Without understanding, belief can be very dangerous. So what Lord Buddha emphasized was that understanding is the path to liberation, knowledge is the path to liberation. - Lama Thubten Yeshe

Lama Yeshe

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

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22 June, 2023

We need to learn to greet problems

I think we all have a misunderstanding of patience. We actually think it means passive aggression, kind of gritting your teeth and waiting for that horrible thing to go away. That is not patience; that literally is aversion or anger, but suppressed. “Passive aggression” is a great phrase.

Patience is an outrageous state of mind when we understand it properly, and it's an absolutely necessary one on our spiritual path; without it, we cannot get far, honestly.

So, what is patience? Well, the only way we can really understand it is by understanding the opposite, which, of course, is anger. We learn about this early on in our practice.

Most of the time we're driven by attachment: this bottomless pit of emotional hunger to get what I want every second, this junkie that can only bear the nice things, this junkie in us that's running the show that cannot stand the bad things. And what is the bad thing? The bad thing is what my attachment doesn't want. The good thing is what my attachment wants.

When we get to the more advanced levels of the path, our development of compassion and eventually bodhichitta, we learn about the brave attitude that Lama Zopa talks about all the time called “transforming problems into happiness.” Understanding this tells us exactly what patience is.

At this level, what's driving you all the time – all the time – is this powerful wish to be of benefit to others because their suffering is so unbearable, and you must become a buddha because then you're fully qualified to benefit them. That's what's underpinning everything you're doing when you've really got bodhichitta; it's fierce; it's unstoppable; it's not just occasionally; it's in the bones of your being.

It takes courage to greet a problem, to look it in the face. Our usual attachment to not having it is so intense, which manifests as aversion, anger, and eventually depression.

So when we see the problems of the world out there, the attitude to have is one of patience – seeing it for what it is – but instead of panicking or getting angry or depressed or feeling hopeless, do as Martin Luther King would say: it's good to see problems – the suffering, the injustice, the racism, the poverty – but then you say, "What can I do about it?"

That's not only patience but also compassion.