Patience has many other benefits as well. For example, practicing patience is the cause of receiving a beautiful body in future lives—a beautiful human body or the divine body of a deva. If your body is attractive, it is easier to benefit others. It is also the cause of many of the special qualities of a Buddha’s holy body. There are many more benefits of patience.

If you do not practice patience, you will get angry. One of the results of anger is to receive ugly bodies in future lives. If you look ugly, people won’t want to see or hear you, won’t want to help you and won’t pay attention to what you say. Worse than that, you will have to experience the unbearably heavy sufferings of rebirth in hell. And even when after that you’re reborn human, there will be many other problems as a result of anger. Anger has many, many drawbacks, but by practicing patience you can avoid them all.

In short, practicing patience on a daily basis has infinite benefit. It brings peace, happiness and success for yourself and others in this and many future lives. Ultimately, you attain enlightenment, and bring all happiness to all sentient beings as you lead them to enlightenment.

How to practice patience

Where does your daily practice of patience that brings all this benefit come from? How do you learn to be patient?

Ask yourself, "Where did I learn this patience that I practice? I learned it from those who have been angry at me. By depending on the angry person I have been able to practice, to realize patience. Therefore, all the peace and happiness that I enjoy in this and future lives as a result of my practice of patience has come from the angry person. It is through the kindness of the angry person, who gave me the opportunity to practice, that I am able to offer peace and happiness to all sentient beings as a result of my patience. Because of this person I am able to accomplish the perfection of patience, the other perfections, and thereby complete the Bodhisattva’s path and attain full enlightenment. Through this person’s kindness I can eradicate all errors of mind and gain all realizations. It is the angry person who has given me this opportunity. This person is actually giving me enlightenment. Through the kindness of this person I can also offer all peace and happiness to all sentient beings. How kind this person is! How much benefit this person has given me! This is the most precious person in my life! Even if someone were to give me billions and trillions of dollars, I could never buy the peace of mind that I get through the practice of patience. Therefore, the angry person who gives me the opportunity to practice patience is of much greater value than trillions of dollars, mountains of diamonds, acres of gold."

The angry person is even more precious than trillions of wish-fulfilling jewels. The most precious material object we can think of in these examples is the wish-fulfilling jewel. Legend has it that by praying to this mythical gem, you get whatever sense enjoyment you desire. Nevertheless, the angry person with whom you practice patience is far more valuable than trillions of these wish-granting gems. No amount of material wealth can bring you the inner peace that you can achieve by practicing patience with an angry person. That’s why such people are so precious.

The only reason the person is so kind and precious is because he is angry at you. There’s no reason other than that. This is what makes this person so unbelievably kind. Therefore, even though his anger is so destructive for him, for you it is invaluable. It is of the utmost need in your life. Having somebody angry at you is very, very important.