Chapter VI – Patience | Holy Vajrasana Temple & Retreat Center

Whatever wholesome deeds.

Such as venerating the Buddhas, and generosity

That have been amassed over a thousand aeons

Will all be destroyed in one moment of anger.

There is no evil like hatred,

And no fortitude like patience.

Thus I should strive in various ways

To meditate on patience.

My mind will not experience peace

if it fosters painful thoughts of hatred.

I shall find no joy or happiness,

Unable to sleep, I shall feel unsettled.

A master who has hatred

Is in danger of being killed

Even by those who for their wealth and happiness

Depend upon his kindness.

By it, friends and relatives are disheartened;

Though drawn by my generosity they will not trust me,

In brief, there is nobody

Who lives happily with anger.

Hence the enemy, anger,

Creates sufferings such as these,

But whoever assiduously overcomes it

Finds happiness now and hereafter.

Having found its fuel of mental unhappiness

In the prevention of what I wish for

And in the doing of what I do not want,

Hatred increases and then destroys me.

Therefore, I should totally eradicate

The fuel of this enemy;

For this enemy has no other function

Than that of causing me harm.

Whatever befalls me

I shall not disturb my mental joy;

For having been made unhappy,

I shall not accomplish what I wish

And my virtues will decline.

Why be unhappy about something

If it can be remedied?

And what is the use of being unhappy about something

if it cannot be remedied?

For myself and for my friends

I want no suffering, no disrespect,

No harsh words and nothing unpleasant;

But for my enemies it is the opposite.

The causes of happiness sometimes occur

But the causes for suffering are very many.

Without suffering there is no renunciation.

Therefore, mind, you should stand firm.

If some ascetics and the people of Karnapa

Endure the pain of cuts and burns for no reason,

Then for the sake of liberation

Why have I no courage?

There is nothing whatsoever

That is not made easier through acquaintance.

So, through becoming acquainted with small harms

I should learn to patiently accept greater harms.

Who has not seen this to be so with trifling sufferings

Such as the bites of snakes and insects,

Feelings of hunger and thirst

And with such minor things as rashes?

I should not be impatient

With heat and cold, wind and rain,

Sickness, bondage and beatings;

For if I am, the harm they cause me will increase.

Some when they see their own blood

Become especially brave and steady,

But some when they see the blood of others

Faint and fall unconscious.

These (reactions) come from the mind

Being either steady or timid.

Therefore, I should disregard harms caused to me

And not be affected by suffering.

Even when the wises are suffering

Their minds remain very lucid and undefiled;

For when war is being waged against the disturbing conceptions

Much harm is caused at the times of battle.

The victorious warriors are those

Who, having disregarded all suffering,

Vanquish the foes of hatred and so forth;

Common warriors slay only corpses.

Furthermore, suffering has good qualities:

Through being disenheartened with it, arrogance is dispelled,

Compassion arises for, those in cyclic existence,

Evil is shunned and joy is found in virtue.

As I do not become angry

With great sources of suffering such as jaundice,

Then why be angry with animate creatures?

They too are provoked by conditions.

Although they are not wished for,

These sicknesses arise;

And likewise although they are not wished for,

These disturbing conceptions forcibly arise.

Without thinking, “I shall be angry,”

People become angry with no resistance,

And without thinking, “I shall produce myself,”

Likewise anger itself is produced.

All mistakes that are

And all the various kinds of evil

Arise through the force of conditions:

They do not govern themselves.

These conditions that assemble together

Have no intention to produce anything,

And neither does their product

Have the intention to be produced.

That which is asserted as Primal Substance

And that which is imputed as a Self,

(Since they are unproduced) do not arise after having purposefully thought,

“I shall arise (in order to cause harm.”)

If they are unproduced and non-existent

Then whatever wish they have to produce (harm will also not exist).

Since (this Self) would permanently apprehend its objects,

It follows that it would never cease to do so.

Furthermore. if the Self were permanent

It would clearly be devoid of action, like space.

