Explanations by Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Practice Patience and Abide in Gentleness (能行忍辱 住調柔地)
Date: March.08.2019
“Patience with beings means we endure sentient beings’ angry curses, beatings and other abuses. Patience with phenomena means we remain undeluded as we endure cold, heat, wind, rain, hungry, thirst, aging, illness and other adversities of the non-sentient [world]. The ability to remain peaceful and unwavering through these two teachings is known as abiding in patience.”
We must be mindful. [We must have] patience with beings. “Patience with beings means we endure sentient beings’ angry curses, beatings and other abuses. Patience with phenomena means we remain deluded.” When it comes to patience, is there ever a time throughout our lives in which we do not need to be patient? Whether our patience is great or small, conscious or unconscious, if we think carefully, we will realize that “patience” is something we regularly need. Yet, part of having patience means sometimes needing “patience with beings”. We must “endure their angry curses”. When it comes to our interactions with others, if we think about it, our feelings toward others tend to constantly fluctuate. If someone approaches us smiling, we are put at ease and have amicable feelings. Their friendliness puts us at ease, making us mutually receptive. If someone comes to us and we see from their attitude that they may be worried, angry etc., if we see they have something on their mind from the expression on their face, then we will tend to be more critical of them. We have to be patient with both minor and major issues. We often hear people say things like this, or we ourselves may have come to such conclusions through our experiences with people. In whatever we may encounter when interacting with others, we may easily be patient regarding small things, but great patience [takes effort]. This requires us to find a way to establish affinities. We can create both good and bad affinities as we go about interacting with others. We all have such experiences among sentient beings, whether they are minor or major. When it comes to interacting with sentient beings, major [difficulties] may be anger and curses. Perhaps we have all heard stories like these. Not even mentioning our own experiences, we have probably heard many stories like these.
Just listen to the experiences of our volunteers when they visit care recipients. Take, for example, a case we had in Malaysia. There was a very old mother, a very old mother who still took care of her child. Her child was already almost 50 years old, and the mother was in her seventies. Their family was poor. The family was in desperate need of someone to help them, so we took the case and went to visit that family. When the volunteers arrived at the home and the mother saw them, she thought, “Who is this group that have come here so dignified and uniformly dressed?” [The volunteers] also looked very friendly. But her home was in utter disarray, and so she stood, embarrassed, outside. Our commissioners asked her, “Granny, would it be possible to let us in so we can have a look?” She replied, “No! No! There is no space to even sit inside”. “That’s okay!” they said, “We can stand; we don’t have to sit! I’m sorry, but it smells a bit inside.” They told her, “Relax, Grandma! There is nothing to worry about. We won’t mind at all. Come, let’s go inside!” She said, “No! I’m sorry, I’m too ashamed of how it is inside. Ashamed of what? Don’t worry, come on, let’s go on inside.” The host did not invite the guests in, the guests invited the host in! Taking her hand, they began leading her inside. Sure enough, as they were about to step inside, they could see how messy and dirty it was. As they were about to go in, the old woman told them, “I am old and I don’t have the strength to deal with it. It isn’t easy for me to walk either. Whenever I move, I become out of breath, so it is impossible for me to clean inside. That’s why it smells so bad in here.” She thought after having said this to her guests, they would leave. Yet the group of three or four told her, “Grandma, don’t worry about this. We can come and help you clean it. No! I am too ashamed!” she said, “I am too embarrassed, too ashamed! Granny, don’t worry. Come! Let’s have a look inside. We already knew that you need help. That is why we came. How did you know?” [she asked]. “Someone told us, it’s not important now. Let’s go in and see where you sleep. There is nothing really like a bedroom in here.” The commissioners insisted, telling her, “Come!” When they went inside, they found that there really was a bad smell wafting through the air. The stench came from a certain room. It was very dark inside. Where was the light? Granny felt around until she found a small lamp and then she turned it on. My goodness! It indeed was piled with garbage! When their eyes adjusted to the light, they could make out the movements of a person seated in there. Looking more closely, they still could not make out his face. They could not see his face, for it lay beneath a mess of hair. Unafraid of the stench, these commissioners [entered the room] without worrying about stepping on [the garbage]. [In the room], there was uneaten food and many damp and filthy things, some new, some old. It was all very damp and very dirty, even containing dried feces, urine etc. It truly made that place seem like the hell of cesspits. They kept calling the man, and when they pushed aside his hair, they noticed that his eyes were fixed wide open. Seeing his eyes, they felt like he had a spirit but it was wavering. The commissioners took the grandma by her arm and led her back outside. They spoke with her for quite a long period of time without paying attention to her body odor. After their brief time inside, they had already forgotten about the smell. They kept trying to draw near to the granny. They took her by the hand and embraced her until the grandma gradually became less defensive. The grandma started telling them, “It is my son, he…” “What happened to him”? Again, the grandma fell silent. They asked her repeatedly, but the grandma would say no more. After they kept on asking her, the grandma said, “I can’t bear to tell you, for it breaks my heart.” Then the commissioners saw she was crying. They dropped the subject for the moment, instead asking her, “How do you make a living? Sometimes people leave things for us. Sometimes they leave us meals. That’s how we get by.” They were so pitiful!
