I’ve been continuing my reading of Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s 14-volume commentary on the Lotus Sutra. Recently I completed Volume 10, which covers Chapters 15, 16 and 17. Don’t know yet what I’m going to do with all of the quotes I’ve been gathering. Below is a lesson on the pāramitā of patience. I considered saving this for next March’s Pāramitā Week, but decided to publish now instead. This quote concerns Maitreya’s description of the countless Bodhisattvas who have emerged from underground at the beginning of Chapter 15.

They are resolute in patience. Being patient isn’t easy. For some reason, people like to be praised but dislike being scolded. So it’s very difficult to cultivate patience. You may be patient once; you may even be patient twice; but by the third time, you won’t be able to take it. All of you who listen to the Buddhadharma here every day should be able to apply the Dharma that you’ve learned. When a challenging situation arises, you should be aware of it. If you’re aware, you won’t be affected by the situation. If you’re unaware, you’ll be affected by it. Not being aware of it means not recognizing it. Being aware of it means recognizing it. That’s why I say,

Everything is a test
To see what you will do.
If you don’t recognize what’s before you,
You’ll have to start anew.

When a situation happens, whether it’s favorable or unfavorable, you should recognize it. It shouldn’t be that when you encounter a favorable situation, you feel that it’s as sweet as candy, or that when you experience an unfavorable situation, you feel that it’s as bitter as goldthread. If you feel that favorable circumstances are sweet and unfavorable ones are bitter, then you’re being affected by those states. If your mind remains unmoved in both favorable and unfavorable states, then you’ve got some skill.

What’s a favorable state? One such state would be when someone praises you. For example, suppose people praise your cultivation, saying, “He really cultivates. He works very hard. He practices vigorously day and night without rest.” When you hear them talk about how good you are, it’s as sweet as honey. Your heart rejoices; it’s a very pleasant and enjoyable sensation. Now suppose someone criticizes you: “He’s terrible! He’s lazy and doesn’t cultivate at all. He’s gluttonous and likes to sleep. He claims to be a cultivator, but he never cultivates.” You can’t bear to hear this. You may think, “How can he talk about me like that?” The feeling is as bitter as goldthread. Chinese goldthread rhizome, in case you don’t know, is the most bitter of Chinese medicinal herbs. However, as bitter as it is, it can rid your body of excessive heat. It’s an excellent medicinal herb, but it’s very bitter. However, you have to be patient and bear it.

You also have to consider where the state is coming from. For instance, when a cultivator, maybe a monastic, receives a sound scolding from his teacher, he may think, “I won’t argue, get angry, or talk back. I’ll just act as if nothing happened.” That doesn’t count as having patience. Why not? Because disciples are supposed to bear with their teacher anyway. It’s just not the same as cultivating patience. On the other hand, if as a teacher you can bear it when your disciples scold you, then you’ve really got some skill. If the more your disciples scold you, the happier you are, then you’ve got patience. If you’re scolded by a beggar and feel as though it didn’t even happen, then you’ve got some patience. But when a police officer scolds you, no matter how unreasonable he is or how unbearable it is, you still have to bear with it. For example, you’re out in the street looking around as if you want to steal something, and a policeman comes up and interrogates you: “Hey! What are you up to? Are you a thief? I’m going to search you.” You have to put up with it because the policeman has authority and you don’t. You have to do as you’re told. That doesn’t count as patience. It only counts as patience when you can gracefully endure being bullied or insulted by those with no authority over you.

At this point I’ve thought of a story that’s commonly told. Long ago, Śākyamuni Buddha and one of his disciples were walking down the road in a particularly desolate place. For several hundred miles, they hadn’t come across a single person. The disciple asked the Buddha, “Why aren’t there any people here?”

Śākyamuni Buddha sighed and said, “It’s a very painful story.”

“What happened? Please tell me,” said the disciple.

Śākyamuni Buddha then told about how, long ago, there lived an old, seasoned cultivator with tremendous virtue. This cultivator was cultivating patience and hadn’t gotten angry in over one hundred years. It just so happened that the king of the country had lost faith in his prime minister and had demoted him to commoner status even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. The prime minister, however, was attached to his former status and still desired to be a leader. So he thought, “What am I going to do? How can I get my position as prime minister back? Oh! I’ve got an old friend who practices patience. He’s an immortal who cultivates patience. He’ll know a way. I’ll go ask him.”

