Journey Towards Patience Through Meditation : หน้า 89/164

Suzanne Jeffrey meditation, eating, the funniest exercise program in the entire world and, oh yeah, lining up to do activities which takes us about 45 minutes every time we do it. I have come here to practice my meditation and to learn patience. This is not an easy thing for me to say – or to do. I am not a patient person by nature. I hate standing in lines, let alone standing in a line for 45 minutes several times a day. But I need to learn this: patience is simply a characteristic that I do not possess. And so, I relax. I mean truly, down to the bone, relax. Perhaps this is because of the meditation; perhaps this is because Luang Por Dhammajayo and Luang Por Dattajevo are around here keeping an eye on us all. (I know this intuitively.) Perhaps, I think to myself, it is because I am close to the Dham- makaya Cetiya and I know, and feel comfortable, with the thought that it is now, this week, within my power to achieve my patience-goal. We also had one super interesting Dhamma talk from Luang Por that I think would be of interest, so I am enclosing it here. This talk takes place on Tuesday morning: We all line up, and then walk over to the main site in the middle of the Saapha. Here, we face into the middle of the “room” where Luang Por will sit, on a raised dais, to address all 8,000 of us. It takes us about an hour to get from our various sections to our seats facing the dais. Luang Por enters, bows three times to the Buddha statue, raised high on the staging, and turns to face the crowd. We then bow to him, paying respect to our teacher. He begins: “Ever since the Lord Buddha’s time, the Upasika has tried to practice. But most are simply too busy. In fact, most women are simply too busy with their children or their household, or making a living. But this experience is good for your life because you can learn to stand on your own two feet in order to take care of yourself. To do this, you need to be sure that you make a living in the right way. That is always the fight – to make a living. But the preparation for the next life is so important and Right Livelihood is part of that preparation. “This is why we have this ceremony: To help you prepare yourself – to help you gather strength within yourself - here at the Wat and all over the world. This is why the training is happening now. [’This’ means the call for 100,000 Upasikas to train themselves, and to become ordained now.] In order to complete this, Luang Por Dhammajayo would like to give you a picture, or a look at the big picture. If we look at human life – in our life it does not matter if you are male or female, or any race, or any nationality – everyone has the same problem. 88