89 of 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination

[Shokai]

31 Quaint gate.jpg
一百八法明門
IPPYAKUHACHI-HOMYOMON
One Hundred and Eight Gates of Dharma-Illumination

[89] The forbearance paramita48 is a gate of Dharma-illumination; for [with it] we abandon all anger, arrogance, flattery, and foolery, and we teach and guide living beings who have such
vices.

Forbearance or Patience, is the third of the six perfections, representing the active, disciplined practice of enduring hardship, accepting truth, and resisting the urge to react with anger or aversion. It is not passive resignation, but an active, transformative perfection that serves as the paramount antidote to anger and aversion.

Once again, another important aspect of our practice that takes a lot of energy. How do you feel about this gate?

合掌,生開
gassho, Shokai
stlah
仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai
"Open to life in a benevolent way"

[Ryūdō-Liúdào]

In my day-to-day life, I use this gate as a reminder that everyone is at their own place on their own path. There’s always someone further behind and someone further ahead, no matter how far up the mountain we’ve walked.

I used to think the best way forward was trying to explain things and help "make" people understand. How foolish of me! You can’t "make" someone do or change anything. It's like trying to make a friend quit smoking. That choice has to come from them.

What we can do is offer a helping hand when it’s welcome, and most of all, lead by example. Nothing seems more inspiring than a happy, pleasant, and easy-going fool, full of life and joyousness!

Gasshō,
流道-Ryūdō-Liúdào
Satlah

[Tenryu]

Forbearance often shows up in small moments, when something unpleasant appears and the first impulse is to react. Sometimes there’s just a brief pause, enough to notice what’s happening before it turns into words or action. In that pause, things don’t escalate so easily, and it becomes possible to stay with it a little longer.

Gasshō,
Tenryū
sat&lah

[Tairin]

Thank you Shokai.

I’d love to report here that I am totally rocking this Gate but alas I am still a work in progress.

I suppose one good thing is that there are many opportunities to practice with this Gate daily.


Tairin
sat today and lah

[Chikyou]

Patience is challenging to build. It requires diligence, effort, self-awareness and humility. When you practice all of those, and build them up, *then* you can respond with patience.

Gassho,
SatLah,
Chikyō

[Choujou]

This is a tough gate. Sometimes there are hard things to accept in life. Sometimes there are people that can just rub you the wrong way, and you may not even know why. Situations we don’t like, preferences we make… but all of the distinctions, aversions, anger, arrogance, flattery, and foolery are all based in ego/small mind. There we grasp and cling, and thus we expect things/people to remain, to never change, to always be there. But this is not what happens, ever… change is constant. We must accept and allow for the change. Not all times will be good, nor will they be bad. In fact… there really isn’t a “good” or “bad” but just… times. Things happen, and bring change for better or worse, and we must flow with it all and accept. For me this is much more difficult to apply and practice than it is to talk or write about, and I feel that this gate is a continuous effort until we allow ourselves to become more patient with practicing this paramita over time.

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today

[Seikan]

Patience is something that I used to believe I only had to employ with others. But through practice (especially zazen) I've discovered just how much impatience I have with myself throughout each day. The simple act of cultivating awareness of thoughts and intentions can help defuse the usual impulsive actions/reactions that stem from my chronic impatience. As such, patience is really not all that difference from the spacious awareness of our practice.

While I do seek to practice patience externally in my interactions with others, I feel that practicing more patience internally will only help the external application as well.

Gassho,
Seikan
stlah