The Third Perfection

The third of the Six Paramitas, the Six Perfections, the practice of the Bodhisattva Path, is Inclusiveness or Kshanti. Kshanti Paramita.

Kshanti is sometimes translated as forbearance or endurance or even patience.

But the words forbearance and patience can imply we have to suffer to accept things.

This suffering comes when our hearts are small or closed and our minds do not understand.

I once told my first teacher, there was a person in my life that caused me great stress and sorrow. My teacher, a wise Vietnamese monk, explained my suffering came because I wanted this person, this person who caused me sorrow, to be something else.

That person was who they were. No amount of me wanting or hoping was going to change anything. And I have no right to change anyone. Each person is who they are.

After talking with my Teacher and sitting with his words, I realized the person I wanted to change was not causing me sorrow.

My sorrow and stress came from me, from me wanting the person to be different.

My Teacher suggested I open my heart.

The Buddha once told his students that a handful of salt dropped into a bowl of water makes the water undrinkable. But the same handful of salt thrown into a river has no effect.

Open our hearts and allow them to be wide and roomy and accepting.

That does not mean we approve or accept the unwholesome.

It means we hold Everyone in love.