Fighting back is easy, enduring is difficult.

A stupid man chooses to fight back but a wise man chooses to endure.
As long as there are people in the world, we will hear all kinds of comments,
‘What is wrong with him, becoming a monk?’
‘His wife ran away, I heard.’
‘Look at yourself, so fat and still eating non-stop!’
‘The powder is too thick! You need to put on some of these creams to cover up the wrinkles!’
And people even comment on a dead man, ‘Do you know our neighbor the old Lee has just passed away? He is a terrible man. No one likes him.’ Yes you think you are talking in your house and the neighbor cannot hear you. But do not forget a ghost has the penetration and he understands what you are talking and he does not like people to talk bad about him. He will be so angry and this anger will bring him down to the three evil paths to undergo acute suffering!
This is the first category of patience that we have to learn, the patience of life. We cannot live alone in the cave. Wherever we go we are surrounded by people. In order to live with them we must equip ourselves with the patience of life. It is also known as the patience to tolerate other’s accusation, aggressive comments, criticism, harms, hatred, impatience, humiliation, and so on and so forth.
The second type is called the patience of dharma. Here the word dharma refers to the various situations and circumstances in life. Every man has to face different problems which arise in life such as poverty, old age, sickness, peers pressure, natural disaster and death. Every man wishes that he will always have enough money to spend, stay young, free from sickness, be the boss, get a raise in salary, no calamities and longevity. But these are often not the case. When he gets old, all kinds of negative symptoms will appear and finally with an attached mind, he often dies unwillingly, thinking that it is not the way things should be, yet they happen that way. And often he will leave the world in vain, with many regrets.
And a cultivator of the highest level will arrive at the stage when he does not feel that he is enduring anything. After listening to the Buddha’s teaching on stillness, nirvana, the teaching of conditional arising, the emptiness of a self, he totally understands the truth and his mind arrives at a state of non-duality. A man who arrives at this stage knows that the enemy is he himself. He sees that the patience of life, the patience of dharma is of one body, one nature. This is the contemplation of the Genuine Truth. It is called the Dharma Patience of No Birth which is the Foremost Meaning of the Ultimate Truth. He does not see anything that he is enduring.
In the Lankavatara Sutra, Da Hui (Great Wisdom) Bodhisattva asked the Buddha,
‘World Honoured One, why do not you give a simple description of the state of mind of the Thus Come One? What kind of man is qualified to be called the Thus Come One?’
The World Honoured One answered, ‘If there are hundreds of thousands of millions billions living being come before the Buddha and with no reason at all they scold and hit the Buddha, throughout hundreds of thousands millions billions kalpas, the Buddha will not give rise to a thought of anger. This is known as the Thus Come One.’
That is why the Buddha is known as the World Honoured One, no one in the world can surpass Him especially in the practice of endurance. Not only is He not angry with the living beings, he vows to save the immeasurable living beings.
The Buddha continued to say, ‘No matter how you squeeze the sand, no oil is obtained. Da Hui, the Buddha has severed all afflictions. Throughout hundreds of thousands of millions billions kalpas you put pressure on Him, He will not give rise to a thought of afflictions.’
The sand is not the source of oil. All the harms and slanders will have no effect on the Buddha as He is always in the Samadhi of Great Liberation, in the six periods of time.
What are the benefits of Endurance?
In the Sutra of the 42 Sections, a bhikshu asked Sakyamuni Buddha, ‘What is meant by having the greatest strength? What is the greatest clarity?’
The Buddha answered,
‘A man who endures will possess the greatest strength. This is because he does not harbor any evil in his mind. Besides he will be peaceful and healthy. He who endures does not commit any evils and he will surely be respected by others. When the defilement in the mind is put to extinction, the mind is pure with no trace of filth and faults. This mind is the brightest. From the time before the formation of heaven and earth until today, all the things that happen in the ten directions will be seen by him, known by him and heard by him. He obtains the total wisdom. This is known as the great clarity.’
We mundane man do not possess this clarity in mind as the innate wisdom is covered by our greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, suspicion and wrong views. Now that we know of our innate wisdom, we should bring forth the vows to bring it back. We can do so by prolonging our clarity in mind by maintaining mindfulness of the Buddha or the recitation of a mantra, the contemplation on the dharma or the bringing forth the Bodhi Vows while facing adversities and bliss.
A cultivator who always endures may look as though he is very weak in nature, that he is often bullied by people. Mundane people do not know that he is a man of abundant capacities, abundant positive energies. It is very easy for us to scold others, to fight with people, to take revenge, when we are angry. But it is very difficult to subdue the anger, to be patient and not to give rise to evil thoughts. If a man is able to do so, his inner strength is greatly magnified. He is no longer a common man as endurance brings him great strength and great wisdom. He attains great liberation in life.