无生法忍/ Anutpattika-dharma-ksanti

What is Anutpattika-dharma-ksanti? In 2000, I asked a young monk about this question. He gave me a load of Buddhism jargons which made me utterly confuse. Then another young monk stepped in and gave me another load of Buddhism jargons which made me more puzzled. I’ve read many books and Buddhist dictionaries and still couldn’t understand. I’ve gave up on this until last Sunday when Thay talked about Anutpattika-dharma-ksanti.

Ksanti means to endure, but this endurance is different from the worldly endurance. My mother used to tell me: “Endurance is gold.” What she meant was we don’t fight with others, we just accept and tolerate/endure. I told my mother if we just accept and endure when someone is doing bad things to you; we will explode when we surpass the level of toleration. A good example was how my aunties used to make my mother suffer by telling something bad in front of my father. My mother told me she endured it,  but until now she is still holding the grudge on my aunties. All her stories were more than 50 years ago but when she re-tells her stories, she is ignited with anger. I told my mother to let go of them. This kind of endurance is not Anutpattika-dharma-ksanti because she couldn’t see the nature of all these hurtful words from my aunties.

Anutpattika-dharma means no arising and no perish. It is stated in the Heart Sutra that all phenomena are expressions of emptiness or the interconnection relationship of nature. Because phenomena are empty nature, they are neither born nor destroyed; neither pure nor defiled; neither coming nor going. 

So all phenomena are impermanent and non-existent that is why we should not grasp on the worldly things (material, and verbal praise and criticism). Once we understand the impermanence and the nature of all phenomena (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touches and thoughts), we should accept these truths. This acceptance is called Anutpattika-dharma-ksanti. By accepting these truths, we come out of misery. We are no longer chained by the phenomena around us; this includes our most treasurable body. Anutpattika-dharma-ksanti can also mean equanimity.

Notes: The following are the definitions from different website.

Japanese English dictionary: Anutpattika-dharma-ksanti is the recognition that nothing really arises or perishes.( http://www.eudict.com/?lang=engjpk&word=%28Buddh%29%20anutpattika-dharma-ksanti)

The Zennist: Anutpattika-dharma-ksanti, that is, the acceptance that inevitably all phenomena are illusory and nonexistent, is realized by the Bodhisattva in the eighth bhumi (acalâ, i.e., immovability) being completed at the stage of Buddhahood according to some accounts (cp. Yogacarabhumi Shastra).  (http://zennist.typepad.com/zenfiles/2011/07/accepting-the-illusory-and-nonexistent.html)

From an introduction to MadhyamakaPhilosohpy by Jaideva Singh : Anutpattika-dharma-ksanti means capacity to endure and sustain the truth of the unborn dharma, then he enters the true status (nyama) of the Bodhisattva.

From the classification of Buddhismby Bruno Petzold, Shinsho Hanayama: The state of acquiescence with the insight of the non-origination of dharmas; the insight of which acknowledges non-arising of psycho-physical phenomena.