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stimuli — in the 
face of such obstacles, a patient 
person remains 
steadfast. 
B.2 Characteristics of Patience 
The characteristics of authentic 
patience are as follows: 
I. We can put up with things: If 
insulted by a fool, 
one pretends one has not heard. If 
you are reprimanded 
for something that is not true or if 
you 
are provoked, you pretend not to 
hear. Some 
have just given up drinking alcohol 
and knowing 
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that a colleague might intentionally 
order 
some liquor and sit down at the 
same table with 
the intention of making your 
mouth water — if 
you pretend not to see, that is the 
practice of 
patience. Patience is to do all the 
good things you 
normally do with restraint of 
speech and mind. 
It applies especially when someone 
has done you 
a favour in the past, but later does 
something 
annoying to you. Patience is to 
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towards Enlightened Living 
speech and by continuing to work 
on yourself 
— until there are no further traces 
of such false 
views even in your thoughts. 
2. Avoiding being cruel: One is 
able to keep one's 
temper under control — rather 
than getting angry, 
violent or threatening. Those who 
lose their 
temper easily show a lack in their 
development 
of patience. There is a proverb 
coined by Indra 
that: 
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"Those angry in response to the 
angry 
provocation of others are the worse 
of the 
two; Those who don't respond 
angrily to angry 
provocation have won the battle 
which 
is hard indeed to win." (S.i.157) 
At a more subtle level, avoiding 
cruelty even 
means avoiding allowing other 
things to irritate 
you — whether it be extravagant 
people, or 
working in the hot weather —
irritation would 
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be a sign that your level of 
patience is still 
lacking.There should not even be 
thought of getting 
your own back on others who have 
hurt you 
in the past. 
3. Not bringing tears to others: 
One avoids bringing 
suffering or mental hurt to others 
because of 
any hatred we might bear towards 
them. 
4. Maintaining joyousness of 
mind the whole of 
the time: One should not allow 
one's mind to 
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fall away from contentment —
rather than being 
vengeful or putting the blame on 
the weather, 
fate or scapegoats, we should try to 
do all sorts 
of work with a mind that is blythe. 
You look on 
the bright side of the world, 
instead of thinking 
who to blame for hardships —
instead of grinding 
your teeth whenever you are ill 
thinking, 
"Why is it always me? Why do 
others never get 
ill like me?" 
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In addition to all of these you 
should be interested 
only to mind your own business —
instead of nosing 
into the affairs of others which 
don't concern 
you. Instead of going for instant 
solutions from fortune 
tellers, one should get down to 
hard and honest 
work to ameliorate the situation 
through your 
own abilities. Keeping the Precepts 
no matter 
whether others laugh at you or not, 
would count 
as patience. Supposing you have 
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never meditated 
before, or you have meditated but 
have still not attained 
the Sphere of Dhamma or you are 
still not 
able to maintain the Sphere of 
Dhamma the whole 
of the time or you are still unable 
to attain the 
Dhammakaya — then getting on 
with our daily 
practice in spite of what anyone 
else says, can be 
counted as patience. 
B.3 Misunderstandings 
concerning patience 
Some may be familiar with effigies 
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of three monkies 
often seen in Asia — one monkey 
with its hands 
over his eyes, the second with his 
hands over his 
ears and a third with a hand over 
his mouth. This 
is a symbol of the ancient proverb 
advocating patience: 
"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no 
evil" 
Even though this proverb is well 
known, even the 
meaning of the three monkies has 
been twisted in 
the modern day by those who 
misunderstand patience. 
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They say: 
"Even if you see evil behaviour 
turn a blind eye; 
even if you hear evil speech, 
pretend you 
haven't heard; even if you know 
something evil 
is going on, keep your mouth shut" 
Thus various evil actions such as 
corruption continue 
unabated as a result of the 
pseudo-patience 
of its witnesses. Thus if we are 
really to understand 
patience, we have to look carefully 
at its guiding 
principles instead of succumbing 
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to widespread 
misunderstandings. 
Supposing a child is too lazy to 
study or help 
around the house. If his mother 
reprimands him 
and he is unmoved and indifferent, 
is that patience? 
Indeed, it is maintaining one's 
normal conduct in 
the face of unpleasant stimuli, but 
it is not the cultivation 
of patience. In this case it would be 
better 
referred to as stubborness. 
Supposing some hooligans are 
normally troublemakers 
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and they ignore someone who tells 
them to 
stop, carrying on with their normal 
troublemaking 
— is that patience? They may say 
it is the cultivation 
of patience, but in fact it is more 
likely to be 
insensitivity to advice. 
Supposing someone is so poor that 
he is about to 
starve, but instead of helping 
himself by going out 
Blessing Twenty-Seven: Patience 
305 
and earning money, he puts up 
with the situation 
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— calling it patience — In fact, he 
could show a lot 
more patience in striving hard to 
do the necessary 
to ameliorate his situation. 
By contrast, patience should be the 
saving grace 
that allows one to extricate oneself 
from truancy, 
delinquence or poverty. The 
important characteristic 
of patience is for as long as you are 
truly patience 
it should be on the basis of a 
radiant mind 
not a clouded one! True patience is 
thus: 
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• the patience to extract oneself 
from and avoid 
all evil — allows you to endure 
until you can 
extract yourself from the clutches 
of evil behaviour 
• the patience to continue to do all 
manner of virtuous 
deeds — allows you to persevere 
in doing 
good deeds 
• the patience to maintain one's 
mind, not allowing 
it to become clouded — allows 
you to keep 
your mind pure and radiant 
B.4 Levels of patience 
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Patience exists at at least four 
different levels: 
I. Patience in the face of 
hardship: This means endurance 
of hardships caused by the 
environment 
around us — such as the heat of 
the sun, 
or the rain. We were born with the 
sky over our 
heads and not a roof, so if it rains 
or the sun is 
hot then we have to accept it and 
carry on with 
our work in the rain or the sun. 
2. Patience in the face of physical 
suffering: Everybody 
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has physical feelings in their body. 
All 
you need to do is sit without 
moving for a few 
minutes and you will start to feel 
stiff. However, 
some people sit around a gambling 
table 
or sit watching a movie all night 
without moving 
or complaining — but why when 
you sit 
for meditation for a few minutes is 
it such a 
grueling experience (?) — only 
because you lack 
patience in the face of suffering. 
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This category 
of patience also includes toleration 
of the suffering 
implicit in illness. If a person has 
an illness 
and they exaggerate their suffering 
by 
reveling in it, it is as if they are 
twice as ill than 
they need to be. Some people can 
tolerate all 
sorts of hardship, but if they see 
their own blood 
from a cut in their finger they will 
scream and 
cry as if they were going to die. In 
a hospital 
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there were three patients. One was 
crying out 
as if in agony and it was 
discovered that she 
had lost her ring finger. She 
couldn't accept her 
own bad luck because she thought, 
"I'll never 
be able to wear a wedding ring any 
more." The 
second bed had a patient who was 
just moaning 
now and then. She had lost her arm 
and both 
legs. At the third bed, all was quiet 
because the 
patient had a broken neck. It was 
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because of 
many similar situations that the 
people of old 
had the saying, "Don't attend to 
the patients 
who cry out loudly first, because 
they are still a 
long way from death. Take care of 
the ones who 
have no strength to cry out any 
more — because 
we have no way of knowing how 
much longer 
they will be with us. 
3. Patience in the face of conflict 
(mental suffering): 
This refers to patience we have 
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