2) Sutta Selections

1. Khanti
   1. MN 21 The Simile of the Saw
      -Click for Excerpt-
      “Monks, there are these five aspects of speech by which others may address you: timely or untimely, true or false, affectionate or harsh, beneficial or unbeneficial, with a mind of good-will or with inner hate. Others may address you in a timely way or an untimely way. They may address you with what is true or what is false. They may address you in an affectionate way or a harsh way. They may address you in a beneficial way or an unbeneficial way. They may address you with a mind of good-will or with inner hate. In any event, you should train yourselves: ‘Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic to that person’s welfare, with a mind of good will, and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading him with an awareness imbued with good will and, beginning with him, 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.”
   2. Dhp 184 The Highest Austerity
      -Click for Excerpt-
      “Enduring patience is the highest austerity. “Nibbana is supreme,” say the Buddhas. He is not a true monk who harms another, nor a true renunciate who oppresses others.”
2. Soracca
   1. MN 21 The Simile of the Saw Continued
      -Click for excerpt-
      “In the same way, monks, a monk may be ever so gentle, ever so even-tempered, ever so calm, as long as he is not touched by disagreeable aspects of speech. But it’s when disagreeable aspects of speech touch him that he can be known from experience as gentle, even-tempered, & calm. I don’t call a monk easy to admonish if he is easy to admonish and makes himself easy to admonish only by reason of robes, almsfood, lodging, & medicinal requisites for curing the sick. Why is that? Because if he doesn’t get robes, almsfood, lodging, & medicinal requisites for curing the sick, then he isn’t easy to admonish and doesn’t make himself easy to admonish. But if a monk is easy to admonish and makes himself easy to admonish purely out of esteem for the Dhamma, respect for the Dhamma, reverence for the Dhamma, then I call him easy to admonish. Thus, monks, (thinking,) ‘We will be easy to admonish and make ourselves easy to admonish purely out of esteem for the Dhamma, respect for the Dhamma, reverence for the Dhamma,’ that’s how you should train yourselves.”

Review (Click text for answer)

• According to The Simile of the Saw (MN 21), what are the five, paired types of speech which one can train oneself to respond to patiently?
  “There are these five aspects of speech by which others may address you: (1) timely or untimely, (2) true or false, (3) affectionate or harsh, (4) beneficial or unbeneficial, (5) with a mind of good-will or with inner hate.”
• At Dhammapada 184, what does the Buddha single out as being the 'highest austerity'?
  “Enduring patience (khanti) is the highest austerity”
• In the Discourse on the Simile of the Saw, in comparison to behaving modestly as a show to gain praise and gain, what does the Buddha suggest is a more noble motivation for behaving modestly?
  One should try to behave with gentleness and modesty “purely out of esteem for the Dhamma, respect for the Dhamma, reverence for the Dhamma”

