..续本文上一页n – they want to practice the Dhamma, they want to have the occasion to go forth, and so it increases....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes
1. samana: one who has entered the Holy life; a religious; originally, a religious recluse or wanderer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PATIENCE
Patient endurance is the supreme austerity.Dhammapada 184
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE that is highly praised within Buddhist circles, but not considered so terribly important in the materialist world, where efficiency and getting what we want instantly are far more desirable. With all the instant things that are produced now, as soon as we feel a desire, a need for something, we can get it quickly – and if we can”t get it quickly we become very annoyed or upset and complain ... ”This country”s going to the dogs.” We hear that all the time – don”t we
– people complaining ... because if people are going on strike, or aren”t efficient enough, quick enough to satisfy our desires, we have to wait and patiently endure.
Notice in sitting, when pain arises in your body, how impatient you become, automatically trying to get away from pain. If you have a fever or become sick, notice how you resent the inconvenience, the annoyance of the body, and try to get well to get away from pain as soon as possible.
The virtue of patience is probably the most important one for us to consider at this time, because if you don”t have patience then of course spiritual development is an impossibility. So I might think, ”I”ll take the instant Zen practice; I don”t want to be bothered with that Theravada because it takes too long a time. I want to get enlightened instantly, quickly, so I don”t have to wait around doing boring things, doing things that take time that I may not feel like doing. Maybe I can take a course, or take a pill, have some kind of machine and get enlightened quickly.” I remember when LSD first became known, people were saying that it was the quick way to enlightenment: ”You just swallow this tablet and you understand everything! You don”t have to bother with ordination as a monk, and have to sit around in a monastery. Just take a pill and you”ll be enlightened. Go to the chemist or the dope peddler ... and you don”t have to commit yourself to anything.”
Wouldn”t that be wonderful, if that was all one had to do
But then after a few trips on LSD, people began to realise that, somehow, the enlightening experience seemed to disappear, and you were left in an even worse state than ever. No patience.
In a monastery, the development of patience is a part of our way of life. In the forest monasteries of North-East Thailand, you have a chance to become very patient, because there life is much less efficient and you have to endure. You have to endure through all kinds of unpleasant physical experiences, such as malarial fevers, and the hot season. The hot season in the North-East is one of the dreariest things I”ve experienced in my life. You wake up in the morning and think, ”Not another day” – everything seems so deary. You think, ”Another hot day, an endless day of heat and mosquitoes and sweat.” A seemingly endless day, and one day after another.
And then one reminds oneself: ”What a wonderful opportunity for developing patience!” You hear about modern American ways to enlightenment where you can get involved in the most interesting kinds of personal relationships and scientific machinery, doing absolutely fascinating things to each other, and get enlightened. And here you are, sitting in the hot season, a hot, dreary day, endless, in which one hour seems like an eternity. You think, ”What am I doing here
I could be in California, having a fascinating …
《Cittaviveka》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…