Good morning. This is one of those months where the sun shines on the Dharma speaker. So I wanted to talk this morning about two of the Bodhisattva practices. So there's ten of them that I talk about in the Bodhisattva Archetype book. Generosity, Ethical Conduct, Patience, Effort, Meditation and Wisdom, and then Skillful Means, Vow, Powers and Knowledge. But the two I want to talk about today, and they're all kind of related and they all support each other, but the two that I wanted to talk about today are Patience and Effort. because they sort of fit together in some ways. They're complementary, or maybe even two sides of one coin.

[01:04]

And I want to talk about them in terms of zazen, in terms of meditation, but also in terms of just our life, which is not separate from meditation, actually. Can you hear me OK back there? So patience, the first one in Sanskrit, kshanti, also can be translated as tolerance or forbearance. On some level it just means waiting, accepting, being willing to be there while whatever is happening. So in Zazen, waiting for the bell or waiting for the discomfort in your knee or your shoulder or whatever to go away. And in our life, of course, we often have situations for being patient where we need to practice patience.

[02:19]

It's difficult. So patience is especially a practice that we do when we have a difficult situation. It's easy to be patient when we're having a good time. Maybe that's not even patience. Maybe that doesn't even come up then. So patience is patience with something that is difficult or maybe just boring, like waiting for the bell to ring during some periods of Zazen anyway. So patience also has to do with tolerance, to be able to accept and tolerate some situation. And often it's a situation where we can't do anything about it. So patience is a good practice when we're sick. And we know that probably we'll get better, or maybe we're not sure, or we don't know what it is. But to be patient, then, is the practice. So in some sense, we could see patience and effort as one side is receptive, the other side is active.

[03:41]

Effort is more energetic and active. But I think both of them have both receptive and active. So maybe I'll say a little bit more about effort and then go back and forth. So effort could also be talked about in terms of energy or enthusiasm. Effort is, in Sanskrit, virya. So it has the same root as the English word virility. So we might think of effort and energy as kind of the macho side and patience is the feminine side. But actually there's both. There's an active aspect of patience and there's a nurturing soft side of energy. So I want to talk about them as yogic practices. So I think when we really get into our meditation, into our zazen, we can really bring alive these practices of patience and energy. And the inner work or the inner enjoyment of zazen has to do with these two sides of patience and energy.

[04:55]

So energy or effort or enthusiasm has to do with bringing vitality, bringing energy into our body and mind. That may seem difficult to do when we're just sitting, you know. So when we sit in meditation, the instruction is to be upright but relaxed. So it has both sides there. And in Taoism they talk about effortless effort. So there's a kind of effort that you're exerting, and you're sweating a lot, and it has to do with hard work. So this is part of effort. But also, there's an effort that is kind of subtle. So I want to try and talk about subtle patience and subtle effort. So there are times in our life when we have to make a big effort. But we have a deadline and we have to get something done.

[05:59]

And Beverly and I have been involved in doing all-nighters, writing papers and things recently. So she got her paper in to me at the last, within a couple of hours of the deadline last night. And I had a deadline with a publisher that I managed to get done. So anyway, there's that kind of effort when you have some particular work to do, and it takes a lot of energy and a lot of effort, and you've got to really push at it. But even in just sitting, there's effort involved. So how do we arouse energy, or how do we allow the arising of energy? in our sitting and in our life? How do we find interest in something that we may feel is a chore, or boring, or very difficult, or, I don't know, that we don't think we're interested in?

[07:14]

So part of energy is, and part of effort, is to find some interest, some enthusiasm And we don't know where we're going to find it exactly. So this is where patience and effort support each other in a very subtle way. If we can be patient enough with our situation, if we can tolerate a situation where we're not interested in, or that we can't find any energy or effort for, think of as a chore, you know. We all have lots of things to do in our lives that are in some ways something we wouldn't necessarily choose to do, but we have to do it. So, how do we find something interesting in something that's not interesting? How do we find some energy in something that is in some activity or awareness or in some period of zazen where we're sleepy or we just don't care?

