Without patience, you cannot think thoroughly. You cannot even solve a puzzle by exploring the possibilities. It is the same with your life. You need patience.
We understand that if there is not enough food, there is fighting. If there is a flood or a catastrophe, there will be trouble. When there is war, that is definitely so. We see that with problems there is fighting and anger. This is very common and not easy to deal with.
With a dharma practice, patience is very necessary. Problems should not increase our negative emotions, but without patience, you do not recognize the karmic results. When something bad happens, you don’t consider it as “my karma.” Many deny it, and even if it might possibly be true, they don’t want to accept it. But through practice, you can recognize that anything happening at any moment has something to do with karma. Acknowledging karmic results is not a bad thing. Why? Because you are getting rid of that karma. Recognition can help you feel more comfortable and lead to changing the situation, to finding out how to deal with it, and how to handle it as best as you can.
People do different things. Sometimes they harm; sometimes they help. But what rises inside you depends on how you handle it. If someone is harming you, if you rely on your practice of patience, then within you, they are not harming you. They are helping you. They are presenting conditions for you to train in patience. The more they do, the more your inner strength develops. After a while you are okay with problems. At the same time, you are developing virtue. Through patience, you accumulate a lot of virtue. How can we increase virtue in our life?
The mind training passage in Lama Chopa says:
- Even if the world and its beings,
- Filled with results of negative actions,
- Pour down a rain of unwanted suffering,
- Inspire me to take these miserable conditions as a path,
- Knowing this burns away my negative karma.
The whole world and everyone in it are facing the results of non-virtue, which is suffering. Even the environment, trees, plants, and harvests. While we don’t want these bad things, if they happen in your life, try to see them as consuming bad karma. And always pray to be able to transform bad instincts into good ones.
In life, we have good times, enjoying family and friends, studying, meditating, having fun. We may wonder, “Am I a human or a heavenly being?” Everything is going well without any problems. Then sometimes it’s the opposite with many bad things happening. It is traditionally said that life has three happinesses and three sufferings. Having these two aspects in our lives is common knowledge.
When faced with bad things in your life, your mind becomes exhausted and stressed. You become like a bird hit by a stone, sitting in a corner and not even trying to fly again. Your mind is very discouraged, not wanting to do anything, including finding a solution. Just giving up. Sometimes it is the opposite and you become like a dog hit by a stone. The scared dog tries to bite anyone who comes near.
Similarly, you might upset everybody – your friends, your family, and in the worst case, you get upset with Buddha and the bodhisattvas. Sometimes it is not something happening to you, but a catastrophe happening in the world and you are shouting at everybody, going around telling everybody they have to do something.
As the Lama Chöpa says: When you are facing unwanted problems, especially when there is not much you can do about it, if you are able at that moment, try to see the problems as a karmic result. Recognize your bad karma is decreasing. When I talk about karma, people ask how we change karma. When enduring karmic results, you are eliminating that karma.
Instead of accumulating another bad karma by being upset with others, do purification to change the karma. Karma that you do or don’t remember causing. Anything done intentionally or unintentionally. Being able to feel sorry for those things becomes your purification.
Then, transform bad situations into good. How? Be wise, instead of stubborn. Use your wisdom on how to solve the problem, or to transform the problem. Some problems you can solve and maybe return the situation to what it was before. Some you cannot change back, but you can transform them. You can make it something manageable, that you can deal with. This all happens through patience, and knowing who we are. That’s why we talk about introspection. Look at your own mind and your own actions by yourself.
When Struggling with Problems, You Need Patience – Part 1 (Demo Rinpoche – Ancient Wisdom. Modern Times. #242 May 18, 2025)
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