What could be done for them? So, once the commissioners had taken on this case, they often brought them things. They began visiting the grandma and getting to know her. After some time had passed, the granny and the commissioners became very familiar with one another. [She’d ask], “Where were you yesterday?” She would recognize who was absent and would miss them. The granny began looking forward to seeing them; she seemed to have grown close to them and would miss the ones who did not come. Although she didn’t say outright [that she missed them], she sometimes asked, “Why have only the three of you come today? Why didn’t the other one come today?” She would notice who had come, and would then ask about the others. The commissioners visited them for a while, bringing them meals and food. They then eventually said to the granny, “Granny, come! Here are some clothes for you to wear. Come, let us clean the house for you!” They started cleaning from outside the house, [until there was enough space inside] for her to invite people in to sit. In any case, much can be said about this case.
They continued to visit her for over a year. Then she fell ill. They took the granny to the hospital. Her physical strength deteriorated and she eventually passed away. Before she passed, her biggest worry was her son. How would her son survive? That group kept on going there and continued to care for her son. With the mother gone, who was to care for him? As the Faith Corps members and commissioners continued to bring him food, they also began straightening up the place. They cleaned it up little by little. More than another year had passed during which, beginning form the outside, they cleaned away the trash. [This continued] until eventually the surroundings were more or less clean. Those Faith Corps members were truly very mindful; they never were afraid of the stench. Yet the man still stunk. They would clean around him, telling him, “Though your mother has passed away, don’t you know by now that we genuinely love you? You are like a brother to us and you should treat these women you should treat these women like big sisters. Won’t you let your sisters and brothers care for you? Your mother has passed, but in life she worried most about you being like this. She worried most about you. She’s been gone for so long, you really ought to pull yourself together. When she was alive, you made her worry so [much]. Now that she is gone, she probably often comes back to check on you.” The commissioners continued, “Really, we even dream of your mother asking us, ‘Do you still go to see him?’” They continued, “We are Buddhist practitioners. We would never lie to you. Your mother was very concerned about you. We are sure you must also dream about her. Don’t you still miss your mother?” He lifted his head and nodded slightly. The Faith Corps members quickly told him, “Brother, we have known you for so long; you should know by now, we are all good people. For such a long time now, you have never even looked at us, but you hear everything we tell you. You ought to trust us”. After talking to him like this for many hours, they then told him, “We are all firmly resolved to succeed in our mission. Please help us succeed in our mission. Let us cut your hair! We want you to let us cut your hair so that we can see your face clearly. We want to clean up your place and help you get a fresh start. This is what we are all hoping for. You know that, during all this time we have never been anything but sincere with you”. This is what they told him. Finally, since he remained silent, they all told him, “If you do not object, a group of us will be sure to come here tomorrow to give you a haircut. We will cut your hair and clean you up”. He did not react, so they happily told him, “Even though you do not say anything, we have told you our wish so we will definitely come here tomorrow”.
They joyfully went back and prepared what they would need the next day, a bucket, a basin, towels and so on as well as scissors. The scissors had to be special ones. They paid great attention to this. Indeed, when they got there, they brought scissors that were like those used for cutting wire. This was because his hair was all matted and hard from years or even from decades of neglect. Because of psychological, financial and emotional setbacks, he had shut himself off. He had given up on himself and began living [in such disarray]. His hair was so matted that when they touched it, it was as hard as metal wire. They knew they would have to find scissors that were like those used to cut through metal wire. When they first cut the hair on his head, it was really very hard, very stiff. It had been soaked in all kinds of things, making it extremely filthy. It was like lifting a metal cover. They could almost lift it up [in one piece] because it was so extremely filthy. Later, they began to use water. Some stood by his side cleaning him, while others tidied up the whole place. It took them a day to clean the place, and it took them a whole day to clean his body as well. They finally removed his metal-like cover of hair. They lifted him by his arms and supported him, helping him into the shower. It took a lot of water to rinse, scrub, clean and wash him. When he finally came out of the shower, he was like a totally different man; he was clean from head to toe. When he was young, he was probably very handsome, for he cut a fine figure for he cut a fine figure. Now, he was very skinny. With his beard and head shaved, he was truly a different man; they only things [visibly wrong] were that he was deathly skinny and his hands and feet were stiff. From then on, they kept talking to him over and over until they gradually began getting responses from him. Then they began to bring him outside the house. A doctor began to adjust his diet. Fortunately, he had no actual illnesses. He was not sick; he was just stiff from constant sitting. It was as if his bones had become stiff. After further treatment and rehabilitation, dietary supplements and so forth, he began to look like a normal person. When they had cleaned and organized the house, they discovered that the tiles on the floor were very beautiful, and after they washed all the walls, it was a very beautiful house. The case I am telling you about happened a decade or more ago. I likely spoke of this overseas case before.