[08:29]

So the yogic practice of zazen and the yogic practice of our life is to actually pay attention to these questions. Because part of the practice is that sometimes we do lose our patience. I'm not going to do this anymore. You know, I'm sorry the bell hasn't rung yet, but I'm going to get up and walk out of here. You know, that has happened at times. Or when we lose energy, you know, when we just, I can't, you know, just feel totally exhausted. Well, sometimes the right thing to do is just go to sleep, take a nap. But how do we practice with that? So it's not just that we have some idea of the ideal patience or some idea of the ideal energy. What is the actual energy that I have right now? What is my actual effort right now? So part of the practice of energy and part of the practice of patience is just to pay attention.

[09:31]

The fundamental practice is the practice of wisdom is to pay attention. So all of these practices involve each other, they're all intra-indicated. So part of being patient is just to see when we're impatient. I can't, I'm not going to take this anymore. So where does the patience stay when we're impatient? And how can we actually bring our energy to that and pay attention to that and see, what is it like? How does this feel? What does it mean that I have no more patience for this? or for energy, what is our actual energy right now? So when we're sitting, you know, some of you may have experienced sometime in your Zazen practice some real feeling of all different kinds of energy. So it's not just, energy isn't one thing.

[10:32]

There's joyful energy, there's angry energy, there's glowing energy, there's the energy of question. to have some energetic question about something is some problem. Problem can be energizing. It can be draining, too. So how do we pay attention to our energy in that situation? The situation, I feel drained. I just have no energy. That's part of the practice of energy is to watch that, to become interested in that, to apply ourselves to what is this energy right now? Or how am I being patient or impatient right now? So the ultimate patience, traditionally in Sanskrit, is called anutpadaka dharmakshanti, patience with the ungraspability of all things, the unknowability of all things. This is ultimate, actually it's a synonym for enlightenment.

[11:37]

This is the ultimate wisdom, to just be patient with the fact that whatever it is, that's in front of us, we can't get a hold of it. So something that was very energizing for you yesterday, or the previous period of zazen, maybe it's not there anymore. So this applies with both. Actually, I think there should be, in Anutpadika dharma virya, the energy with the ungraspability of all things. Because we can't hold on to our energy either. What energizes us you know, right now might be boring tomorrow or vice versa. But our judgments about patience and impatience and energy and non-energy, again, those are just judgments. There's always some quality of patience and it may be manifesting as impatience.

[12:40]

There's always some quality of energy and part of The practice of zazen is that we see that in our posture. So if you're kind of slouching over and you see that, that's not so energizing. There are postures that actually drain us of energy. And they can be pretty subtle. If we're just leaning a little bit, are we trying to grab a hold of something? So there's a difference. Let's see if I'm going to be patient with the sun. I'm going to try this for a while just to see what it's like. So what is the difference between this and this? I don't know if there's any visible difference in my posture. But this, this, this. Those were actually not so subtle differences, but very subtle differences in where we bring energy into our body as we're sitting make a big difference in our energy.

[13:49]

And of course, we can be too energetic. We can become tense. I don't know if that's too energetic. That's actually not energetic. That's actually a reaction to energy. That's a kind of forcing energy. So if we artificially try to heighten our energy, that's not really energy, that's making an effort to have effort. And sometimes we have to do that, but sometimes we have to push ourselves to be energetic. So that's a kind of effort too. So there's a kind of balance that we're always kind of circling around, both in terms of energy and also in terms of patience. Oh gee, I'm being really patient now. This is horrible, but I'm going to withstand it and tolerate it. And we can say that to ourselves. Patience is a kind of active kind of patience that's not just withstanding something, but that's actually

[14:57]

kind of active, it's kind of readiness and willingness to be here in this situation. So an act of patience is very attentive, very ready. So we have to be patient often in situations where we don't know what to do. There's some problem, there's something that, or maybe there's somebody who's giving us a hard time. or giving themselves a hard time. And we can see it, but there's nothing we can say. But if we're patient, and we're ready, and we're paying attention, then maybe we see the time when, oh, you can say something. Might be very little, might be very indirect, but then they will hear. But you have to actually be paying attention. So there's a kind of kind of sleepy patients, maybe, and there's a kind of energetic patients, or attentive patients, where we actually are ready to respond, but there's no way to respond right now.

