Lama Zopa Rinpoche, one of the great living masters of Tibetan Buddhism, guides us through one of the core practices of the bodhisattvas, using a classic, revered text as a guide.

The sixth chapter of Shantideva’s classic A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life is a beacon of inspiration that shows what patience—one of the essential actions of the bodhisattvas—can really mean, leading us to profound self-realization and a heightened determination for awakened action in the world.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche—a teacher whose very name means “patience”—explores Shantideva’s teachings verse by verse, unpacking its lessons for the modern reader, including:

• overcoming anger,
• accepting suffering,
• and respecting others and finding happiness in their happiness.

In explaining this quintessential quality of a bodhisattva, Rinpoche shows us ordinary beings the profundity of the practice of patience and the relevance it has in our everyday lives.

“Often in the West we think that patience is passive aggression: waiting for that horrible thing to go away. Lama Zopa Rinpoche shows us in great detail how to cultivate actual patience, the practice of the bodhisattva: wholeheartedly welcoming the problems. Why should we do that? Because patience puts an atomic bomb under the toxic emotions of attachment and anger, helping us break down the barriers between self and other, and making us fearless in our efforts to never give up alleviating the suffering of beings. Rinpoche’s powerfully experiential teachings give us the confidence to know that we can do it, too.”—Ven. Robina Courtin