Development of perseverance

Every time you act, you use willpower. Each decision you make is powered by your will.

Willpower is not only extreme. It is the force behind any action, even non-action.

The work to reach liberation is accomplished by freeing our will from desire, by comprehending that desire causes suffering. When we comprehend that desire causes suffering, we will naturally "will" towards liberation.

In simple terms, every action we perform brings a consequence. Let us not be worried about whether it takes five years, or forty years, or several lifetimes. Let us work in the moment now. Let us forget the concept of time, and instead, realize that our actions of the Consciousness now will produce results. If we utilize our Consciousness for the benefit of others, the results will be beneficial for everyone. That is how liberation arises: by the repeated and consistent performance of heroic deeds-heroic being, in the Consciousness-it does not mean you have to go and leap over a tall building. It means that you heroically control your mind and act from the intention of Bodhicitta, which is to benefit others.

In simplified terms, we could say that another way to define this paramita-diligence, endeavor, heroic action-is simply the joy to do good. It is having an enthusiasm to do good things, to do the right thing. And that root enthusiasm becomes full-fledged Bodhisattva action when the soul is developed, when the Bodhisattva is incarnated, when those virtues of the soul are actually manifesting themselves; then, the joy to do good becomes a way of life.