All the Time in the World
By Ajahn Sumedho
As we sit here during this retreat, we have to pay attention to things that
are not at all interesting. They may even be unpleasant and painful. To patiently
endure things rather than to run off in search of something interesting is a
good discipline, isn't it? It is good to be able to just endure the boredom,
the pain, the anger, the greed -- all these things -- instead of always running
away from them
Patience is such an important virtue. If we have no patience,
there is absolutely no possibility of getting enlightened. Be extremely patient
I used to like the kind of meditation where I could sit and get very calm --
and then when pain would arise in the body, I'd want to get rid of it so that
I could stay in that state of calm. Then I began to see that wanting to get
rid of pain was a miserable state of mind. Sometimes we sit for several hours;
sometimes all night long. You can run away from it, but after a while you begin
to come to terms with physical pain. I've used practice like 'having all the
time in the world to be with pain,' rather than struggling to get rid of it
so that I could come back to my 'real' meditation. I've learned to take time
to be with the pains in my body if they come up in consciousness, rather than
trying to get some bliss.
Somehow, when I would say, 'I have all the time in the world, the rest of my
life, to be with this pain,' it would stop the tendency to want to get rid of
it. My mind would actually slow down for long periods of time without following
or creating a desire. Some of you have this idea of conquering pain, getting
over the 'pain threshold' -- but that's a disaster