So even if it met with other conditions

How could its unchanging (nature) be affected?

Even if when acted upon (by other conditions) it remains as before,

Then what could actions do to it?

Thus, if I say that this (condition) acts upon (a permanent Self),

How could the two ever be (casually) related?

Hence everything is governed by other factors (which in turn) are governed by (others),

And in this way nothing governs itself.

Having understood this, I should not become angry

With phenomena that are like apparitions.

(If everything is unreal like an apparition) then who is there to restrain what (anger)?

Surely (in this case) restraint would be inappropriate

It would not be inappropriate because (conventionally)

I must maintain

That in dependence upon restraining (anger) the stream of suffering is severed.

So when seeing an enemy or even a friend

Committing an improper action,

By thinking that such things arise from conditions

I shall remain in a happy frame of mind.

If things were brought into being by choice,

Then since no one wishes to suffer,

Suffering would not occur

To any embodied creature.

Through not being careful

People even harm themselves with thorns and other things,

And for the sake of obtaining women and the like

They become obsessed and deprive themselves of food.

And there are some who injure themselves

Through the unmeritorious deeds

Of hanging themselves, leaping from cliffs,

Eating poison and unhealthy foods.

If, when under the influence of disturbing conceptions,

People will even kill their treasured selves,

How can they be expected not to cause harm

To the bodies of other living beings?

Even if I cannot develop compassion for all such people

Who through the arisal of disturbing conceptions,

Set out to try and kill me and so forth,

The last thing I should do is to become angry with them.

Even if it were the nature of the childish

To cause harm to other beings,

It would still be incorrect to be angry with them.

For this would be like begrudging fire for having the nature to burn.

And even if the fault were temporary

In they who are by nature reliable,

It would still be incorrect to be angry.

For this would be like begrudging space for allowing smoke to arise in it.

If I become angry with the yielder

Although I am actually harmed by his stick,

Then since he too is secondary,

being in turn incited by hatred,

Previously I must have caused similar harm

To other sentient beings.

Therefore, it is right for this harm to be returned

To me who is the cause of injury to others.

Both the weapon and my body

Are the causes of my suffering.

Since he gave rise to the weapon and I to the body,

With whom should I be angry?

If in blind attachment I cling

To this suffering abscess of a human form

Which cannot bear to be touched,

With whom should I be angry when it is hurt?

It is the fault of the childish that they are hurt,

For although they do not wish to suffer

They are greatly attached to its causes.

So why should they be angry with others?

Just like the guardians of the hell worlds

And the forest of razor-sharp leaves,

So is this (suffering) produced by my actions;

With whom therefore should I be angry?

Having been instigated by my own actions,

Those who cause me harm come into being.

If by these (actions) they should fall into hell

Surely isn’t it I who, am destroying them?

In dependence upon them I purify many evils

By patiently accepting the harms that they cause.

But in dependence upon me they will fall

Into hellish pain for a very long time.

So, since I am causing harm to them

And they are benefiting me,

Why, unruly mind, do you become angry

In such a mistaken manner?

If my mind has the noble quality (of patience)

I shall not go to hell,

But although I am protecting myself (in this way)

How will it be so for them?

Nevertheless, should I return the harm

It will not protect them either.

By doing so my conduct will deteriorate

And hence this fortitude will be destroyed.

Since my mind is not physical

In no way can anyone destroy it,

But through its being greatly attached to my body

it is caused harm by (physical) suffering.

Since disrespect, harsh speech

And unpleasant words

Do not cause any harm to my body,

Why, mind, do you become so angry?

Because others will dislike me

But since it will not devour me

Either in this or in another life

Why do I not want this (dislike)?

Because it will hinder my worldly gain

Even if I do not want this

I shall have to leave my worldly gains behind

And my evil alone will remain unmoved.

Thus it is better that I die today

Than live a long but wicked life;

For even if people like me should live a long time,

There will always be the suffering of death.

