What is forbearance? (Part 2/2)

 

Excerpts from the Sutra of the Collection of the Six Perfections (六度集經, Liùdù Jí Jīng)     What is forbearance? It is acceptance. When one can accept, one can be forbearing and enduring. Why does the Chinese language use the character 辱 (rǔ─disgrace) in 忍辱 (rěn rǔ – forbearing disgrace) for forbearance? It is because disgrace is the most difficult thing for worldly beings to forbear. The so-called pāramitā of forbearance is to reach the other shore of liberation through forbearance. This is the third of the six perfections practiced by bodhisattvas.     In the Upāsaka-śīla Sūtra, Fascicle 7, the Buddha further taught: “If I cannot forbear minor matters, how can I guide sentient beings? Forbearance is the correct cause for attaining the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment—the fruit of this cultivation. If I do not plant the seeds of forbearance, how can I obtain such a true fruit?” If one cannot forbear trivial things pertaining to mundane matters, how can one be a bodhisattva, attain the true fruit of unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in the future, guide and subdue sentient beings, and lead them toward the Buddha Dharma? Furthermore, as recorded in the Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 3, the great master Bodhidharma said, “The unsurpassed, wondrous path of all Buddhas requires assiduous practice over vast kalpas, performing what is difficult to perform and forbearing what is difficult to forbear. How could one with minor merits and wisdom, as well as a frivolous and arrogant mind, hope to attain the true vehicle? Such an effort is merely futile toil.” This means that the unsurpassed wondrous Dharma-path of the Buddhas―performing what is difficult to perform and forbearing what is generally impossible for ordinary people to forbear―must be practiced with diligent effort over immeasurably long periods. How could one with minor merits and wisdom, as well as a frivolous and arrogant mind, hope to attain the truly great Dharma? This was the teaching that the great master Bodhidharma had given to the Second Patriarch, Huike, and it speaks to the steadfast determination one must possess in order to attain the truly great Dharma. #Buddha #paramita #bodhisattva #Buddhiststory #karma #compassion #forberance #dharma #Buddhistteaching  (Part 2/2)