Pāramitā


Pāramitā or pāramī is a Buddhist term often translated as "perfection". It is described in Buddhist commentaries as a noble character quality generally associated with enlightened beings. Pāramī and pāramitā are both terms in Pali but Pali literature makes greater reference to pāramī, while Mahayana texts generally use the Sanskrit ''pāramitā.''

Etymology

describes the etymology of the term:

Theravāda Buddhism

Theravada teachings on the pāramīs can be found in late canonical books and post-canonical commentaries. Theravada commentator Dhammapala describes them as noble qualities usually associated with bodhisattvas. American scholar-monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu describes them as perfections of character necessary to achieve enlightenment as one of the three enlightened beings, a samma sambuddha, a pacceka-buddha, or an arahant.

Canonical sources

In the Pāli Canon, the Buddhavamsa of the Khuddaka Nikāya lists the ten perfections as:
  1. Dāna pāramī: generosity, giving of oneself
  2. Sīla pāramī: virtue, morality, proper conduct
  3. Nekkhamma pāramī: renunciation
  4. Paññā pāramī: wisdom, discernment
  5. Viriya pāramī: energy, diligence, vigour, effort
  6. Khanti pāramī: patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance
  7. Sacca pāramī: truthfulness, honesty
  8. Adhiṭṭhāna pāramī: determination, resolution
  9. Mettā pāramī: goodwill, friendliness, loving-kindness
  10. Upekkhā pāramī: equanimity, serenity
Two of these virtues—mettā and upekkhā—are also brahmavihāras, and two – vīrya and upekkhā—are factors of awakening.

Historicity

The Theravāda teachings on the pāramīs can be found in canonical books and post-canonical commentaries written to supplement the Pāli Canon that therefore might not be an original part of the Theravāda teachings. The oldest parts of the Sutta Piṭaka do not mention the pāramīs as a category.
Some scholars refer to the pāramīs as a semi-Mahāyāna teaching added to the scriptures at a later time in order to appeal to the interests and needs of the lay community and to popularize their religion. However, these views rely on the early scholarly presumption of Mahāyāna originating with religious devotion and appeal to laity. More recently, scholars have started to open up early Mahāyāna literature, which is very ascetic and expounds the ideal of the monk's life in the forest. Therefore, the practice of the pāramitās in Mahāyāna Buddhism may have been close to the ideals of the ascetic tradition of the śramaṇa.
The cultivation of pāramīs is closely linked with Buddhist kingship, and the Burmese and Thai sociological concepts of hpone and barami respectively.

Traditional practice

maintains that in the earliest Buddhist texts, those seeking the extinction of suffering pursued the noble eightfold path. As time went on, a backstory was provided for the multi-life development of the Buddha; as a result, the ten perfections were identified as part of the path for the bodhisattva. Over subsequent centuries, the pāramīs were seen as being significant for aspirants to both Buddhahood and arahantship. Bhikkhu Bodhi summarizes:

Sarvāstivāda

The Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣika school's main commentary, the Mahāvibhāṣā, teaches the bodhisattva path based on a system of four pāramitās:
The Mahāvibhāṣā also mentions the system of six pāramitās, arguing that patience is classified as a kind of discipline and that meditation is to be seen as a mode of wisdom.

Mahāyāna Buddhism

texts refer to the pāramitās as "bases of training" used for self-cultivation on the bodhisattva path to Buddhahood.

Six perfections

The Prajñapāramitā sūtras and a large number of other Mahāyāna texts list six perfections: giving, ethical discipline, patience, vigorous effort, meditation, wisdom.
The list of six paramitas is also mentioned by the Theravāda commentator Dhammapala, who describes it as a categorisation of the same ten perfections of Theravada Buddhism. According to Dhammapala, Sacca is classified as both Śīla and Prajñā, Mettā and Upekkhā are classified as Dhyāna, and Adhiṭṭhāna falls under all six. Bhikkhu Bodhi states that the correlations between the two sets shows there was a shared core before the Theravada and Mahayana schools split.

Dānapāramitā

-pāramitā refers to a bodhisattva's practice of generosity, giving, charity. There are three main types of giving: the "gift of material goods", the "gift of fearlessness", and the "gift of the Dharma".
The perfection of giving is fully developed on the first of the ten bodhisattva stages. At this stage, the bodhisattva, through insight into emptiness, is inspired to perfect the practice of giving. This involves offering even the most cherished possessions—such as wealth, family, and even the bodhisattva’s own body —without attachment.
A key element of the perfection of giving which distinguishes it from regular charity is how the bodhisattva, through their the understanding of emptiness, realizes that there is no inherent existence in the donor, the recipient, or the gift itself. With this realization, ordinary acts of giving are transformed into perfected acts of giving. This perfection leads to an awareness of universal suchness.

