Six paramitas

Bodhisattva sangha from the Longchen Nyingtik field of merit

The six paramitas or 'transcendent perfections' (Skt. ṣaṭpāramitā; Tib. ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་དྲུག་, parol tu chinpa druk; Wyl. pha rol tu phyin pa drug) comprise the training of a bodhisattva, which is bodhichitta in action.

1. Generosity (Skt. dāna; Tib. སྦྱིན་པ་, jinpa): to cultivate the attitude of generosity.
2. Discipline (Skt. śīla; Tib. ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་, tsultrim): refraining from harm.
3. Patience (Skt. kṣānti; Tib. བཟོད་པ་, zöpa): the ability not to be perturbed by anything.
4. Diligence (Skt. vīrya; Tib. བརྩོན་འགྲུས་, tsöndrü): to find joy in what is virtuous, positive or wholesome.
5. Meditative concentration (Skt. dhyāna; Tib. བསམ་གཏན་, samten): not to be distracted.
6. Wisdom (Skt. prajñā; Tib. ཤེས་རབ་, sherab): the perfect discrimination of phenomena, all knowable things.

The first five paramitas correspond to the accumulation of merit, and the sixth to the accumulation of wisdom.

Written Sources

Sutras

This section contains Tibetan script. Without proper Tibetan rendering support configured, you may see other symbols instead of Tibetan script.

• Fortunate Aeon Sutra

Shastras

The six paramitas are mentioned and explained in many of the most important Indian sources, such as

• Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend,
• Chandrakirti’s Introduction to the Middle Way and
• Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara.

Further Reading

• Dzogchen Ponlop, Rebel Buddha (Boston: Shambhala, 2010), pages 124-132.
• Geshe Sonam Rinchen, The Six Perfections, translated by Ruth Sonam (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1998)
• Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang, A Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2004), pages 181-219.
• Patrul Rinpoche, The Words of My Perfect Teacher (Boston: Shambhala, Revised edition, 1998), pages 234-261.

Internal Links

• Ten paramitas