Day 22 covers all of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits.
Having last month considered the innumerable merits gained by understanding by faith the lifespan of the Buddha, we consider in gāthās the merits of someone who practiced greatly.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Suppose someone practiced
The five paramitas
For eighty billion nayuta kalpas
In order to attain the wisdom of the Buddha.Throughout these kalpas he offered
Wonderful food and drink,
Excellent garments and bedding,
And monasteries made of candana
And adorned with gardens and forests
To the Buddhas,
To the cause-knowers, to the disciples,
And to the Bodhisattvas.Throughout these kalpas he made
These various and wonderful offerings
In order to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha.He also observed the precepts,
Kept purity and faultlessness,
And sought the unsurpassed enlightenment
Extolled by the Buddhas.He was patient, gentle,
And friendly with others.
Even when many evils troubled him,
His mind was not moved.He endured all insults and disturbances
Inflicted upon him by arrogant people who thought
That they had already obtained the Dharma.He was strenuous and resolute in mind.
He concentrated his mind,
And refrained from indolence
For many hundreds of millions of kalpas.He Lived in a retired place
For innumerable kalpas.
He sat or walked to avoid drowsiness
And to concentrate his mind.By doing so, he became able to practice
Many dhyāna-concentrations.
His mind was peaceful, not distracted
For eighty billion kalpas.
The Daily Dharma offers this:
He was patient, gentle,
And friendly with others.
Even when many evils troubled him,
His mind was not moved.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. This stanza is his description of the Bodhisattva perfection of patience. As with all the perfections, these are qualities we cultivate, rather than something to use to judge how close we or anybody else is to enlightenment. As we progress in these perfections, our view of the world is less obscured by our own mental formations. We begin to see the world for what it is, and each other for what we are.
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