[16:06]

So we have to be patient. So these are practices that I think does and helps us a lot to see if we're paying attention. What is the quality of my patience right now, with this particular period, with this train of thought, with this cycling around of tapes of laundry lists or whatever? How am I being patient with that? And then how am I using my energy? So Zazen is a wonderful opportunity to look at these subtle aspects of energy and of patience and see really the range of how we actually are patient or impatient. And then how do we be patient with that? How do we accept and tolerate our own impatience when we really want, you know, we really want to be able to do something and we can't quite do it yet or we really want

[17:12]

so-and-so to get it together, or to stop bugging me, or whatever it is, and we don't know what to do. And sometimes we can try lots of things, and we might just luck out and hit on one of them. But if you're being patient and watching, really watching in this yogic way that we can learn in Zazen, then sometimes there's a way to respond. Sometimes there's a way to help the situation, but then whatever happens after that we have to be patient with, because it won't be what we expect. So even if things shift and get, quote-unquote, better, there'll be something else that we have to be patient with. And even when we find some energy in our sitting or some energy, some interest, some engagement in something that we're dealing with in our life, we have to be patient with that what brought us energy yesterday or last week or in the last period is us and maybe it's not there anymore.

[18:26]

So both of these practices, patience and energy, they're shifting all the time. And again, how do we pay attention? How do we look at what's happening? How do we bring energy to seeing the way in which we don't have any energy? How can we be patient with our impatience? So they naturally fit together. They support each other. And practically speaking, just in our ordinary life, to bring energy to our life means to get interested in what's happening. So it's possible to sit Zazen and be upright and relaxed and somewhat aware in a way that's kind of good. And actually, in some ways, that's a good thing.

[19:33]

Because if you do that long enough, something else is going to happen. So part of the practice is to be willing to not have any energy. or to be willing to be impatient. But again, how do we bring our interest to that? How do we pay attention to that? How do we find something that's interesting and engaging in our life? It was interesting having the sun in my eyes, but I'm going to try this again for a while now. Whatever we do in our life, we have many things that we're interested in. And maybe, you know, sometimes we go through a period where nothing seems interesting and it all seems kind of washed out, it all seems kind of boring, it all seems kind of pointless, it all seems kind of hopeless. So in that kind of situation, when there's nothing that's energizing, what is it that, you know, to find something that's enjoyable, to find something that actually bring, that you can actually engage in.

[20:40]

So engagement is another way of talking about energy and effort. How can we find something to do that is interesting? And it doesn't have to be interesting to anybody else. In fact, probably a lot of us in this room have things that we're interested in that nobody else is going to be interested in. And that's OK. So when we sat at the three-day session at Green Gulch in May, one of the things that interested some of us was that there was lots of birdsong all around us. And there are a few people who are interested in birds enough so that they actually knew the names of all the birds. And I've never been interested in them. I like birds. I like hearing songs. But I've never had that particular interest myself. I mean, there are certain birds that I can recognize, of course. But anyway, that's OK. We all have different things that are energizing for us.

[21:40]

So it's not that there's a right way to be energetic and a right way to be patient. We each have to find for ourselves what allows us to be tolerant of reality with all of its difficulties, what allows us to be energetic and energized and interested and engaged in reality. And it changes. So you may be getting impatient with this talk, because I'm saying the same things over and over again. And maybe you're losing energy. And so maybe it will be energizing now to hear what somebody else has to say about it. So any responses? I had to take the root of the English word, patience. And that ant has brought energy to everyone through its Bodhisattva vow.

[22:51]

So yeah, patience is to suffer, to be willing, to forbear, to tolerate, to be willing to suffer, whatever. But you know, we could see it as suffering or we could see it as a kind of opportunity. We could see it as a kind of practice. So suffering is also a kind of practice. But we usually don't see it that way, we usually see it as something we want to run away from. But to bring energy to our suffering is to really become interested in it, to really look at it, to really examine it, to really see how does it feel to be suffering this particular thing. So that's the practice of patience. To be willing to suffer, whatever it is. Apathy is kind of the opposite of patience.

