The Six Paramitas: Introduction
The subject here is what in Buddhist parlance is called the Six Paramitas. ‘Paramita’ literally means something which goes beyond. ‘Param’ means beyond, and’ ‘ita’ means ‘to travel’, to go beyond. There is no actual English equivalent but usually it is translated as the Six Perfections. They are giving or generosity, ethical conduct, patience or tolerance, enthusiasm, effort or perseverance, meditation and wisdom. These six paramitas which were laid down as a path for a Bodhisattva, for someone who is aspiring to attain enlightenment to benefit not only themselves but also others. I think this is a very complete path in many ways, because it incorporates qualities which are needed for a well-balanced spiritual life. A spiritual life which is not just directed inwardly – meditation, wisdom and so on — but is also an outward expression – generosity, living a life of harmlessness, developing patience and so forth.
In a traditional Buddhist country the main practitioners would usually be the monks and the nuns. So in any Dharma discourse, the majority of the audience would comprise people who more or less have devoted their whole life to the practice of the spiritual path. The monastics usually have more time — even if they are living in the monastery where there are many things to do or they have to run the monastery or carry out various tasks. Even so there would be far less distractions than the household life because they don’t lose the energy otherwise given to close relationships, they don’t need to succeed in a career, they don’t have a social life, they don’t have television, they don’t have to run off to the pubs to be with their friends. They could be very centred. The monastic life is centred around either a study programme or the ritual programme of that monastery.
But nowadays, in the West, this situation is completely reversed; for example, there are no Sangha members here. You are all lay people. That means that you presumably have relationships, you might be married, you might have children, you have your families and parents to whom you are responsible, you have your work, your career and your social life. So how much time do you have left over for study, meditation and for prayers?
This is the difference. This is a very profound difference, because if we present Buddhism as a path of meditation and formal practice — meaning the time when we go to the temple or the Dharma centres, the time when we are actually sitting in meditation, doing our rituals or whatever – if we think that that is practice and the rest of the day is so much waste of time, a hindrance to the practice, then there is no hope. There is no hope because the amount of time which we are able to give to actual formal sitting is too small to effect a real radical change if, for the rest of day, our mind is totally distracted. It’s not much use if we use only half an hour or so a day trying to get our mind together– that wouldn’t be enough. So the traditional way of approaching this matter is not really adequate, and we have to re-look at the whole situation.
I read in a book – so it must be true — of talks and writings given by one very wonderful old lama of the traditional school who died a few years ago. A Westerner said to him, ‘Look Rinpoche, I have a family, I have a career, I have my social responsibilities, so I don’t really have time left over to practice Dharma. What should I do?’ The lama replied, ‘Oh well, never mind. When your children have grown up, you can take early retirement and you can start your practice.’ Truly, I was stunned. I won’t tell you which lama it was. I couldn’t believe that he actually said that. We are confusing the idea of Dharma practice with only formal sitting and retreats and that sort of thing. But in order to really actuate an inner transformation, an inner change, we have to realise that everything which we do, every encounter which we have, every breath which we take, if done with genuine awareness and understanding, is the practice of Dharma. So, we have to understand that far from being an obstacle to our practice, our daily lives, our relationships and our careers, when used skilfully, are the practice.
So what we are dealing with is merging or integrating daily life and the spiritual path, and realising that the two are one if done with sufficient awareness and appreciation. In order to explain this, I use the six paramitas as a kind of basic structure because they include all levels of practice. We will deal first with giving- the idea of generosity,- and ethics. Then we go on to deal with patience, tolerance, enthusiastic effort and perseverance. Finally, we will come to meditation and wisdom.
***
May All Beings Benefit
Sarva Mangalam