Search results for: "The Paramis"

  1. Born for the Perfections
    When you ask most Buddhists in Thailand about their practice, they’ll answer either that they’re developing merit or that they’re developing the paramis, the perfections. This applies not only to lay people but also to monks and nuns. Years back, when I was working on The Buddhist Religions, I mentioned this in a description of Buddhism in Southeast Asia: the role … 
  2. Top Priorities
     … This is why determination is one of the paramis—and why the Buddha’s four qualities of determination cover all the paramis. You’ve got to make up your mind this is what you want, and you focus everything on this. It’s like playing chess. You have to be willing to loose some of your pawns and sometimes your knights and sometimes your … 
  3. The Ten Priorities
     … One of these lists of qualities is the paramis. You don’t find them in the suttas, but they’re late in the Canon. Apparently, they were developed after the Jataka tales were added to the Canon. People tried to look around the Jataka tales to see what they could tell us about the path that the Buddha followed on his way to awakening … 
  4. Determined on Goodwill
     … The Pali term *adhitthana, determination, *is one of the paramis, one of the perfections we try to develop. In other words, it’s the element of willpower you put into the practice. You really have to make up your mind that this is what you want to do. This is where you want to go. Of course, once you make up your mind like … 
  5. Determination
     … One of the lists that’s useful to think about is the list of the perfections, the *paramis. *The list doesn’t come in the suttas. It actually comes as a result of gathering together all the Jataka tales that were connected with the Buddha’s previous lives. The compilers were trying to see: What are the qualities that the Buddha developed on his … 
  6. How to Change
     … They liked to focus on the tendency for a lot of people to say, “I don’t have the vasana, I don’t have the character traits, I don’t have the parami, I don’t have the perfections from the past in order to practice.” We here in the West don’t tend to think in those terms, but we think the same … 
  7. The Limits of Old Kamma
     … That’s what the Buddhist teachings about the paramis or the perfections are all about. Even as you go through your everyday responsibilities, you have the opportunity to develop good qualities of mind—patience, persistence, determination, truthfulness. Some of us have a romantic notion about the ideal situation to meditate. You’re off by yourself. No responsibilities at all. Totally free to meditate all … 
  8. End of results