[23:57]

But maybe it's a kind of patience. So what is the root of apathy? Is it not caring? Not feeling. So there may be some... Impatience? Is apathy like impatience? What is the kind of dullness? But it also could be a kind of wisdom. To be apathetic about certain things when there's nothing you can do about them might be, in certain situations, reflective of some understanding.

[25:03]

So maybe somebody's apathetic about one thing, but actually is very pathetic about another. So apatheia as a virtue, how is that? What is that? Actually, it's a kind of patience. to not be attached to making something into what we want it to be, is to be patient with it. Now, if there could be an attentive apathy or apatheia. In English, the word non-attachment and detachment seem very different to me.

[26:08]

Non-attachment is more active, where we actually choose not to be caught by something. Detachment is kind of we just give up or we lose our... So the question of passion has to do with this too. There's passion which is really caring a lot or in such a way as to be, you know, to have lots of energy. And when it's passion together with, then it's compassion. If it's passion, you know, trying to grab some object of passion, then it becomes very destructive. But detachment is kind of a way of getting rid of our, maybe a way of getting rid of passions that actually prevents compassion too. So there's some danger to detachment, I think.

[27:12]

Whereas non-attachment, we might channel our passion to compassion. So this has to do with where do we find our energy? Where are we patient? How do we tolerate the difficulties of situations? This is exactly what... Good. Janine? I think it has a lot to do with hope or hopeless. People who don't see what to do may become apathetic. We may feel apathetic about what's going on. We may turn away from what's going on in the world. Do you all know about George Bush's speech at West Point, where he announced that the United States is going to attack, or is ready to attack, 60 countries around the world where there might be terrorists, and we're going to attack first before they do anything.

[28:27]

So he kind of announced that we're the aggressor nation in the world. And anyway, I was surprised at the apathy that that was met with, at least in the mainstream media. So people may feel hopelessness, but actually there's a kind of, there's something in between apathy and, there's something that may look like apathy, but that isn't necessarily. The practice in all situations is just to be aware. So I've been talking about being aware of what the quality of our effort is and what the quality of our patience is, whether or not it feels very energetic, whether or not it feels very patient. Just to be willing to be aware is a radical act. So it's possible to pay attention and to be aware of what's going on in the world and all the fears and all of the

[29:29]

possibilities on all sides and to actually investigate it and pay attention. And we may want to turn away from it because we feel hopeless about it and there's nothing we can do anyway. But I don't think that's so realistic. Actually, if we're paying attention, there may be things that can be done. Gary? Cool, thank you. So that's the secret, actually, of energy. That's the practice of wisdom, is to see that the path has to do with whatever may seem like a problem or an obstacle, whatever may seem overwhelming and very difficult. If we're patient, we can see that actually it's a wonderful opportunity. So whatever seems most difficult for us,

[30:34]

culturally in society or else personally too. That's where we actually can grow. That's where there's a wonderful opportunity for something really remarkable and wonderful. And if we bring our attention to it, we may feel like we need to make some great effort to change it, but actually Seeing it that way, just the seeing that this problem, this difficulty, this situation is a wonderful opportunity, allows us to see it in other ways and actually allows us to, whatever we do, whatever little bit of effort we make in response to our paying attention to it, makes a big difference. So from the point of view of, I'm going to talk tomorrow morning at Green Gulch about this more, but from the point of view of the Bodhisattva path, whatever is a great problem is actually a wonderful, wonderful opportunity because we have a chance to make a big difference.

