Patience is one of the ten paramis, or perfections of character. Patience is also something lacking in our society. Symptoms of impatience include same day delivery on everything and the expectation that everybody will instantly reply to our messages. Patience is a powerful antidote to negative emotions, including anger.
Jeff facilitated this week’s exploration of patience. We listend to a recent talk from Jill Shepherd titled, “The parami of patience” which was given as part of a series of talks on the ten paramis. Patience is a quality that is undervalued in mainstream society with its emphasis on instant gratification, but in the Buddha’s teachings, it’s seen as the foremost of all the paramis. Fortunately, it’s something that we can be trained in, initially by recognizing where we’re impatient, then making the effort to orient to steadiness and non-resistance.
You can listen to Jill’s talk here: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/77350/
NOTES:
Patience is a topic near and dear to my heart. Patience, or lack thereof, was one of my entry points onto the Buddhist path. One the first Buddhist books that I read was “Healing Anger” by The Dalai Lama. The subtitle reads as follows: the power of patience from a Buddhist perspective. By developing patience I was able to lessen my own suffering and the suffering I contributed to those around me.
As with most spiritual growth, patience is tested and developed during difficulties. It is easy to be patient when everything is going smoothly. Difficult people and difficult situations are where patience becomes more important and also more challenging. The practice of sitting mediation is part of the training in patience, but we need to also choose patience in other situations.
A few quotes about patience:
Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.
Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.
Patience entails cultivating skillful courageousness, mindfulness, and tolerance.
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape 100 days of sorrow.
Three types of patience
• patience with difficult people
• patience with hardships on the path
• patience with the ups and downs of life
Patience is one of the ten paramis, and is often linked to others, such as energy. This reminds us that we need to develop a breadth of skills and also a depth of each skill.
