Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

tiṭṭhikā” – “patience, forbearance, is the highest austerity
(Dhp. 184).” Learning to interact objectively with reality
rather than react based on partiality is the most difficult, yet
most rewarding practice that there is. The Buddha made
clear with his teachings that true understanding of reality
can only come if we are able to endure difficulty rather than
running from it.
The point is that a person who runs away from difficulty will
become a person who does so habitually. Rather than
looking closer to understand a situation clearly, whereby
they would be able to see that every situation is nothing
more than moment-to-moment experiences that are neither
difficult nor dangerous, they will automatically deny the
validity of the experience, compartmentalizing it as
“unacceptable” as opposed to “acceptable”.
When one realizes that there is nothing to be gained from
constantly running from difficulty, one will be forced to
accept the only alternative and develop patience. Patience
is what allows us to examine our problems objectively; it is
thus what allows us to find true solutions to them. If one is
never patient enough to examine one’s problems in detail,
one will never see the truth about them.
Again, our ultimate goal is to see things clearly. In many
cases all that is stopping us from seeing an experience
clearly is the intensity of it, and our inability to bear with it
long enough to see it for what it is. Teaching ourselves to
bear with difficulty allows us to incorporate such experiences
into our practice and come to see them clearly.
If we are patient, bearing with any discomfort that arises, we
will find our minds opening up to a new realm of happiness
and peace; we will find ourselves able to find comfort where
there was before only suffering and stress. Without the
cultivation of patience, experiences of heat, cold, hunger,
thirst, painful feelings, or any uncomfortable experience
would immediately lead to feelings of great distress and
anxiety; as a result, we would be plagued by great suffering
throughout our lives. Once we are actually able to face
these experiences, coming to see them simply as
phenomena that arise of their own accord and disappear
without our consent, the self-identification and judgement
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