Suppose someone should awaken from a dream

In which he experienced one hundred years of happiness,

And suppose another should awaken from a dream

In which he experienced just one moment of happiness;

For both of these people who have awoken

That happiness will never return.

Similarly, whether my life has been long or short,

At the time of death it will be finished like this.

Although I may live happily for a long time

Through obtaining a great deal of material wealth,

I shall go forth empty-handed and destitute

just like having been robbed by a thief.

Surely material wealth will enable me to live,

And then shall be able to consume evil and do good

But if I am angry on account of it

Will not my merit be consumed and evil increase?

And what use will be the life

Of one who only commits evil,

If for the sake of material gain

He causes (the merits needed for) life to degenerate?

Surely I should be angry with those

Who say unpleasant things that weaken other beings’ (confidence in me)

But in the same way why am I not angry

With people who say unpleasant things about others?

If I can patiently accept this lack of confidence

Because it is related to someone else,

Then why am I not patient with unpleasant words (about myself)

Since they are related to the arisal of disturbing conceptions?

Should others talk badly of or even destroy

Holy images, reliquaries and the sacred Dharma.

It is improper for me to resent it

For the Buddhas can never be injured.

I should prevent anger arising towards those

Who injure my spiritual masters, relatives, and friends.

Instead, I should see, as in the manner shown before,

That such things arise from conditions.

Since embodied creatures are injured

By both animate beings and inanimate objects,

Why only bear malice to the animate?

It follows that I should patiently accept all harm.

Should one person ignorantly do wrong

And another ignorantly become angry (with him),

Who would be at fault?

And who would be without fault?

Why did I previously commit those actions

Because of which others now cause me harm?

Since everything is related to my actions

Why should I bear malice towards these (enemies)?

When I have seen this to be so,

I should strive for what is meritorious

(In order to) certainly bring about

Loving thoughts between all.

For example, when a fire in one house

Has moved into another house,

It is right to get rid of straw and such things

That will cause the fire to spread.

Likewise, when the fire of hatred spreads

To whatever my mind is attached,

I should immediately get rid of it

For fear of my merit being burned.

Why is a man condemned to death not fortunate

If he is released after having his hand cut off?

Why am I who am experiencing human misery not fortunate

If by that I am spared from (the agonies of) hell?

If I am unable to endure

Even the mere sufferings of the present,

Then why do I not restrain myself from being angry,

Which will be the source of hellish misery?

For the sake of satisfying my desires

I have suffered numerous burnings in hell,

But by those actions I fulfilled the purpose

Of neither myself nor others.

But now since great meaning will accrue

From harm which is not even (a fraction) of that,

I should indeed by solely joyful

Towards such suffering that dispels the harms of all.

Should someone else find joyous happiness

Upon praising (my enemy) as an excellent person,

Why, mind, do you not praise him too

And likewise make yourself happy?

That joyous happiness of yours

Would be a source of joy, not something prohibited,

A precept given by the Excellent Ones

And a supreme (means) for assembling others.

It is said that others are made happy through (being praised) in this way.

But if, in this way, you do not want (them to have) this happiness,

Then, (since it makes them happy), you should cease giving wages and the like (to your servants).

But you would be adversely affected both in this and future lives.

When people describe my own good qualities

I want others to be happy too,

But when they describe the good qualities of others

I do not wish to be happy myself.

Having generated the Awakening Mind

Through wishing all beings to be happy,

Why should I become angry

If they find some happiness themselves?

If I wish for all sentient beings to become Buddhas

worshipped throughout the three realms,

Then why am I tormented

When I see them receiving mere mundane respect?

If a relative for whom I am caring

And to whom I must give many things

Should be able to find his own livelihood,

Wouldn’t I be happy, rather than angry?

If I do not wish for beings to have even this,

How can I wish for them to awaken?

And where is there an Awakening Mind

In him who becomes angry when others receive things?

What does it matter if (my enemy) is given something or not?

Whether he obtains it

Or whether it remains in the benefactor’s house,

In either case I shall get nothing.

