A lay follower asked: why must we endure, and what are we enduring for?

The Purpose of Endurance Is Realizing Nibbana

The teacher explained that if we truly understand the purpose of being born human — realizing Nibbana through making body, speech, and mind ever purer — we come to understand for ourselves why endurance is necessary. His mentor once taught that the Buddha praised patience above all else except wisdom: with patience, one can reach Nibbana; without it, one cannot.

Why Life Within the Cycle of Rebirth Requires Endurance

Life within the cycle of rebirth, which has no discernible beginning or end, is governed by the three natures — wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral — locked in endless competition for control, with no permanent victor. When unwholesomeness or neutrality seizes control as the "occupant," it spends our precious time and resources in ways that bring no benefit, or that cause suffering to ourselves and others. Only the system of wholesome dhamma looks after us, helping bring happiness and a good future.

When unwholesomeness pressures and guides us toward wrong thought, speech, and action, it draws in unwholesome energy. Once an unwholesome act is completed, we receive a completed unwholesome blueprint, stored within a sphere of demerit that has already come to fruition — bearing fruit again and again whenever the right occasion arises, accumulated from childhood into adulthood like a mountain of refuse. This is exactly why we must direct ourselves toward Nibbana and the Triple Gem, whose power is boundless, so that our elemental nature can be refined and our impurities cleared each and every day.

Enduring Joy and Sorrow to Keep the Mind Balanced

The teacher explained that unwholesomeness uses the world's joys and sorrows, arriving through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, to overwhelm us, offering up various pleasures and pains that scatter the mind. We must endure without becoming attached to what is offered — acknowledging that something delicious or beautiful genuinely is delicious or beautiful, without letting the mind scatter into excessive delight. We must rest the mind in neutrality, with a still mind and complete mindfulness and clear comprehension. Even in moments of sorrow over loss, we must draw on endurance to prevent the mind from sinking or growing clouded, because whenever the mind scatters — whether from joy or sorrow — the current of demerit flows through more easily, and craving intensifies within us. Endurance is therefore the very fortitude that protects us from the pressure and grip of defilement and craving.

Precepts, Concentration, and Wisdom Are the Path to Purity

The teacher explained that when we constantly direct our mind toward the path of Nibbana, the purity of our body, speech, and mind becomes the indicator of how much care and development we're receiving from the system of wholesome dhamma. Precepts form the initial foundation that makes concentration easier to attain; concentration allows us to reach the inner knowing ones and develop the sphere of wisdom, which shines brighter than all other dhammas — a sphere that helps resolve problems and leads to the sphere of liberation. This purity within precepts, concentration, and wisdom is exactly what continuously develops the purity of body, speech, and mind. Right view is the central governing factor: when view is correct and good, every other factor of the path — right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration — is adjusted to become correct and good as well.