ENDURING WEATHER CHANGES IS ALSO A TYPE OF FORBEARANCE
Master Jun Hong Lu: The second type of forbearance is being patient in enduring the changes in nature. This includes changes in the weather, whether it’s cold or hot. When you can’t bear the cold or hot weather, it means you have not cultivated well.
When the monks and nuns meditate and if the weather turns cold, it is unlikely that any one of them would get up to don a sweater. Would you have this level of endurance? Besides, one must also endure thirst, dry mouth, and natural disasters. When a natural disaster strikes, you may lose your home. Such a loss may be too much to bear for some people and they may end up taking their own lives.
Assuming one’s home is right opposite a factory that operates from 8am till 5pm during which the noise of the machines can get really loud, making it no longer tolerable. This may induce the person to commit suicide – an example of the consequence of not exercising endurance.
Do you know how the monks train patient endurance? Have you watched movies about the Shaolin Temple? Monks are trained to remain stationary while balancing buckets of water on shoulder poles. This is to train their physical and mental endurance.
In fact, when those senior monks scold their disciples, it is not that they are fierce but the intent is to train the disciples’ ability to accept changes in the natural environment in order to elevate their state-of-mind. It is only when they have the ability to endure that they can attain calmness.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Volume 3 Chapter 31
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