Now, thinking about the word “patience,” Bodhisattvas must practice patience, but to what extent must they go in practicing it? Their patience is not superhuman. Of course, if we spoke about patience in religious terms, we could have patience like the Buddha had when King Kali cut Him inch by inch into pieces, cutting up His flesh and gnawing on His bones, but this is too unimaginably miraculous. When we talk about those commissioners, their patience was great. Wasn’t their patience great? Their patience endured for one to two years. From the period while his mother was alive until the point where his living environment was fully taken care of, close to two years elapsed. They had such passion even though they could not even interact with him for over a year. They spent more than a year with him until his mother had passed away, gradually drawing closer to him. They did this until they were able to remove that entire iron cover-like head of hair, removing it and cleaning up his body. Those Tzu Chi volunteers used affection and love to open his heart to the point where they were able to interact with him. They proceeded very slowly until I heard he was able to work and that he was able to become a volunteer. At that time, we had started our recycling effort, and he was able to help with this. Thinking he had become settled, I gradually forgot about him. Now I am thinking of that case again and of the way that those commissioners treated that mother and her child.
When they first went to meet the granny, she was still very defensive. They continued using their affection and feeling to interact with her to the point where she was to be able to discern, “Why hasn’t so-and-so come? Some are missing, what happened to them?” She began worrying about these people. They kept seeing her until she became more and more receptive, until she began depending on them. They watched her health degrade day by day, until they had to send her to the hospital and eventually handled. Think of how long this process must have taken.
Next, they took responsibility for helping her son. Whenever they went they had to tolerate the stench and tolerate the fact that he was expressionless.
They did this until he allowed them to reach out, continuously meeting with him and helping him until he lit up as a person again. They also brightened up his living space. If we just talk about “patience,” those commissioners and Faith Corps member had such patience, patience that lasted for more than two years. They remained with him for over two years, visiting and coaching him until he was able to live independently. Think of how long they spent doing this. They helped him until he became like a normal person.
In summary, this is how these Bodhisattvas endured such attitude among sentient beings and how they persisted in giving of themselves for such a long time. Enduring the stench, heat and filth to successfully guide him could not have been easy at all. This took more patience than just being cursed at [would require]. They endured these things and kept going. In comparison, being beaten or abused is really just a short term thing. They [endured this] for more than two years. Truly, Living Bodhisattvas like these are sometimes cursed at. They waited outside the house day after day in order to get closer and closer to [the granny]. In recent years, from things people have told me, from things people have told me, you should have heard me mention even more inconceivable cases of care recipients like these. The many care recipients that I have encountered myself throughout the years still surface in my mind. Everyone, the path of Living Bodhisattvas is difficult to practice. On this tough Bodhisattvas-path, it is truly not easy to patiently practice over long periods of time. How bad can beatings and abuses be? These happen too; without mentioning cases like these overseas, there have been quite a few domestically as well. There are also quite a few overseas. We must have patience with beings and patience with phenomena.
Patience with phenomena is having patience with what happens in life, like having patience with nature. Patience with beings is the patience we must have when we are interacting with others. Spiritual practice is not easy. Not only must we deal with people, we must also deal with the natural environment; this is patience with phenomena. Moreover, aging, illness and death are inevitable. All of this impermanence should serve to heighten our vigilance. It should be something we use to give us a direction in our spiritual practice.
Didn’t we talk before about the Four Offerings? The Four Offerings are not only about food, drink and so on, they also teach us how to go among people and how to walk the Bodhisattvas-path. They teach us how to cultivate ourselves. These teachings lead us from simple to profound, gradually entering our until we start to serve others in the world and start to cultivate the principles ourselves. This is what the teachings should be like. It is the same when it comes to “patience”. For those commissioners to be able to help someone totally unrelated to them, to give with such heart-felt love and to endure for such a long period of time amidst such stench, amidst such filth, this is “patience with beings” in the world. Similarly, they possess the Dharma. If they did not have the Dharma in their hearts, would they ever have had anything to do with him? They had no relation to him. However, the principles had taught them that they needed to act like this. This is [what makes them] Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas want to benefit sentient beings. Bodhisattvas want to spread the Buddha’s teachings in the world; this is why they practice these things themselves. This is their spiritual practice.
