The Paramitas (perfections) are a guide for the Mahayana Buddhist. They are virtues to be cultivated to strengthen our practice and bring us to enlightenment. The paramitas describe the True Nature of an enlightened being, which is to say they are our own true nature. We can also say we are all essentially enlightened beings, but we are clouded by the three poisons: ignorance, greed and anger.
Our true nature is like the person behind the foggy mirror after we take a hot shower. At first we forget or don’t realize the mirror is foggy, because we go about our routine without looking into the mirror. But then when we want the mirror, when we want to see ourselves, we use the towel, a cloth or our hands to wipe away the fog, trying to clean it off. We use different methods to clean it off, but leaving behind traces of the towel, cloth or streaks. But as we continue to clean the mirror, we get closer and closer to seeing ourselves.
Likewise, when we cultivate these paramitas, we bring this true nature into expression, and we start perfecting ourselves to become true bodhisattvas. So the Six Paramitas are:
- Generosity (Dana)
- Morality (Sila)
- Patience (Ksanti)
- Energy (Virya)
- Meditation (Dhyana)
- Wisdom (Prajna)
1. Generosity (Dana)
The perfection of generosity is true generosity of spirit. It is giving from sincere desire to benefit and help others, without the expectation of a reward or recognition. There must be no selfishness attached. Even when doing charity or volunteer work to “feel good about ourselves” is not true generosity. If our intention is not absolutely in the mindset of truly wanting to benefit others or doing something because we were asked or felt like we had to say yes, it is not true generosity.
If we see an old lady needing help with her groceries and we think, “Maybe I should help her,” then that is not of true generosity. True generosity is when our help or benefit to others comes automatically, without having to think about it or of the benefits or reward of helping. Generosity doesn’t just mean giving material or physical help, it also means giving spiritual help or helping people with their fear of aging, getting sick and dying. And giving loving-kindness and compassion to all beings.
2. Morality (Sila)
Morality, or discipline, in Buddhism doesn’t mean obediently following a list of rules. Of course, Buddhism has many lists, that’s how we remember and learn things, and one of the most important lists is our precepts. But the precepts are more like a guide instead of a strict set of rules. An enlightened being responds to any situation correctly without having to refer to a set of rules. But we accept and take these precept vows so we can refrain from doing negative actions and cultivate compassion and help others.
3. Patience (Ksanti)
The translation of Ksanti literally means “able to withstand.” There are three characteristics to patience:
- Enduring personal hardships: Cultivating with this aspect of patience begins with accepting the first Noble Truth; that life is suffering, that life is dissatisfying. We accept that life is difficult and full of chaos as well as being temporary. As we learn to accept suffering, we realize how much time and energy we’ve wasted trying to avoid the inevitable. Our biggest reaction to suffering is self-protection. We want to avoid things we don’t like or wan’t to do, or that will hurt like going to the doctors or dentist. But then we think of ourselves as unfortunate when pain does come. This reaction comes from the belief that there is a permanent “self” to protect, that we have to do everything to protect ourselves from suffering. But the more we try to avoid suffering, the more suffering we actually endure! When we realize there’s nothing to protect, our perception of pain changes.
- Patience with others: Means not allowing others’ negativity to affect us. I’m sure we’ve all been in situations where where others might have said or did something to upset or frustrate us, but how we handle it depends on our patience and understanding that no one can affect us but ourselves. Only when we allow or believe things will it affect us.
- Accepting truth: It was already mentioned that patience begins with accepting suffering, but that also includes accepting the truth about other things like that we are angry, ignorant, greedy, jealous, and that ultimately we are responsible for our own unhappiness. Sometimes we’ll read or hear great teachers say that when people are getting closer to enlightenment, they may experience great fear. This is our ego trying to preserve itself. Getting beyond that fear is a challenge.
When the Buddha was sitting in meditation the night before his Enlightenment and Mara visited him, Mara did everything in his power to distract the Buddha with anger, fear and temptation. But none of that worked, because the Buddha was patient with himself and knew he was so close to his great realization. When he got beyond that, nirvana!
Also, we must accept uncertainty. For a long time we won’t see clearly We won’t have all the answers. We may never have all the answers. To walk the Buddhist path we have to be willing to not know. To have patience and confidence in ourselves.