Śīlapāramitā

-pāramitā is the perfection of virtue, moral conduct, or ethical discipline. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the perfection of ethical discipline is fulfilled by observing the bodhisattva precepts, which is divided into the "three sets of pure precepts". These are:
  1. The saṃvaraśīla, which pertain to the rules of discipline and proper conduct that prevent unwholesome actions. For laypersons this mainly refers to the five precepts. For monks, it includes the entire Vinaya.
  2. The accumulation of wholesome qualities, which fosters all virtuous behaviors leading to the development of the Buddha-dharma. This includes things like making offerings and dedication of merit.
  3. Acting for the benefit of sentient beings, which involves providing assistance and compassion to others. It includes taking care of the sick, protecting people from danger, teaching people the Dharma, giving to the poor, and so on.
The first category corresponds to foundational precepts emphasized in the "Hīnayāna" tradition, while the latter two represent the Mahāyāna perspective on moral conduct. Together, the three sets of precepts form a comprehensive framework that integrates both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna views on morality into a unified system.
Śīla-pāramitā is the main focus of cultivation on the second bodhisattva stage. At this stage, the bodhisattva overcomes the obstruction of deluded conduct.

Kṣāntipāramitā

-pāramitā is the bodhisattva's perfection of patience, a virtue which also has connotations of tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, and endurance. The term kṣānti holds multiple meanings. It often refers to the patience and endurance demonstrated by a bodhisattva in various aspects of their spiritual journey and includes the ability to endure abuse and hardship inflicted by sentient beings without wavering in compassion or resolve. It also means that a bodhisattva maintains a commitment to persevere through the difficulties encountered on the path to buddhahood, maintaining the dedication to liberate all beings from saṃsāra. Furthermore, it also refers to the capacity to accept and be receptive to the profound truths of reality, such as impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and not-self, without being overwhelmed or fearful for them.
This latter sense is particularly important in Mahāyāna, which culminates in the attainment of "receptivity to the non-production of dharmas". This attainment refers to a bodhisattva's unwavering receptive realization that all phenomena are intrinsically "unproduced" and "empty", including themselves, Buddhahood and the Dharma itself. The acceptance and realization of this ultimate truth is crucial for attaining the stage of non-retrogression in which a bodhisattva cannot fall back to a lesser level, which is often identified with the first or eighth bhūmi on the bodhisattva path.

Vīryapāramitā

-pāramitā is the perfection of energy, diligence, vigour, or effort. Vīrya-pāramitā represents the tireless and unwavering energy and effort necessary to overcome obstacles, cultivate virtue, and realise wisdom on the bodhisattva path. This perfection is fully realized during the fourth stage of the bodhisattva path. At this stage, the radiant intensity of the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment becomes so powerful that it burns away all defilements and obstructions. This purification grants the bodhisattva boundless energy to pursue enlightenment and the liberation of all beings.

Dhyānapāramitā

-pāramitā is the perfection of meditation or contemplative absorption and is closely associated with the bodhisattva's mastery of numerous samādhis. The perfection of dhyana in Mahayana Buddhism includes the classic early Buddhist meditative states called the four dhyānas, which gradually take a meditator to a place beyond all thought.
However, according to the Dazhidulun, a bodhisattva's meditations are also significantly different than the non-Mahayana dhyānas. While in Theravada, the dhyānas are meant to go beyond all thought into a perfectly peaceful unmoving state of mind, the Dazhidulun mentions that regarding the practice of the four meditations or dhyānas "the bodhisattva practicing dhyānapāramitā enters the successive dhyāna stages with thoughts of the realm of desire." This is because a bodhisattva, while having no coarse thinking or subtle examination, they are still focused on all sentient beings in all realms and seek to guide them to nirvana. This is due to the Mahayana emphasis on compassion for all beings, which rejects the idea that we must retreat to state of mind which is completely detached from all beings.
As such, Mahayana texts are careful to warn bodhisattvas not to practice dhyāna in the same manner as Hinayanists, that is to say, to practice them in a self-centered manner that seeks only an individual escape from samsara. As such, the Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā states that a bodhisattva must master the eight dhyānas without seeking their karmic fruit. This is done through developing bodhicitta, as the Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā states, the bodhisattva meditates by "not clinging to the level of sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, and , 'Having stood in the perfection of dhyāna, I must now liberate all beings from the cycle of rebirths.'"