Notes to accompany Robert Aitkin’s The Practice of Perfection
Shared by Tom
Ordinary Mind Zen Melbourne has been conducting a series of discussions about the Paramitas or ‘Perfections of Character’ over the past half year or so.
Of all the Paramitas, Patience is probably the most relevant to our lives in the shadow of the Covid virus. The lives of many Australians – particularly those who live in Sydney and Melbourne – have been severely affected by the response of our governments to restrict our movements and in many cases our livelihoods with as yet unmeasured consequences for our physical and mental health.
Aitkin Rōshi’s discussion of the Patience Paramita follows a traditional dharma talk format, drawing on both kōans and Japanese poetry to illustrate his presentation. He first defines kshānti (Pali) as forbearance or endurance – ‘not merely control of impatience but … the absence of hatred, repugnance, and malice’ (p 47). He goes on to elaborate three aspects associated with this perfection of character. These include:
- Gentle forbearance and a spirit of forgiveness – a focus on the Dharma rather than personalities or disputes, as illustrated by the story of an encounter between two zen monks in China.
- Endurance of hardship. Here he refers to the ideograph for patience 忍(ren in Chinese; nin in Japanese). It is composed of a knife or sword above the heart/mind and suggests, he thinks, the precariousness of our lives during which we don’t have a moment to lose. He goes on to quote a poem by Basshō in which the writer describes patiently taking refuge in a stable along with fleas, lice and a horse pissing next to him. Hardship also is at the core of our conditioned existence. Aitkin quotes the Buddha as having said, ‘Dukkha, Dukkha. All is Dukkha’ [i.e. the first Noble Truth]. Aitkin Rōshi acknowledges that the term is usually translated as ‘suffering’ but suggests instead that the suffering really comes from resistance to it.
- Finally, acceptance of truth, or the need for a certain amount of asceticism, ‘Practice is essential and it is ascetic, that is willed self-discipline’ (52). As a Japanese inscription on a painting of the Buddha as Kshānti reads, “… there is no natural Shakyamuni”.
I find that Aitkin’s words complement the wisdom expressed by Diane Rizzetto and Geoff Dawson that formed earlier parts of our study materials. The former reminds us that ‘life’s events are not on our terms’ and therefore we need ‘to explore more deeply what it means to rest in and fully engage in the truth of each moment’. The latter points out the Patience is neither ‘white knuckle’ tolerance nor ‘blind acceptance’, but ‘becoming one with the circumstances of our lives’. I am particularly struck by Aitkin Rōshi’s rewording of the First Noble Truth that dukkha or suffering is essentially the product of the non-acceptance of pain that life inevitably throws up at us, not the pain itself. As an oft-quoted phrase of apparently unknown origin puts it, ‘Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.’