Next, “Patience with phenomena, means we remain undeluded”. [If we are like this], how bad can physical sensations that we experience in the outside material world be? This is having patience with phenomena. Moreover, there are “aging, illness and other adversities of the non-sentient [world]”. These are not things done by people. These do not require patience with people. [Such patience] is patience in the face of wind, cold, heat and so on, in the face of the climate, weather and so forth, in the face of environmental adversities. Of source, we all experience things that we have to endure in the environment when we are patiently going out to help others. [We must also be patient with “aging and illness”. None of these [phenomena] are manmade; they are laws of nature. This is all “patience with phenomena”. Whether within or without us, whether caused by nature or mankind, whether inside or out, we must practice patience with beings and phenomena. We must understand and be mindful of these.
Continuing on, the precious sutra passage says, “They give gifts like these, of many varieties, all subtle and wondrous. Throughout all these kalpas, they dedicate their merits to the path to Buddhahood. Furthermore, they uphold the precepts while remaining pure and flawless. As they seek the unsurpassed path, all Buddhas praises them.
This is the previous passage; we have already talked about this. The next passage continues, “Furthermore, they practice patience, abiding in the state of gentleness. Even if all evils were to befall them, their minds would not waver. When people who have attained the Dharma but harbor overbearing arrogance slight and torment them, they are able to endure this as well.
“Furthermore, they practice patience, abiding in the state of gentleness.” This is very simple. If we could understand the precious section, this one should be even easier. This is about “the paramita of patience”. Before, we talked about giving and precepts. Now, we are talking about patience, “the paramita of patience”. We need patience to get to the other shore, if we can practice patience, we can abide in the state of gentleness.
Furthermore, they practice patience, abiding in the state of gentleness: With the paramita of patience, they can practice patience and abide in the state of gentleness.
We spoke of this before, how when working with others, as well as in our own spiritual practice, we should have harmonious intentions. Everyone should still remember this. This is analyzed for us in terms of both patience with beings and with phenomena. There are two kings of “patience with beings.
There are two kinds of patience with beings: First, when others make reverent offerings, we can be patient without forming attachments. Second, when others angrily curse us, beat us or harm us, we can endure them without giving rise to anger or hatred.
“Patience with beings refers to, firstly, when we have had some success in our interactions with others and people come to pay respect to us and make offerings. Do we let it go to our heads and become conceited? Do we become arrogant? We must pay attention to this, for we must guard our minds well. Second, if people are dissatisfied with us and get angry, if we make them feel unhappy, they may verbally attack us. When people get angry and curse us, beat us, hit us and take out all their frustrations on us, whenever this happens, we still must endure it; we still cannot lose our temper, have we attained this mastery? This is our spiritual practice. We must be gentle in our intentions.
Next is “patience with phenomena”. There are two kinds of patience with phenomena: First, regarding phenomena unrelated to the workings of the mind, such as cold, heat, wind, rain hunger, thirst, aging, illnessm death and so on, we can endure them without giving rise to affictions or resentment. Second, regarding phenomena related to the workings of the mind, such as anger, sorrow and all other afflictions, we can endure them without aversion.
With “patience with phenomena, First, regarding phenomena unrelated to the workings of the mind, such as cold, heat, wind, rain, hunger, thirst, aging, illness, death and so on, we can endure them without giving rise to afflictions or resentment. Aren’t we like this when it comes to the weather and even our own bodies? When it comes to the weather, when nature and the macrocosm’s four elements are in disharmony or we are in a very hot place, in a hot climate, we still must write reports, write up transcripts and do [other] such things even it is oppressive and difficult. We think, “It’s so hot! I should be on vacation. Everyone [else] is on vacation and sightseeing. Why should I be stuck here?” Has anyone ever complained like this? If we have not, it means we are joyful and have succeeded in acting with patience. If we can patiently endure the disharmony of the macrocosm’s four elements, then it means we have patience with phenomena. Moreover, our bodies can also fall ill. Some people when sick for a long time, can lose their temper. If we are sick, it is our own problem. How can we possibly blame it on others? Yet, sometimes we can still complain, “My goodness! I am sick; I am in pain! You cannot understand!” The pain is in our body, and so is our illness. When someone tries to gently console us, how can they know the pain this illness causes us or its extent? There is no way they can understand. Everyone must experience their own pain. If we are unable to endure, then we will lose our temper. We have to endure this too. We should take joy in our illness; what else can we do? Second, “regarding phenomena related to the workings of the mind such as anger. This has to do with rage, with losing one’s temper. We must endure the pain in our bodies, endure the cold and heat. We should endure everything going on inside of us very naturally and without being hindered by it; we should come and go like this without hindrance.
