Kṣānti (Sanskrit) or (Pali) is patience, and forgiveness. It is one of the pāramitās in both Theravada and Mahayana. The term can be translated as "patience," "steadfastness," or "endurance," and encompasses meanings such as "forbearance," "acceptance," and "receptivity."[Buswell, Robert E; Lopez, Donald S. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 446. Princeton University Press, Nov 24, 2013.]
Kṣānti has several applications: It can refer to patience with others, that is, the ability to endure abuse and hardship inflicted by sentient beings while maintaining compassion and commitment to their liberation.
Canonical sources
Examples in the
Pali Canon identify using forbearance in response to others' anger, cuckolding, torture, and even fatal assaults.
Dhammapada verses
is the first word of the (Pāli for "pāṭimokkha Exhortation Verse"), found in the [[Dhammapada]], verse 184:
Patient endurance:
- the foremost austerity.
Unbinding:
- the foremost,
- so say the Awakened.
He who injures another
- is no contemplative.
He who mistreats another,
- no monk.
[ Note that, while the versification used here is that used by Thanissaro, this English translation does not line up exactly in terms of word order with the parallel Pāli text; thus, the breaks in the Pāli text here are inserted more for visual consonance with Thanissaro's versification than to provide a word-for-word translation of the same line of English.]
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[This Pali is from the in (Valthuis characters replaced with Romanized Pāli diacrits.)] |
Elsewhere in the
Dhammapada, khanti is found in verse 399:
Lord Sakka's restraint
In the
Samyutta Nikaya, the Buddha tells of an ancient battle between
devas and
asuras during which the
devas were victorious and the
asura king Vepacitti was captured and imprisoned. When the
deva lord Sakka visited Vepacitti in prison, Vepacitti "abused and reviled him with rude, harsh words," to which Sakka did not respond in kind. Afterwards, Sakka's charioteer questioned Sakka about this, expressing concern that some would see Sakka's response as indicative of fear or weakness. Sakka replied:
The Buddha then praised Sakka to his followers for "patience and gentleness" ().
A cuckold's forbearance
In a
Jataka tales,
Exposition on Patience Birth Story (:
Jataka tales 225), the Buddha tells of a former life when he was Brahmadatta, a king of Benares. At the time, a courtier of the king "fell into an intrigue in the king's harem." This same courtier was being similarly betrayed by one of his own servants and complained to the king about that servant. In response, the king disclosed his knowledge of the courtier's betrayal and stated:
Shamed by the king's awareness of their deeds, the courtier and his servant henceforth ceased their betrayals.
Parables of torture
The
Majjhima Nikāya has a classic parable of Buddhist forbearance, the
Buddha's Simile of the Saw:
Similarly, in the Jātaka Tale Patience Teacher Birth Story ( Khantivādī Jātaka: Jataka tales 313), a jealous king repeatedly asked an ascetic what the ascetic taught, to which the ascetic replied, "Patience," which the ascetic further defined as "not to get angry when injured, criticized or struck." To test the ascetic's patience, the king had the ascetic struck two thousand times with a whip of thorns, had the ascetic's hands and feet axed off, cut off the ascetic's nose and ears, and then kicked the ascetic in the heart. After the king left, the ascetic wished the king a long life and said, "Those like myself do not feel wrath." The ascetic died later that day.
Mahayana
Kṣānti (Tibetan:
bzod pa; Chinese: 忍辱,
renru; Japanese:
ninniku) is one of the six pāramitās in
Mahayana Buddhism and is thus a central aspect of the
Bodhisattva. In the path of preparation (
prayogamārga),
kṣānti serves as one of the "aids to penetration" (
nirvedhabhāgīya), marking a transition to the direct vision of the Four Noble Truths (
darśanamārga). It bridges mundane cultivation and supramundane realization, leading to deeper insight into these truths.
Anutpattikadharmakṣānti
Mahāyāna and some northern Buddhist sources also teach a special doctrine on the term anutpattikadharmakṣānti (Tibetan:
mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa; Chinese: 無生法忍,
wushengfaren): "receptivity to the non-production of dharmas." In Mahāyāna, this denotes a bodhisattva's unwavering conviction that all phenomena (
Abhidharma) are intrinsically "unproduced" (
Anutpada) and "empty" (
śūnyatā), lacking any inherent essence (
niḥsvabhāva).
[Buswell, Robert E; Lopez, Donald S. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 55. Princeton University Press, Nov 24, 2013.]
This realization is crucial for attaining the stage of nonretrogression ( avaivartika), often identified with the first or eighth bhūmi on the bodhisattva path. It empowers the bodhisattva to persist in benefiting others, recognizing that ultimately there is no self to liberate and no beings to save. This insight inoculates the practitioner against the temptation to prematurely abandon the bodhisattva path for personal liberation and emphasizes the Nondualism of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa.
In non-Mahāyāna contexts, the term anutpattikadharmakṣānti aligns with the realization of no-self ( anātman) and the Four Noble Truths, marking the darśanamārga.
Citations
General sources
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External links
