The Khanti Pāramī

It is helpful to contemplate how to use khanti, patience, in our daily practice, and how we can cultivate it as a mental attitude during meditation.

Patience is an underrated pāramī and considered in different ways, sometimes even misinterpreted. I remember Varapañño Bhikkhu disparaging himself, saying: “I just don’t have any pāramīs of wisdom, meditation, loving-kindness, or anything like that. But at least I can just put up with this. I can build some khanti pāramī.” His attitude reminded me of the depressed but lovable donkey Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh.

Khanti is actually a proactive engaging with experience in a way that’s not getting caught up in, or swayed by, the reactions and impulses of either liking or disliking, or of desire and aversion. It has an enduring quality to it. One of the phrases the Buddha uses to describe the impulses of mind is abhijjhā domanassa, desire and aversion, or a gladness-sadness type of impulse. We can try to have an enduring and patient attitude toward that so we’re not reactive.

When we’re not reactive, then desire and aversion, liking and disliking, go their natural way and cease. So when we’re engaged in some sort of interaction, whether it’s pleasant or unpleasant, the mind isn’t getting swept up in it. Similarly, when we’re engaged in some kind of task, chore, or duty, and we have been cultivating patience, then what comes to mind is a kind of gravitas, a sense of weight, ballast, or anchor in the mind that isn’t pulled around.

I’ve never come across a satisfying translation of khanti— “patient endurance” doesn’t quite get it. In general, I think it’s important to reflect on it in terms of how it manifests for us: How do I turn the mind toward a quality that isn’t swayed, pushed, or pulled? It’s a willingness to be present with experience and especially important in meditation.

When any of the five hindrances come up, they feel quite compelling and true as moods. We attempt to have an enduring quality of mind that is present with the hindrances and attends to them as they follow their natural cycle: arising, persisting, and ceasing. They come into being and pass away.

One of the functions of patience is to help us refrain from feeding our defilements. When we’re not feeding or nourishing our reactive moods, then there’s a real steadiness there. With khanti present, we’re not trying to manipulate conditions around us so that they suit our preferences or to manipulate people to make them pleasing to be around. Neither worldly conditions nor people are going to fulfill our preferences or desires. But when we have khanti to receive our experiences, then we’re not shaken by them.

As part of the ethos and flavor of Ajahn Chah’s training, the development of the khanti pāramī was strongly encouraged so we would have a good, solid foundation in our practice—a foundation that helped to steady us despite the changing circumstances and conditions of our lives.

This reflection by Luang Por Pasanno is from the book, Beginning Our Day, Volume One, (pdf) pp. 249-250.