Patience is the 6th Perfection:
The characteristic of patience is
acceptance, its function is to
endure,
and its
manifestation is non-opposing tolerance!
The cause of patience
is understanding how things really are.. The effect of
patience is calm
tranquility despite presence of intensely stirring provocation..
Patience of the will produces forgiving forbearance!
Patience of the
intellect produces faith, confidence and certainty!
Patience of the body produces
resolute and tenacious endurance!
Internal tolerance of states within oneself is patient endurance...
External
tolerance of other beings is forbearance and forgiveness...
He who patiently protects himself,
protects also all other beings!
He who patiently protects all other beings, protects also
himself!
Not from speaking much is one called
clever.
The patient one is free from anger and free from fear,
only such
steady persisting one, is rightly called clever...
Dhammapada 258
Patient tolerance is the highest
praxis...
Nibbāna is the supreme Bliss!
So say all the Buddhas.
Dhammapada 184
The innocent one, who has done nothing
wrong,
Who endures abuse, flogging and even
imprisonment,
Such one, armed with stamina,
the great force of tolerance,
Such stoic one, who self-possessed can accept
all,
I call a Holy One!
Dhammapada 399
One should follow those who are
determined,
tolerant, and enduring,
intelligent, wise, diligent,
clever, good-willed and evidently Noble.
One shall stick to
them as the moon remains in its regular orbit.
Dhammapada 208
Friends, even if bandits were to cut
you up, savagely, limb by limb,
with a two-handled saw, you should not get angry, but do my bidding:
Remain pervading them and all others with a friendly
Awareness imbued
with an all-embracing good-will, kind, rich, expansive, and immeasurable!
Free from hostility, free from any ill will. Always remembering this very
Simile of the Saw is indeed how you should train yourselves.
Majjhima
Nikāya 21
The five ways of removing irritating
annoyance:
Bhikkhus, there are these five ways of
removing annoyance, by which any
irritation can be entirely removed by a Bhikkhu, when it arises in him.
What are these five
ways?
1: Friendliness can be maintained towards an irritating person or state..
2: Understanding can be
undertaken towards an irritating person or state..
3: On-looking
Equanimity can be
kept towards an irritating person or
state..
4: One can forget and ignore the irritating person, mental or
physical state..
5: Ownership of Kamma of the irritating person can be reflected
upon thus:
This good person is owner of his actions, inherit the result his
actions, is
indeed
born of his actions and only he is responsible for his actions be
they
good or bad.
This too is how annoyance with the irksome can be
instantly
removed.
These are the five ways of removing annoyance, and by
which any
irritation can be entirely
removed in a friend, exactly when it arises...
Anguttara Nikāya V
161
Buddha to his son
Rāhula: Develop an
Imperturbable
Mind like the
elements:
Rāhula, develop a mind like earth, then contacts of arisen like and dislike
will not obsess your mind! Rāhula, on the earth is dumped both the pure
and
the impure:
excreta, urine, saliva, pus, blood, but the earth does not detest
any of
those...
Even and exactly so make your mind stable like the earth!
Rāhula, develop a mind like
water,
then contacts of arisen pleasure and pain
will not seize your mind. Rāhula with
water both the pure and the impure
are cleaned... Washed away with water are
excreta, urine, saliva, pus, and
blood, yet the water does not despise any of
that!
Even so make the mind
fluid and adaptable like the water!
Rāhula, develop a mind like fire, then
the contacts
of any arisen attraction
or aversion will neither consume, nor hang on to your mind! Rāhula,
fire
burns
both the pure and the impure, burns excreta, urine, saliva, pus,
and blood,
yet the fire does not loathe any of that.. In the same manner refine
the
mind
into a tool like an all consuming and purifying fire!
Rāhula, develop a mind similar to space, then contacts of arisen
delight
and
frustration does neither take hold of, nor remain in your mind. Space
does
not settle anywhere! Similarly make the mind unsettled and unestablished
like
open
space. When you expand mind like space, contacts of delight and
frustration
will
neither be able to dominate, nor obsess your mind...
Majjhima Nikāya 62
More on the 10 mental perfections (paramis):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Ten_Perfections.htm
