Expert: Judy - 8/22/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I know different school of Buddhism have different ideas.  I've come across the term Patient Endurance.  I am in constant physical pain and have found the 4 nobel truths useful.  But I don't know what Patient Endurance means. Can you shed light on this.  Anyting you say would be helful.  Thanks.

ANSWER: Hi, Marc,

Thank you for your question.  First of all, I would like to say that all aspects in Buddhism are related and interchangeable among different school, despite the fact that the methods of practicing are somewhat different.  The concept and the teachings are the same.
Second of all, I would like to quote a paragraph from “Buddhism: A Way of Life and Thought” by Nancy Wilson Ross:

First, perhaps, it should be reaffirmed that there is in truth no goal to be attained. Even satori, enlightenment, is not to be imagined as something achieved after arduous effort. Arduous effort may be involved, to be sure, but it is not the real meaning. The real meaning, the real enlightenment, happens in the way a ripe fruit falls from a tree. All the effort of the seed struggling up through the soil, the tree putting down roots and putting out branches, leaves, blossoms, its patient endurance of the many opposing natural forces—all in the end produce the fruit which, when fully ripe, silently, easily falls. Yet, this whole process of fruition was a process, not a goal and the seed itself was as much the goal, the reality, as the fruit itself. The seed as seed is eternal; an apple seed is eternally an apple seed, and given the chance it will become an apple tree producing more apple seed. As Dögen said, wood is wood and ashes are ashes. Wood has its own past, present and future, as also do ashes. Enlightenment is, then, to live in accordance with one's true nature. That is what Buddha did. That is how he was "Enlightened."

We, as human beings, are always seeking to acquire something that’s beyond us or something that we don’t have.  We try to believe that there is something or someone out there which/who could empower us, yet we don’t realize that we have gotten everything IN us already.  We don’t need to obtain anything.  What we need is just the REALIZATION.
There are guidelines or aspects that are broken down for us to follow.  In addition to compassion, there are Six Perfections (Parmitas) that a Bodhisattva must cultivate in order to attain Buddhahood, to which four more were added in later times:

1 Generosity (Skt. Dana-paramita); selfless and impartial generosity
2 Discipline (Skt. Shila-paramita); observance of the ethical regimen
3 Patience (Skt. Kshanti-paramita); patient endurance of difficulties
4 Energy (Skt. Virya-paramita); zealous energy in perseverance
5 Meditation (Skt. Dhyana-paramita); mindful absorption in meditation
6 Wisdom (Skt. Prajna-paramita); wisdom of transcendent insight

As you see, patient endurance is one of the Six Parmitas.  Literally, we understand what these 6 Parmitas mean, yet understanding the meaning of it does not make our lives easier.  Phenomenon has to be realized through our personal experiences.  For example, you could realize what the Buddha said about the Four Noble Truths better, simply because you are in physical pain.  For those people who have never had any kind of pain may understand the principles of the Noble Truths, yet they probably cannot realize the meaning of the Noble Truths.

When masters or monks talk about Patient Endurance, they are just talking about THROUGH practicing the WAY, our lives would be easier.  However, it is almost impossible just practicing patient endurance without any foundation of Buddha nature: mindfulness (awareness).
It does not matter if it has to do with compassion, selfishness, wisdom, patient endurance, and etc…; it all needs to start with our basic life mechanism: Breathing and our 5 senses.  This links and relates to what we practice.  Without it, it is simply impossible.

Why is awareness so crucial to patient endurance or other practices?  Let’s say, yes, you are in the MOMENT of great pain, and I ask you to be patient and endure the pain.  Will you be less painful?  No! You would probably so painful that throw an apple to me to keep me quiet, right?  See, patient endurance does not come by practicing patient endurance itself, but it would come automatically through practice of AWARENESS.  When you are aware of all your senses, thoughts, and breathes, you are an observer (2nd or 3rd person) rather than the person (1st person) who suffers the pain.  When you become a 2nd or 3rd person, your pain will not be as great.

