Contemplation: The Austerity of Patience

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your object of contemplation:

Good works gathered in a thousand ages,
Such as deeds of generosity,
Or offerings to the blissful ones--
A single flash of hatred shatters them.

No evil is there similar to hatred,
No austerity to be compared with patience.
Steep yourself, therefore, in patience--
In all ways, urgently, with zeal.

Santideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva, p. 78 (translation altered)