This week, Tesshin continued our study of the Paramitas.  Our focus for this week was the third paramita, Kshanti, which commonly translates as patience.  

 

Roshi noted that patience could be considered one of the most important paramitas as it is always available to us.  How is this?  The English word patience has the same Latin root as patient.  This points to a meaning of someone who is sick, but is working through the process of getting better.  The kanji roots (pictograms) of the word patient are the heart combined with the symbol for a sword.  We can interpret this as meaning a heart in suffering.  Without the distress and suffering, we are not practicing Kshanti.  Patience is much more than simply being willing to “wait around!”  

 

Like all the paramitas, Kshanti manifests in three levels.  The first level is called “Gentle Forbearance.”  To explain this, Roshi shared a story about the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.  One day during the Vietnam war, the monks were out on their alms rounds and an American solider spit at them?  The monks were very upset and angry by this action.  They came back to Thich Nhat Hanh to ask how they should respond.  The answer was that the monks need to understand the conditioning which brought this about.  So, if we want to really fix the problem we need to go after the real source.  This is so much harder than simply reacting instantly.  The patience to look deeply at the causes of suffering rather than simply reacting is what “Gentle Forbearance” is all about.

 

So where should our monks begin?  With the soldier’s conditioning?  No, here the message is clear, the starting point is in the monk’s own mind – with their conditioning!  We cannot try to fix everyone else – we need to fix ourselves first.  Forbearance is about not chasseing every insult – it is about understanding why you react the way you do to the insults.  To be clear, this is definitely not being passive or “turning the other cheek.”  This is an active and skillful mechanism to understand and eventually solve the situation once and for all.

 

The next level of Kshanti is “Endurance of Hardships.”  We all have some type of distress – mental, physical, spiritual.  Nobody can avoid this.  We don’t want to get so wrapped up in it, however.  Tesshin Roshi mentioned that his teacher used to say that a Zen master walking in the rain gets wet.  It is that simple – there is not extra commentary!  The master does not clutter the mind with the inherent unfairness of the timing of the rain.  The weather is the weather.  In this view, patience is a type of simplicity.  It is this simplicity which allows the mind to clear and focus on what is really important.    

 

The third level is “Patience with the Teachings.”  Tesshin noted that a lot of people are “Zen Tourists.”  Some people struggle in the practice, and feel that they are getting nowhere.  They give up before they gave the teachings a chance to blossom in their mind!   Tesshin lamented that patience is NOT a virtue anymore.  One cannot simply click a button on a webpage and get Kensho.  Satori is not available to Amazon Prime members with free shipping!  Nothing is free with our practice – we must pay the full price in the form of diligent and consistent practice.  However, we must have the patience to allow the practice unfold at its own pace in our mind.  This is the Kshanti of practice.  

 

Tesshin wrapped up by noting that Ksanti is fuel for our practice right up to our very last breath.