The perfection of patience
The Luminous (Prabhakari)
This third stage is [called] "The Luminous" because here appears the light of the fire which burns away without remainder its fuel of the objects of knowledge. At this time, within the son (daughter) of the tathagata there arises a brilliance, the color of polished brass, like the sun.
If someone angered without provocation should gradually, measure by measure, cut away the flesh and bone from an bodhisattva's body, his patience with the person doing the cutting would grow to an extreme.
Even the things associated with such an act of mutilation - that which [is being cut], he who [is cutting], and the time [of the event] - are seen as mere reflections by a bodhisattva who directly perceives the absence of a self. On this account he (she) is patient.
Anger directed against a son (daughter) of the conquerors destroys in a single moment merit accumulated through generosity and morality practiced over the course of eons. Therefore there is no sin greater than impatience.
Impatience creates an ugly appearance, it leads to association with the ignoble, it steals the discrimination that distinguishes between right and wrong behaviour, and before long it casts the offender into a bad migration. Patience engenders qualities the opposite of those [faults] just mentioned.
Patience beautifies and leads to association with noble people, it is the knowledge involved in distinguishing between right and wrong conduct. Moreover it brings about the disintegration of sin, and birth as a god or man.
Even as applied toward the awakening of a perfect buddha, when [patience is associated with] attachment to reified concepts concerning the existence of the three supports, it remains a mundane perfection. That [patience] that is devoid of any support was taught by the buddha as a supramundane perfection.
At this stage the son (daughter) of the conquerors experiences, along with his (her) practice of meditation (dyana) and higher mental faculties, the complete exhaustion of craving and hostility. He (she) is also capable at any time of vanquishing the passionate craving of the world.
The sugatas commonly recommend these three principles - generosity, [morality, and patience] to laypeople. These same principles constitute the provision of merit, and are the cause of the buddha's body of form.
When it has completely dispelled the darkness of the son (daughter) of the conquerors within whom it resides, [the thought of awakening associated with] this luminous [stage] brings with it a longing for total victory over the darkness of all living beings. At this stage, even though he has become extremely zealous, [the bodhisattva] is never subject to anger.
Candrakirti, Madhyamakavatara (CW Huntington, jr)