As you already learned from the Four Noble Truths, all suffering comes from being a “self.”It is YOU who is feeling the pain, because YOU have the SELF as YOU.  I know that it is crazy to think that the person who is in pain is not YOU.  And I don’t want you to think that way either.  However, what I would like you to do is to start practicing full-awareness meditation.  Meditation is not necessarily just for sitting.  Sitting meditation is only one of the meditations.  Virtually, you can meditate on everything and on every single moment.  For example, instead of feeling the pain and try to make yourself to endure the pain and be patient for the pain to be gone (if all our brains are as easy as to commend them to do whatever we want to, we would be not be human beings), “PAY ATTENTION” (NOT CONCENTRATE on any particular part) to all your body movements.  For example, when you are cooking, pay attention to going to the fridge to get something out (between the short distance, you can be mindful on your footsteps, the way you raise your arm, the reach to the fridge, the sensation of your hand touching and pulling the handle of the fridge, the way you bending down the knees, the way you look around to see what’s in the fridge……).  Even this small action would help you live at the present moment than anything else.  And how many moments like this have fled while we even have not noticed their fleeing.  

When you are paying attention to your entire body, you are in a relaxed state.  Chances are your brain would send out painful signal to your nerves less.  On the contrary, when you are CONCENTRATING the pain you are feeling alone, the pain gets worse.  One thing leads to another, and every practice needs to start from the basics.  Then, everything is related and interchangeable like I said earlier.

We people have the most precious tools in ourselves already, yet we often ignore them.  It is as simple as paying attention to our entire body, including breathes and 5 senses.  However, since we do not practice this simple way for so long after we are born, it is hard to get used to this simple method now.  You would tend to FORGET or not be aware that you are breathing, your feet being your shoes, your teeth biting your lips, and etc……. Nevertheless, you would get more used to it and practice it better.  You also would find out your that “patient endurance” would come naturally after you practice FULL-AWARENESS meditation for a while.  Actually, by the time you feel that your patient endurance has increased, the terminology “patient endurance” does not exist any more.  You don’t need to endure or be patient for anything, for you are the boss of your body, instead of being the employee.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi, I re-read your response a couple of times and I have only one follow up question, and its a tuff one.  But first let me say I appreciate your effort.  so here goes. How, would one practice patient acceptance, in a practical way, to constant physical pain? I understand the words, unsure of how to apply it here.  Again, thank you for the effort.

Answer
Marc,

I understand exactly that you would like to practice patient endurance, in a practical way, to constant pain.  That's why I wrote my previous answer with the explanation for the use for the basic practice.  Without the basic practice of full-awareness, it is impossible to practice patient endurance successfully.  Even if you practice it anyway, it is not going to be helpful at all.  

Nothing is magic.  If it is so easy that there is ONE SINGLE STRAIGHT FORWARD METHOD of practicing patient endurance successfully, all people in the world would have successfully practiced it already.  Nothing is easy, especially when it comes to spiritual (or body, spirit, and mind) practice.  It all involves steps. Without the basic/first step, the last step means nothing.  By the same token, patient endurance/acceptance means nothing, if there is no fundamental practice to start with.

How can one practice patience endurance/acceptance?  It's very easy to understand literal meaning, and everyone can practice "acceptance" and "endurance" for pain literally.  It is actually very easy to do it.  However, the question is: does the pain really just go away by practicing acceptance and endurance?  The answer is "NO."  Anybody can practice acceptance and endurance, yet not everyone can transcend him/herself beyond his/her physical limit to feel LESS pain.  This transcendence takes place with the practice of MINDFULNESS.

Marc, there is really not much to the practice of patient endurance/acceptance, other than what it is literally.  My previous answer is not only helpful for pain relief, but also everything else in general.  If you are only seeking pain relief, there is a more direct way to do it, yet still involving a similar method of mindfulness:

1.  mediate on the impermanence of a body (we are all attached to our physical bodies tremendously. Contemplating on the impermanence of a body will reduce our attachment.  Thus, your body relaxes, and the sensation to pain reduces)

2.  mediate on the spots where you have the pain.  Pay attention to your pain: feel how deep, big, and/or strong the pain is, where it is exactly, and what kind of pain it is. However, just know and feel it; do NOT give it an explanation or a name/term.  Do Not Identify it such as "the pain comes from the tip of third finger of my right hand."  Only do you FEEL it.  In another word, do not use your brain to process the information.  Just simply FEEL it; that's it.

Even the above-mentioned methods involve greatly the foundation of meditation routine, in order to grasp the essence of it and do it well.  However, you can try this directly, and see if it helps any.

Don't get discouraged, if nothing happens in a short time.  Every effort counts.  Sometimes, it just takes longer to see the result.  Trust me, it has taken me such a long time to finally figure out one simple phenomenon.