Practicing Patience

Practicing Patience

Date Posted:
August 2013

This is a lightly edited transcript of a handwritten note that was posted to an old student. [Please note:  If you or someone you know is experiencing any form of violence and abuse, please seek help from a suitable support service in your region.]

My most dear one,
Whatever people say—if they say nasty things or they are angry at you, Buddha gave teachings on how to practice patience, how to develop compassion and how to transform into bodhicitta, to transform into happiness. People who like you or love you, who say nice things—how you are sweet girl and so forth—they do not give you this opportunity to practice the realization of patience and compassion; to train well in compassion, bodhicitta and emptiness. This is without bringing up tantra practice.

So, these people who are angry and dislike you; who complain, criticize, abuse you and so forth, are extremely important. They are most useful and beneficial to you.

You can benefit all sentient beings by first stopping your negative karma. This gives you those realizations and enlightenment, so you can liberate all sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment.

The other thing is that if your mind is in patience towards all sentient beings equaling the sky, as well as having compassion and bodhicitta towards all sentient beings, you are giving temporal and ultimate happiness and peace to the sentient beings. This is the best life. Wow ! This is the best life in the world.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

Then everybody loves you in this way. You are allowed to be loved by everybody else. You want to be loved, but if you are thinking in a bad way about them, that blocks you from receiving love and help from others. It is really true.