and demanded to be taught Buddhism. She was known for being demanding and arrogant, and for having lived a decadent life revolving around sex and drugs, but she saw some quality in the Tibetan Buddhist masters she met that she wanted for herself. So, she tried to meditate. At first, she couldn’t sit still but for a few moments. Over time, though, she was able to sit and concentrate for longer and longer periods of time. By the end of her life, she was able to sit in meditation for several hours. I also heard that her personality had changed. She was more kind and considerate of others. And she certainly wasn’t living a crazy, self-destructive life anymore either. The Dharma really does help us transform our minds, if we put in the effort.