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The patience of Rahula
When the Buddha returned to Kapilavastu, Rahula was only seven or eight years old. Instructed by his mother Yasodhara to ask for his inheritance, Rahula ran after the Buddha, held his hand, and felt that walking beside his father was very refreshing. The Buddha took Rahula back to the Nigrodha Grove and had him ordained as a novice monk, wearing a small robe cut and sewn by Brother Sariputra. King Suddhodana suffered greatly, comparing the pain to a knife cutting through the skin, into the flesh, reaching the bone, and piercing the marrow. The Buddha taught Rahula not to tell lies using the image of a basin of water used for washing feet. When Rahula was 20 years old, the Buddha taught him a lesson on patience, advising Rahula to practice like the four great elements:
- Earth: accepts everything, clean or dirty, like feces, urine, or perfume, without anger or pride, and has the capacity to transform garbage into flowers and fruits.
- Water: receives, cleanses, and transforms everything, whether it is a fragrant robe or a dirty robe.
- Fire: burns everything, clean or dirty.
- Air: blows everything away.
To handle the pain when betrayed by others, we need to make our heart grow larger, like a river embracing a handful of salt. To make the heart grow large, we need to practice the method of understanding through three points:
- My heart is still small, so I suffer.
- The other person also suffers; because they have so many toxins within them, they make others suffer.
- I must practice to bring happiness to myself and to others.
Love is a matter of practice, not of enjoyment like eating ice cream or drinking Coca-Cola. Every day, we should write in a notebook and practice two things: in the morning, offer joy to others; in the afternoon, help relieve others’ suffering.