Kshanti

Buddhist Perfections   10 pāramī dāna sīla nekkhamma paññā viriya khanti sacca adhiṭṭhāna mettā upekkhā      6 pāramitā  dāna sīla kṣānti vīrya dhyāna prajñā   Colored items are in both lists.

Kshanti or kṣanti' (Skt.) or khanti (Pali) has been translated as patience, forbearance and forgiveness. It is one of the practices of perfection (Skt./Pali: paramita) of both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism.

Kshanti is the practice of exercising patience toward behavior or situations that might not necessarily deserve it — it is seen as a conscious choice to actively give patience as if a gift, rather than being in a state of oppression in which one feels obligated to act in such a way.

Canonical sources

Examples in the Pali Canon identify using forbearance in response to others' anger, cuckolding, torture and even fatal assaults.

Dhammapada verses

Khanti is the first word of the Ovada-Patimokkha Gatha (Pali for "Patimokkha Exhortation Verse"), also found in the Dhammapada, verse 184:

Patient endurance: the foremost austerity. Unbinding: the foremost, so say the Awakened. He who injures another is no contemplative. He who mistreats another, no monk.

Khantī paramaṃ tapo tītikkhā Nibbānaṃ paramaṃ vadanti buddhā, Na hi pabbajito parūpaghātī Samaṇo hoti paraṃ viheṭhayanto

Elsewhere in the Dhammapada khanti is found in verse 399:

He endures — unangered —

insult, assault, & imprisonment.

His army is strength;

his strength, forbearance:

he's what I call

a brahman.

Lord Sakka's restraint

In the Samyutta Nikaya, the Buddha tells of a long-ago battle between devas and asuras during which the devas were victorious and the asura king Vepacitti was captured and imprisoned. When the deva lord, Sakka, visited Vepacitti in prison, Vepacitti "abused and reviled him with rude, harsh words," to which Sakka did not respond in kind. Afterwards, Sakka's charioteer questioned Sakka about this, expressing concern that some would see Sakka's response as indicative of fear or weakness. Sakka replied:

"'It is neither through fear nor weakness

That I am patient with Vepacitti.

How can a wise person like me

Engage in combat with a fool?

"... Of goals that culminate in one's own good

None is found better than patience.

"...One who repays an angry man with anger

Thereby makes things worse for himself.

Not repaying an angry man with anger,

One wins a battle hard to win.

"He practices for the welfare of both,

His own and the other's,

When, knowing that his foe is angry,

He mindfully maintains his peace.

"When he achieves the cure of both —

His own and the other's —

The people who consider him a fool

Are unskilled in the Dhamma.'"

The Buddha then commended to his followers Sakka's praise for "patience and gentleness" (khantisoraccassa).

A cuckold's forbearance

In a Jataka tale entitled, Khanti-vaṇṇana-jātaka ("Exposition on Patience Birth Story," J 225), the Buddha tells of a former life when he was Brahmadatta, a king of Benares. At the time, a courtier of the king "fell into an intrigue in the king's harem." This same courtier was being similarly betrayed by one of his own servants and this courtier complained to the king about his own servant. In response, the king disclosed his knowledge of the courtier's betrayal and stated:

"Good men, I trow, are rare enow: so patience is my rede."

Shamed by the king's awareness of their deeds, the courtier and his servant henceforth ceased their betrayals.

Parables of torture

In the Majjhima Nikaya, a classic parable of Buddhist forbearance can be found in the Buddha's "Simile of the Saw":

"Monks, even if bandits were to carve you up savagely, limb by limb, with a two-handled saw, he among you who let his heart get angered even at that would not be doing my bidding. Even then you should train yourselves: 'Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic, with a mind of good will, and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading these people with an awareness imbued with good will and, beginning with them, we will keep pervading the all-encompassing world with an awareness imbued with good will — abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will.' That's how you should train yourselves."

Similarly, in the Jataka Tale entitled, Khantivādī Jātaka ("Patience Teacher Birth Story," J 313), a jealous king repeatedly asked an ascetic what the ascetic taught, to which the ascetic replied, "Patience," which the ascetic further defined as "not to get angry when injured, criticized or struck." To test the ascetic's patience, the king had the ascetic struck two thousand times with a whip of thorns, had the ascetic's hands and feet axed off, cut off the ascetic's nose and ears, and then kicked the ascetic in the heart. After the king left, the ascetic wished the king a long life and said, "Those like myself do not feel wrath." The ascetic died later that day.

Sources

• Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1.

• Dhammayut Order in the United States of America (1994). A Chanting Guide. Retrieved 3 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/dhammayut/chanting.html.

• Nandisena, Bhikkhu (2000). Khantivadi Jataka (J 313). Retrieved 8 Jul 2007 from "El Centro Mexicano del Buddhismo Theravada" at http://www.cmbt.org/fdd/khantivadijataka.htm.

• Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for this dictionary is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.

• Rouse, W.H.D. (trans.) and E.B. Cowell (ed.) (1895, 2006). The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha's Former Births (Vol. II). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 4 Jul 2007 from "The Internet Sacred Text Archive" at http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j2/index.htm.

• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997a). Brahmanavagga: Brahmans (Dhp XXVI). Retrieved 3 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.26.than.html.

• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997b). Buddhavagga: Awakened (Dhp XIV). Retrieved 3 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.14.than.html.

• Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997c). Kakacupama Sutta: The Simile of the Saw (excerpt) (MN 21). Retrieved 3 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.021x.than.html.

External links

• "The Antidote to Snakebite: Talk one of six on patience or kshanti" (transcribed talk), by FWBO's Ratnaghosa

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