Khanti - Wat Pah Nanachat

monk was willing to do this practice out of faith, and faith is an
important cause and condition for khanti.
Have you ever noticed in your mind, or asked yourself:
why is it, that in certain areas of our life, our monastic life, or
at certain times we can be incredibly patient, and we are able to
deal with discomfort and things that we don’t like, and at other
times it is very difficult, and we are very unwilling to be
patient. Have you looked at the causes and conditions why that
should be? I suggest that one of the most important factors is:
whether we see something as worthwhile, whether we perceive
it as meaningful. As soon as you start thinking to yourself:
‘Why bother, it’s not going to make any difference in the long
run’, so why put yourself through this? The moment you have
that “Really, what’s the point” – kind of attitude, you lose all
your endurance. But if you see the value of something very
clearly, you can be quite remarkably patient. We can see this
with parents and their children. There are incredible accounts
of the endurance of mothers trying to protect the lives of their
children. When there is something that is really meaningful to
us, a really strong motivating force, we can bring up immense
amounts of patience. But if your mind slips into unwholesome
thinking, or ayoniso manasikara (unskilful thought), it can
completely undermine our whole capacity for patient
endurance.
Patient endurance is, in other words, not only
conditioned by how tough you are, or how good your samadhi
is or whatever, but by your ability to reflect on experience, the
ability to think about things in an intelligent and useful way
and to create a sense of purpose and meaning. And to invest
faith and confidence in that process and in that goal is what
will support and sustain khanti, patient endurance, more than
anything else.
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