3) Ancient Commentary

1. Khanti
   1. A Treatise on the Paramis
      -Click for Excerpt-
      “Patience has the characteristic of acceptance; its function is to endure the desirable and undesirable; its manifestation is tolerance or non-opposition; seeing things as they really are is its proximate cause …”
   2. A Treatise on the Paramis
      -Click for Further Excerpt-
      “Patience is the unimpeded weapon of the good in the development of noble qualities, for it dispels anger, the opposite of all such qualities, without residue. It is the adornment of those capable of vanquishing the foe; the strength of recluses and brahmans; a stream of water extinguishing the fire of anger; the basis for acquiring a good reputation; a mantra for quelling the poisonous speech of evil people; the supreme source of constancy in those established in restraint. Patience is an ocean on account of its depth; a shore bounding the great ocean of hatred; a panel closing off the door to the plane of misery; a staircase ascending to the worlds of the gods and Brahmaas; the ground for the habitation of all noble qualities; the supreme purification of body, speech and mind …”
   3. A Treatise on the Paramis
      -Click for Further Excerpt-
      “Patience should be further fortified by reflection: “Those who lack patience are afflicted in this world and apply themselves to actions which will lead to their affliction in the life to come.” And: “Although this suffering arises through the wrong deeds of others, this body of mine is the field for that suffering, and the action which is its seed was sown by me alone.” And: “This suffering will release me from the debt of that kamma.” And: “If there were no wrong-doers, how could I accomplish the perfection of patience?” And: “Although he is a wrong-doer now, in the past he was my benefactor.” And: “A wrong-doer is also a benefactor, for he is the basis for developing patience.” And: “All beings are like my own children. Who becomes angry over the misdeeds of his own children?” And: “He wrongs me because of some residue of anger in myself; this residue I should remove.” And: “I am just as much the cause as he for the wrong on account of which this suffering has arisen.” And: “All those phenomena by which wrong was done, and those to whom it was done — all those, at this very moment, have ceased. With whom, then, should you now be angry, and by whom should anger be aroused? When all phenomena are non-self, who can do wrong to whom?”
2. Soracca
   1. DN-a 33 Saṅgītisuttavaṇṇanā
      -Click for Translation-
      “In that case, what is gentleness (soracca)? One is without transgression connected with body action. One is without transgression connected with speech. One is without transgression connected with bodily action or speech. This is why it is called gentleness. Also, gentleness is restraint regarding all virtues.”
      
      
   2. AN-a 33 Samāppattivaggavaṇṇanā
      -Click for Translation-
      “‘Gentleness’ means the condition of being truely devoted (surata) to the state of having good virtue.” 

Review (Click text for answer)

• According to A Treatise on the Paramis, what are the (1) characteristic, (2) function, (3) manifestation, and (4) proximate cause of patience (khanti)?
  “Patience has (1) the characteristic of acceptance; (2) its function is to endure the desirable and undesirable; (3) its manifestation is tolerance or non-opposition; (4) seeing things as they really are is its proximate cause.”
• Name at least two metaphors used in A Treatise on the Paramis to describe patience (khanti).
  “Patience is the unimpeded weapon of the good in the development of noble qualities, for it dispels anger, the opposite of all such qualities, without residue. It is the adornment of those capable of vanquishing the foe; the strength of recluses and brahmans; a stream of water extinguishing the fire of anger; the basis for acquiring a good reputation; a mantra for quelling the poisonous speech of evil people; the supreme source of constancy in those established in restraint. Patience is an ocean on account of its depth; a shore bounding the great ocean of hatred; a panel closing off the door to the plane of misery; a staircase ascending to the worlds of the gods and Brahmaas; the ground for the habitation of all noble qualities; the supreme purification of body, speech and mind …”
• According to A Treatise on the Paramis, what are two lines of reasoning one can employ to disincline the mind from anger and irritation and to encourage patience?
  “Patience should be further fortified by reflection: “Those who lack patience are afflicted in this world and apply themselves to actions which will lead to their affliction in the life to come.” And: “Although this suffering arises through the wrong deeds of others, this body of mine is the field for that suffering, and the action which is its seed was sown by me alone.” And: “This suffering will release me from the debt of that kamma.” And: “If there were no wrong-doers, how could I accomplish the perfection of patience?” And: “Although he is a wrong-doer now, in the past he was my benefactor.” And: “A wrong-doer is also a benefactor, for he is the basis for developing patience.” And: “All beings are like my own children. Who becomes angry over the misdeeds of his own children?” And: “He wrongs me because of some residue of anger in myself; this residue I should remove.” And: “I am just as much the cause as he for the wrong on account of which this suffering has arisen.” And: “All those phenomena by which wrong was done, and those to whom it was done — all those, at this very moment, have ceased. With whom, then, should you now be angry, and by whom should anger be aroused? When all phenomena are non-self, who can do wrong to whom?”
• How does the Saṅgītisuttavaṇṇanā define soracca (gentleness)?
  “One is without transgression connected with body action. One is without transgression connected with speech. One is without transgression connected with bodily action or speech. This is why it is called gentleness. Also, gentleness is restraint regarding all virtues.”
• How does the Samāppattivaggavaṅṅanā define soracca (gentleness)?
  “‘Gentleness’ means the condition of being truely devoted (surata) to the state of having good virtue.”