So he went to see his friend, the old cultivator. He told him that the king had demoted him from his position as prime minister and asked if the cultivator had any ideas as to how he could regain his position.

The patient immortal replied, “That’s very easy. You’re down on your luck right now, but you can take that inauspicious energy–the energy that’s brought about your downfall–and pass it on to me. Then you’ll be able to continue as prime minister.”

“How can I pass it on to you?” the prime minister asked.

“Take a clod of earth and throw it at my head; that’ll transfer your bad luck to me. Then you’ll be reappointed as prime minister.”

The former prime minister did as the cultivator advised. Sure enough, on the day that he returned, the king called for him and said, “Previously I removed you from your position as prime minister, but that was a mistake. Will you come  back and serve as my prime minister again?” He was invited back, so he thought, “Oh, that cultivator is really capable! He can really make things happen.” And he thereupon resumed his post as prime minister.

After a while the king estranged one of his concubines. Having fallen out of the king’s favor, she was “banished to the cold palace,” meaning she wouldn’t have the opportunity to see the king anymore. This concubine thought, “The prime minister was previously dismissed, but now he’s regained his post. I wonder how he managed that. I’ll ask his advice.” So she called for the prime minister and asked, “How did you go about getting your position back?”

“It wasn’t my own doing,” he said. “I went to an old cultivator I know, and he told me that I had bad luck. He told me to transfer that energy to him and I’d be back in office. So I did, and here I am.”

“Do you think he would help me?” she asked.

“I’ll go ask him,” said the prime minister.

He told the story to the old cultivator, who said, “Fine, tell her to pour a bowl of water over my head. That way her bad luck will be transferred to me. Then the king will want her back again.”

The concubine followed these instructions to the letter, and sure enough, the king took her out of the “cold palace” and invited her back. The patient immortal’s method really worked!

Soon the country went to war, but every time its troops engaged in battle, they lost. The king asked the prime minister and concubine, “We’re losing every battle. What are we going to do?”

The prime minister said, “I know what we’ll do. I have an old friend who’s a patient immortal. He’s got some magical powers. I’ll go discuss the matter with him.”

Upon hearing of the situation, the patient immortal said, “I live in this country, so I should help out. The country is losing its battles. Very well, I’m going to transfer the country’s unlucky energy to me.” Then he said to the king, “It’ll take a whole bucket of water to contain the problems of the entire country. You have to use dirty water, as filthy as urine, to represent the country’s bad luck. Fill the bucket with stinking, dirty water and pour it over me.”

That left the old cultivator smelling pretty bad, but nonetheless, the king began to win all his battles and eventually won the war. During the celebration of his victory, the king praised the cultivator, saying, “That old cultivator has tremendous virtue.”

Once that announcement was made in the palace, the whole country knew about it. One person with ill luck would come, grab a clod of dirt, and throw it at the old cultivator. Another guy with bad luck would come and spit a mouthful of saliva on the old cultivator’s face, thinking, “He’s supposed to be patient and bear it, isn’t he? He should just let the spit dry, shouldn’t he?” Day after day, first ten people, then hundreds, then thousands, tens of thousands, and finally the entire populace converged on the patient immortal, bringing their inauspicious energy to him. The patient immortal simply couldn’t respond to them all properly, so up popped a false thought: “I can’t stand it! Why don’t all these people drop dead?” What do you think happened? They all did!

That was how great his spiritual powers were. As soon as he wished them dead, they all dropped dead on the spot. So now, for several hundred miles around, there weren’t any people in that area.

It’s not easy to be patient. However, although it’s not easy, we’re still going to cultivate it. Instead of calling it difficult, let’s think of it as easy. But whatever you do, don’t get angry and think, “I wish all these people would drop dead!”

These Bodhisattvas are “resolute in patience.” They aren’t the least bit casual about it. They are dignified and awe-inspiring. These Bodhisattvas have fine features, and each has an imposing presence. Praised by the Buddhas of the ten directions, / They excel at explaining the teachings in detail. They’re good at delineating and explaining all Dharmas.