4. Energy (Virya)
Also titled as enthusiastic effort or zeal, energy means we must have the energy and effort to realize enlightenment. Energy refers to both mental and physical energy. Taking care of our body and health is part of this paramita which people do with exercise and supplements like kratom capsules, but for many of us, the mental energy is a bigger challenge and that’s where the supplements from healthyusa helps a lot. A lot of people struggle to make time for daily practice. Meditation or chanting might feel like the last thing we want to do sometimes, but we need to develop energy to have the motivation to practice.
The perfection of energy has three components:
- The development of character: is about cultivating the courage and the will to walk the path as far as it goes, for as long as it takes. For most, this means correcting bad habits or giving up excuses, or both. We may need to clarity our own commitment to the path and cultivate self-trust, confidence and conviction.
- Spiritual training: this of course means learning the Dharma, the Buddha’s teachings, but it could also include learning the rituals and why we do them. A clear understanding of what the Buddha taught will help our confidence and give our practice more focus. But it’s not just about reading and trying to understand the teachings, it’s about actively applying those teachings to our lives and practicing them.
- Benefiting others: now it’s time to help others from what we’ve learned. The development of bodhicitta, the altruistic wish or desire to realize enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, is essential to Mahayan Buddhism. Bodhicitta helps us release selfish attachment to our efforts. When bodhicitta is strong, it fuels our determination to practice.
5. Meditation (Dhyana)
Buddhist meditation, or concentration, is more popular in the West than Buddhism itself, unfortunately. Another word for concentration is Samadhi, which more specifically means one-pointed concentration. In the West, meditation is used at a therapeutic level to relive stress, anxiety and treat behavioral disorders. But Buddhist meditation is a discipline, not a treatment. The Buddha sat in meditation for years to realize enlightenment, not because he had a headache he wanted to get rid of!
The order of the paramitas is not random. Meditative concentration comes before the last paramita, wisdom, because wisdom is developed from concentration. For most, this is a gradual process. Though one may experience bliss, someone else may experience frustration, sleepiness, boredom, pain, etc. That doesn’t mean we’re doing it wrong, but that’s just the way it is. So we need to be diligent with our practice to develop and succeed.
There are two main forms of meditation. Samatha and Vipassana, or in English, concentration and contemplation. Samatha means tranquility and leads to Samadhi, one-pointedness concentration. So we go from meditation and acknowledging our thoughts and feelings, to concentrating on just one thing, which is usually our breath.
Vipassana means “insight.” There are a few approaches to insight meditation, but generally we take a teaching, thought or perspective and contemplate on it to alter our basic mental orientation. We take a teaching, the first Noble Truth for example, and we contemplate on it, dissect it and learn its true meaning, our own meaning of what it teaches.
6. Wisdom (Prajna)
In Mahayana Buddhism, wisdom is the direct and ultimate realization of Sunyata, emptiness. Very simply, this is the teaching that all phenomena are without a self or self-essence. All phenomena without self may not sound that complicated, but as we work with prajna teaching, the significance of emptiness becomes more and more evident, and the importance of emptiness in Mahayana Buddhism cannot be overstated.
However, this wisdom can’t be understood by intellect alone. We use the help of the other paramitas. It’s said that the perfection of wisdom contains all the other perfections and without it, no perfection is possible. Wisdom in this case specifically refers to emptiness. This realization is said to be be the door of enlightenment.
For example, if we were to take apart this computer or smartphone, at one point does it seize to be a computer? This is a subjective judgement. Does it stop being a computer once it can’t function as a computer, or does it stop being a computer when it’s all in pieces? Some will say, once it stops turning on it’s no longer a computer. Others will say, until it’s broken into pieces, then it stops being a computer.
The point is, the “computer” is just a name or designation we give to a phenomena; there is no inherent “computer nature” dwelling in the computer.
There is a famous Indian monk named Nagarjuna that said it is incorrect to say that things exist, but it is also incorrect to say that things don’t exist. Because all phenomena exist interdependently and are void of self, and all distinctions we make between this and that phenomena are relative. So things and beings “exist” only in a relative way.