Gem of Patience

There is no inner fire which is more dangerous than anger, there is no inner jewel which is more beautiful than patience. That is a message which is often shared in the community of beautiful souls. The following question is; how to extinguish the fire of anger and finally rediscover the inner gem of patience?.

In a simple but deep meaning, anger occurs because someone did not get something they like, or they get something which they did not like. And the last old framework of 'like and dislike' is the fruit of very long past conditioning. It can not be eliminated in a night.

Let's look at the small children who are playing on the beach. No matter how beautiful the sand castle that they built, within a few hours it will be destroyed by the waves. The same thing happens with social reputation, fame, wealth, and other beautiful buildings of life. Over a matter of time they will be destroyed by the waves of time.

Anyone who can deeply understand the impermanent nature of everything, on the one hand the quality of anger will significantly decrease. On the other hand, the quality of patience will increase. People who blame are like mud. Friends who praise are like beautiful lotus flowers. Along with the cycle of time, mud is in the process of being a lotus flower, a lotus flower is in the process of becoming mud.

Beside the impermanent nature of everything, everything is flowing. Every creation is in the flow of nature. Public figures who have many followers today, they can become a prisoner another day. A teenager who is hated by his friends one day can be a leader another day.

For that reason, whenever anger comes, always remember the nature of everything which is not permanent at the same will keep flowing. Not only those people outside who are hurt which are impermanent, the mind inside is also impermanent. Not only those who blame outside flowing, the mood inside also flows.

The idea is basically simple, but the implementation is far from simple. Mainly because cleverness, success, praise and ego keep forcing that the good thing must be permanent, and the bad things must disappear as soon as possible.  It is not easy to make cleverness, success and ego perfectly flow.

But anyone who wants to be free from suffering, especially those who want to find a gem of patience, there is no choice other than to train themselves diligently in order to have a flowing mind and a flowing heart.

One day a karate teacher in the island of Okinawa Japan, was challenged to fight by a US soldier who was drunk. But this martial art Guru smiled and ran away. His student who was next to him was burnt with anger asked: 'why didn't you just kick the drunken soldier?'. With a beautiful smile this martial art teacher replied: 'learning self defense is not intended to harm others, but to take good care of others'.

This is a concrete example of a beautiful soul who had met a jewel of patience within. Soldiers who are drunk in one afternoon could become the smiling men the next morning. A martial art teacher who has a strong body today will be a weak old man in another year.

Author : Guruji Gede Prama
Photo: Pinterest

Proofread By : Kirsty Spence