The Fulfillment of the Perfections of Patience

Tolerance and for bearance arise out of a peaceful mind with thought : “If I retaliate the ill-treatment imposed by a stupid person, I shall also be a stupid one.” Such a practice is called the fulfillment of the perfection of patience. Regarding the fulfillment of the perfection of patience, the life of the great monkey-king is remarkable. While a Brahmin, the future Devadatta, climbed up a tree, a branch broken and he fell into a ravine. As the monkey saw him crying, the monkey took him out of the ravine. While the tired monkey was sleeping with his head upon the Brahmin mercilessly struck the monkey’s head with a stone in order to have its flesh as his meal. So, the monkey still worried that the stupid Brahmin might lose his way in the forest and die. As he dared not get down to the ground, he jumped from one tree to another, showing the Brahmin the way to his home by the drops of blood sheding from his head.

Telling truth and keeping one’s promise is called the perfection of truthfulness. Regarding the fulfillment of the perfection of truthfulness, the life of king Mahasutasoma is remarkable. While the Bodhisatta become Mahasutasoma, King Porisada was expelled from his country, because he was found eating human flesh. He lived in a forest hunting human beings passing by. One day his sole was pierced by a sharp stump. In order to heal the wound, he made a pledge to the guardian deva, Within one week his wound healed of its own accord., but he thought it was cured by the guardian deva of the banyan tree. Thus he caught all Jambudipa kings to offer their blood as a sacrifice. King Sutasoma, just before being arrested made a promise to a Brahmin to listen to the Dhamma recited by the Brahmin. So he requested Porisada to let him fulfill his promise to the Brahmin, promising that he would come back after listening to the Dhamma. Porisada released him easily. After he had heard the Dhamma, though he knew that he would be killed, he came back to Porisada without breaking his promise. Porisada was surprised to see him again and asked why he was not afraid to die. King Sutasoma preached the Dhamma to Porisada and thus Porisada became a good man. So he released all the arrested kings. With the help of King Sutasoma, Porisada regained his kingdom