So why, by becoming angry, do I throw away my merits,

The faith (others have in me) and my good qualities?

Tell me, why am I not angry (with myself)

For not having the causes for gain?

Let alone not having any remorse

About the evils that you committed, (O mind),

Why do you wish to compete with others

Who have committed meritorious deeds?

Even if your enemy is made unhappy

what is there for you to be joyful about?

Your merely wishing (for him to be hurt)

Did not cause him to be injured.

And even if he does suffer as you had wished,

What is there for you to be joyful about?

if you say, “For I shall be satisfied,”

How could there be anything more wretched than that?

This hook cast by the fishermen of disturbing conceptions

Is unbearably sharp:

Having been caught on it,

It is certain that I shall be cooked

In cauldrons by the guardians of hell.

The honor of praise and fame

Will not turn into merit nor life;

It will give me neither strength nor freedom from sickness,

And will not provide any physical happiness.

If I were aware of what held meaning for me,

What value would I find in these things?

If all I want is (a little) mental happiness,

I should devote myself to gambling, drinking and so forth.

If for the stake of fame

I give away my wealth or get myself killed,

What can the mere words (of fame) do then?

Once I have died, to whom will they give pleasure?

When their sandcastles collapse,

Children howl in despair;

Likewise, when my praise and reputation decline

My mind becomes like a little child.

Since short-lived sounds are inanimate

They cannot possibly think of praising me.

But as it makes (the bestower of praise) happy,

(My) reputation is a source of pleasure (for me)

But whether this praise is directed at myself or someone else

How shall I be benefited by the joy (of he who bestows it)?

Since that joy and happiness is his alone

I shall not obtain even a part of it.

But if I do find happiness in his happiness

Then surely, I should feel the same way towards all?

And if this were so then why am I unhappy

When others find pleasure in that which brings them joy?

Therefore, the happiness that arises

From thinking, I am being praised”,

is invalid.

It is only the behavior of a child.

Praise and so forth, distract me

And also undermine my disillusion (with cyclic existence);

I start to envy those who have good qualities

And all the very best is destroyed.

Therefore, are not those who are closely involved

in destroying my praise and the like

Also involved in protecting me

From falling into the unfortunate realms?

100

I who am striving for freedom

Do not need to be bound by material gain and honor.

So why should I be angry

With those who free me from this bondage?

101

Those who wish to cause me suffering

Are like Buddhas bestowing waves of blessing.

As they open the door for my not going to an unfortunate realm

Why should I be angry with them?

102

But what if someone should obstruct my gaining merit

With him too it is incorrect to be angry;

For since there is no fortitude similar to patience

Surely, I should put it into practice.

103

If due to my own failings

I am not patient with this (enemy),

Then it is only I who am preventing myself

From practicing this cause for gaining merit.

104

If without it something does not occur

And if with it, it does come to be,

Then since this (enemy) would be the cause of (patience)

How can I say that he prevents it?

105

A beggar is not an obstacle to generosity

When I am giving something away,

And I cannot say that those who give ordination

Are an obstacle to becoming ordained.

106

There are indeed many beggars in this world,

But scarce are those who inflict harm;

For if I have not injured others

Few beings will cause me harm.

107

Therefore, just like treasure appearing in my house

Without any effort on my behalf to obtain it,

I should be happy to have an enemy

For he assists me in my conduct of Awakening.

108

And because I am able to practice (patience) with him,

He is worthy of being given

The very first fruits of my patience,

For in this way he is the cause of it.

109

But why should my enemy be venerated,

He has no intention for me to practice patience?

Then why venerate the sacred Dharma? (It too has no intention)

but is a fit cause for practice.

110

But surely my enemy is not to be venerated

For he intends to cause me harm

But how could patience be practiced

If, like doctors, people always strove to do me good?

111

Thus since patient acceptance is produced

In dependence upon (one with) a very hateful mind,

That person should be worthy of veneration just like the sacred Dharma,

Because he is a cause of patience.