4) Modern Commentary

1. Khanti
   1. Ajahn Thanissaro “Patience”
      -Click for excerpt-
      “Patience means sticking with the causes of your practice, no matter how long it takes to get the results. In other words, you’re resolute in doing the practice, you stick with it, you stay with it, slow and steady. Khanti, the Pali word we often translate as patience, also means endurance. It means that you stick with things even when they take a long time to show results. You don’t get frustrated. You remind yourself: This a path that takes time. After all, we’re unlearning a lot of habits that we’ve been indulging for who knows how long.”
   2. Ajahn Sucitto  “Pāramī 2: Patience”
      -Click for excerpt-
      “Patience deals with checking emotional reactions, but it’s not a denial of emotional intelligence. Patience has the gut-knowledge that recognizes that a problem or a pain is not something to run away from, get flustered by or be self-pitying about. It has the wisdom to know that we have to prioritize the steps through which we can resolve suffering … Our first effort is to draw a line around the suffering, take a step back and know ‘that’s that.’ Then there’s the effort to recollect that we can be free of the suffering: that we can let go; we don’t have to take suffering in and adopt it as final, real and solid. After that initial recollection we have the encouragement to investigate, and then to draw out the hook that snags our hearts on the rough stuff of life. All this takes patience. Patience holds us present with the suffering in a spacious way, encouraging the mind to open. And an open mind both feels more peaceful in itself, and more readily sees into the cause of its suffering.”
2. Soracca
   1. Ajahn Anan “Patient Forbearance and Gentle Composure”
      -Click for excerpt-
      “The other quality that makes one beautiful is soracca. This translates as being gentle and composed in body, speech and mind. One makes the mind radiant and joyous. The body is composed because when one has patiently endured, then one doesn’t show any abnormal, harmful gestures. Those that have been insulted and slighted by others, and felt hurt by others, they don’t retaliate. They still smile and have radiant features. Their face is not sullen and sour because anger has arisen … They can compose their bodily features and their speech well. How ever much pain they receive, they don’t moan about the pain they are in.”

Review (Click text for answer)

• According to Ajahn Thanissaro, what is the essence of patience (khanti)?
  “Patience (endurance) means sticking with the causes of your practice, no matter how long it takes to get the results. In other words, you’re resolute in doing the practice, you stick with it, you stay with it, slow and steady.”
• What are the three, patience-strengthened 'steps through which we can resolve suffering' as outlined by Ajahn Sucitto?
  “(1) Our first effort is to draw a line around the suffering, take a step back and know ‘that’s that.’ (2) Then there’s the effort to recollect that we can be free of the suffering: that we can let go; we don’t have to take suffering in and adopt it as final, real and solid. (3) After that initial recollection we have the encouragement to investigate, and then to draw out the hook that snags our hearts on the rough stuff of life.”
• What does Ajahn Anan say are the physical manifestations of gentleness (soracca)?
  Practicing soracca “makes the mind radiant and joyous. The body is composed because when one has patiently endured, then one doesn’t show any abnormal, harmful gestures. Those that have been insulted and slighted by others, and felt hurt by others, they don’t retaliate. They still smile and have radiant features. Their face is not sullen and sour because anger has arisen … They can compose their bodily features and their speech well.”

5) Relevant Dhamma Talks

1. Khanti
   1. Ajahn Brahmavamso “On Patience”
   2. Ajahn Thanissaro “The Skill of Patience”
   3. Ajahn Amaro “Endless Patience”
2. Soracca
   1. Ajahn Jotipalo “Gentleness”

6) External Links

1. Khanti
   1. Wikipedia – khanti
   2. Encyclopedia of Buddhism – khanti
2. Soracca/Gentleness (trigger warning: non-Buddhist content)
   
   1. Wikipedia – gentlenss
   2. Wikiversity – gentleness