About this episode
What is joyous perseverance (effort)? "When you have focused upon something virtuous, joyous perseverance is enthusiasm for it. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says: What is joyous perseverance? It is delight in virtue. The Bodhisattva Levels explains it as a flawless state of mind that is enthusiastic about accumulating virtue and working for the welfare of living beings, together with the physical, verbal, and mental activity such a state of mind motivates." —Je Tsongkhapa (reference below) Joyous perseverance is supreme among virtues; Based on it, you subsequently attain the rest. One who has joyous perseverance Is not brought down By prosperity, afflictions, Discouragement, or petty attainments. —Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras As rust corrupts The very iron that formed it, So transgressions lead Their doer to states of woe Oral teachings become corrupted when not recited, Homes become corrupted by inactivity, Sloth corrupts physical beauty, Negligence corrupts a guardian. ( Verse 241) —Buddha, The Dhammapada Links and References Buddha. The Dhammapada. Translated by Gil Fronsdale. Shambala, Boston and London, 2011, pp.62. Je Tsongkhapa. Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, by Je Tsongkhapa, Volume 2. Translated by the Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee. Joshua Cutler, Editor-in-Chief, and Guy Newlan, Editor, pp 183-185.