[31:37]

And that applies, you know, in our in our society, but also in terms of our own personal problems. So, to be totally blocked, to feel totally stuck, to feel like there's no way I can get through this, there's no way I can be patient with this, there's no way that I can bring any effort or energy to this in any constructive way, if we keep paying attention, This is exactly the place where there's a wonderful opportunity. And how it will change is not something we can tell ahead of time. So again, this ultimate patience is patience with something that's unknowable. Of course, that's the way everything is. But some things seem even more unknowable. We can recognize their unknowability. How to deal with a particular problem may seem... The places where we are most

[32:38]

susceptible to apathy and hopelessness and being overwhelmed are the places where there is the greatest opportunity. unless we are there, and we were there the moment before, and the moment before, going back to thousands of years of their ancestors and their whole life. Yes. So, impatience is to not listen for the other. So, there's an aspect of patience that has to do... Patience is related to loving-kindness. When we are patient, we can be kind. When we are patient, we can actually hear what's really important, maybe within ourself too, but also certainly with others and certainly with others who seem even more other than some others who we might think of as, you know, very familiar and close to us.

[33:55]

So the more other the other is, the more we need to be patient and the more we need to be kind, and that means just to listen. So part of the practice of patience is listening, also listening to ourselves. And so the metta practice, the practice of loving-kindness, has to do with hearing, with really hearing but also just being willing to recognize that there is, as you say, some other possibility than what we think. So the greatest wisdom is to know that we don't know the answer. But then there's great possibility. If we already know the answer, then we're stuck. And when it doesn't work, we'll become very impatient and we'll lose energy.

[34:56]

Patty. I just didn't even say anything. I just let you know what you said. But it sounds like it energizes you. Anyway, again, the main practice is just to pay attention to these questions. Pay attention when the sun is no longer in your eyes, and you can take off your hat.

[36:16]

And we can learn a lot about patience and a lot about energy and effort through meditation practice. But then what we learn also, we should allow that to be part of our everyday activity, and again, just to pay attention to how energetic am I right now, or how non-energetic am I right now, and what's going on, and how is it changing. So this is, in a way, a very difficult practice. It's a demanding practice. It demands our attention. It demands our awareness, it demands awakeness, and yet it can be very energizing if you give yourself to it, if you become interested in, what is this state of this body and mind right now? What things bring energy, what things drain energy, and how does that change, and how does my attention to it change?

[37:23]

This is a very dynamic situation. So thank you for everything you've said about this. Stephen. Listening to you, I feel myself splitting the two apart. One part of you is all the psychology and the application. Exactly. So it's not a matter of So the practice of energy and the practice of patience is not trying to get lots of energy or trying to get lots of patience. It's actually the practice. The practice is paying attention to such things. It's not about trying to get more either way, but actually it's just about awareness. What is the quality of this impatience? What is the quality of this lack of energy? or energy?

[38:25]

How is it shifting? So the practice is the practice, but the practice includes a kind of attentiveness to what is this right now? What is this that just comes? What is the quality of this present body and mind? So it's not about that it should be any particular way, right? It's about just The practice is, what is this energy? What is this patience or impatience? I guess a trout that I'm seeing, at least for myself, is that we have no language. Someone said not to hold an opportunity. An opportunity is a great word. I'd rather have an opportunity than a non-opportunity. Energy is a very subjective word. A lot of the time, I feel like it's so editorial. But my father is wholly non-English at heart.

[39:29]

Is that an addressing or not? Trick question. Good. So our practice is beyond language and yet it doesn't run away from language. So true non-dualism is willing to be in the world of dualism, where we can think we are energetic or non-energetic. It's very tricky. But attention is not, again, it's not about having the right attention or awareness or good attention or bad attention, it's just attention. What is the quality of this attention right now? It goes beyond judgments. That's the practice. And that is non-dualistic, and it's apart from languages, just what is this? And we can bring that to all of these considerations, but it's not something that we just do on the cushion.

[40:38]

Part of what I'm talking about is that we actually bring this into the situations where we're apathetic. We bring this into the problems in our life and the problems in our world. But we bring it not from some judgment of right and wrong, but from that kind of attention and awareness that isn't caught by that. And that is actually very transformative and wonderful for the world. But I wouldn't say it's good or bad. But please continue doing it. So let's close with the four vows at the bottom of page eight.

[41:25]

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