112

Therefore, the Mighty One has said

That the field of sentient beings is (similar to) a Buddha-field,

For many who have pleased them

Have thereby reached perfection.

113

A Buddha’s qualities are gained

From the sentient beings and the Conquerors alike,

So why do I not respect them

In the same way as I respect the Conquerors?

114

(Of course) they are not similar in the quality of their intentions

But only in the fruits (that they produce);

So it is in this respect that they have excellent qualities

And are therefore (said to be) equal.

115

Whatever (merit comes from) venerating one with a loving mind

is due to the eminence of sentient beings.

And in the same way the merit of having faith in Buddha

Is due to the eminence of Buddha.

116

Therefore, they are asserted to be equal

In the share they have in establishing Buddha-qualities.

But none of them are equal (in good qualities)

With the Buddhas who are boundless oceans of excellence.

117

Even if the three realms were offered,

It would be insufficient in paying veneration

To those few beings in whom a mere share of the good qualities

Of the Unique Assemblage of Excellence appears.

118

Thus, since sentient beings have a share

In giving rise to the supreme Buddha qualities,

Surely it is correct to venerate them

As they are similar in merely this respect?

119

Furthermore, what way is there to repay (the Buddhas)

Who grant immeasurable benefit

And who befriend the world without pretension,

Other than by pleasing sentient beings?

120

Therefore since benefiting these beings will repay

Those who give their bodies and enter the deepest hell for their sake,

I shall behave impeccably in all (that I do)

Even if they cause me a great deal of harm.

121

When for their sake, those who are my Lords

Have no regard even for their own bodies,

Then why am I the fool so full of self importance?

Why do I not act like a servant towards them?

122

Because of their happiness the Conquerors are delighted,

But if they are harmed they are displeased.

Hence by pleasing them I shall delight the Conquerors

And by banning them I shall hurt the Conquerors.

123

Just as desirable sense-objects would give my mind no pleasure

If my body was ablaze with fire,

Likewise, when living creatures are in pain

There is no way for the Compassionate Ones to be pleased.

124

Therefore, if I have caused harm to living beings,

Today, I openly declare all my unwholesome acts

That have brought displeasure to the Compassionate Ones.

Please bear with me, O Lords, for this displeasure I have caused you.

125

From now on, in order to delight the Tathagatas

I shall serve the universe and definitely cease (to cause harm).

Although many beings may kick and stamp upon my head Even at the risk of dying may

I delight the Protectors of the World (by not retaliating).

126

There is no doubt that those with the nature of compassion

Regard all these beings (to be the same) as themselves.

Furthermore, those who see (this Buddha nature) as the nature of sentient beings see the Buddhas themselves;

Why then do I not respect (sentient beings)?

127

(Pleasing living beings) delights the Tathagatas

And perfectly accomplishes my own purpose as well.

In addition it dispels the pain and misery of the universe,

Therefore, I should always practice it.

128

For example, should some of the king’s men

Cause harm to many people,

Farsighted men would not return the harm

Even if they were able (to do so).

129

For they see that (these men) are not alone

But are supported by the might of the king.

Likewise, I should not underestimate

Weak beings who cause me a little harm;

130

For they are supported by the guardians of hell

And by all the Compassionate Ones.

So (behaving) like the subjects of that fiery king

I should please all sentient beings.

131

Even if such a king were to become angry,

Could he cause the pain of hell,

Which is the fruit I would have to experience

By displeasing sentient beings?

132

And even if such a king were to be kind,

He could not possibly grant me Buddhahood,

Which is the fruit I would obtain

By pleasing sentient beings.

133

Why do I not see

That my future attainment of Buddhahood

As well as glory, renown and happiness in this very life

All come from pleasing sentient beings?

134

While in cyclic existence patience causes

Beauty, health and renown.

Because of these I shall live for a very long time

And win the extensive pleasures of the universal Chakra Kings.

Chapter VI – Patience

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