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Dharma Talk July 1996 - The Perfection of Patience, Part 2
The perfection of patience (Kṣānti Pāramitā) means to endure by embracing all difficulties instead of rejecting them, so that with a heart as vast as the Dharmadhātu—the boundless space of the Buddha—all suffering can be transformed. There are two kinds of patience in Buddhism:
- Worldly patience—enduring the hardships of daily life but still feeling suffering
- Transcendental patience—enduring with insight, going beyond ordinary endurance to attain true peace
The four great sufferings are birth, aging, sickness, and death—inescapable for the human body—and the second arrow (fear, exaggeration of suffering) can multiply our pain many times if we do not observe the true nature of suffering with mindfulness.
Practicing the perfection of patience is grounded in mindfulness—conscious breathing, walking meditation, sitting meditation, eating in silence—to nurture wisdom and the capacity of the heart, like a vast river that embraces dirty water yet remains pure. Stories include:
- The second arrow in the Samyutta Nikāya teaches us not to exaggerate suffering
- Thi Kính, who endured injustice, raised and lulled a child as a practice of transcendental patience
- The woman of Nam Xương, driven to the extreme when lacking mindfulness and deep looking
Thanks to this, the heart becomes ever more open, embracing ourselves and others, transforming suffering into peace.