Cozort, Daniel. The Perfection of Patience. In The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, edited by Joshua W. C. Cutler and Guy Newland, Vol. 2, 151-79. Boston: Snow Lion, 2014.

From The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, edited by Joshua W. C. Cutler and Guy Newland, translated by Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee, ©2004 Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications Inc., Boston, MA. This published version is made available on Dickinson Scholar with the permission of the publisher. For more information on the published version, visit Shambhala Publication's Website.

Patience is (1) disregarding harm done to you, (2) accepting the suffering arising in your mind-stream, and (3) being certain about the teachings and firmly maintaining belief in them. There are three sets of factors incompatible with these: for the first, hostility; for the second, hostility and loss of courage; and for the third, disbelief and dislike. Perfecting patience means that you simply complete your conditioning to a state of mind wherein you have stopped your anger and the like. It is not contingent upon all living beings becoming free from undisciplined conduct because you would not be able to bring this about, and because you accomplish your purpose just by disciplining your own mind.

Daniel Cozort is a professor of Religion at Dickinson College.