So, “Even if all evils were to befall them, their minds would not waver. This again is talking about relations with people. This means that even if all evils were to befall them, their bodies would peacefully endure this, without ever wavering.”
We must endure all of this. Take at that care recipient we spoke of, the one [sitting] in that place. Think about how he was stuck there for such a long time without ever moving. It is inconceivable when they told me about this recipient it was not as briefly as when I told you just now. I was also very curious and kept asking questions, so [we] spent most of the day talking about him. How this care recipient’s body could only suffer from stiffness after all that is truly inconceivable. Amidst all the bacteria in that garbage pile, all he did was sit still, never leaving that place. Indeed, how he could survive like this is impossible for us to understand. Through pain so insufferable, through such insufferable heat and cold, he could remain there without moving. Moreover, he never wavered but could endure for so long. Was this ability Samadhi? I don’t know.
In any case, these were the circumstances that he endured. Here it says, “When people who have attained the Dharma but harbor overbearing arrogance….”
When people who have attained the Dharma but harbor overbearing arrogance…: This refers to practitioners who have attained the joy of Dharma but harbor self-conceit and overbearing arrogance.
Suppose we know the Dharma; are we able to have patience? Suppose we understand the teachings; are we able to patiently endure? “All practitioners who attain the joy of Dharma, those who are currently practicing along the path of this Dharma, should be “harboring” the Dharma in their hearts just like everybody. Yet, as we practice the path, when people see us, if they praise and admire us, if they show us respect in this way, [do we just say], “Along this path, this is the practice I continually engage in. This is the path I take?” It everyone praises us, does this affect our minds? Does it make us very happy? If it does, then what are we really thinking? The way we spiritual practitioners react to praise is a test for us. Does arrogance arise in us? This is something we must ask ourselves. Some, when praised by others, quickly give in and become proud. Only by not giving rise to arrogance can we truly pass the test as spiritual practitioners. If we are truly patient, we will be patient in the face of people’s praise. It will not give rise to any kind of joy in us. [Engaging in practice] is just our basic duty. “Since I wish to engage in practice, that is my own duty. There is nothing praiseworthy”. We should not view it as anything special when responding to people showing us respect or giving offerings and praise. Our minds should remain unaffected, and we must reflect on ourselves. “When these people slight and torment them, they are able to endure this as well.”
When these people slight and torment them, they are able to endure this as well: When people like this slight and torment them, they are able to peacefully endure and accept it.
Even if our spiritual practice is beyond reproach, people may still “slight and torment us”. If people look down on us and we think, “My spiritual practice is so good, yet no one notices. I help others so much, yet no one praises me! They look down on me!” Some [people] are like this. So, we must quickly heighten our own vigilance. If people look down on us like this, do we let it bother us? Or do our minds remain peaceful and do we accept the situation as it is? This is something we must ask ourselves. We should be peaceful in the face of this. We should be able to take it, for only this is true spiritual practice. “Patience” is something that we should practice in our circumstances in daily life. When it comes to the natural world or our affairs with others, sometimes we are not aware of [any issue], sometimes we are aware of slight [issues], and other times things are more severe. Sometimes, since we have decided we want to do something, we have to do it. Regarding the case we just mentioned, as we decided to take it on, we had to complete it. Regardless of the circumstances, nothing would affect or hinder us. Though it was very hard to communicate with the people involved, we had to be patient in our efforts. We would not allow external conditions to keep us from reaching our goal. This is true patience, patience whether regarding the circumstances, the people and so on. So, “patience” in daily living is something we ordinarily need when interacting with others. [What is more], when it comes to making vows and the vows we have made, since we made vows, we must carry them through. When we vow to do the right thing, we will absolutely succeed in doing it. In practicing these vows, do we ever retreat from them? This is very important, for it always involves patience. So, to have “patience” in daily living is something we should always be vigilant of. If we are praised by others, do we become happy, become self-important and arrogant? This is what we must ask ourselves. What if no one even praises us or even recognizes us; will we let it affect our minds? This depends on our state of mind. So, please, when it comes to daily living, among people, matters and things, we must always be mindful!
(Source: Da Ai TV – Wisdom at Dawn program – Explanation by Master Chen-Yen)
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