#paramitas

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All tied together!

[onemindzen]

“Explanation-style teaching is not enough, some kind of demonstration is necessary.” - Seung Sahn

As Buddhists in general and Zen practitioners in particular, we try to spread the Dharma wherever possible. Sometimes we do it through words, sometimes through silence, and optimally through our actions. We try to leave greed, hatred, and delusion out, and bring generosity, love, and wisdom in, without proselytizing or preaching. Although it’s not always obvious or straightforward how we do that. 

Not every situation is the same. Likewise, no relationships are identical, and may change constantly. That being the case, can a single response realistically always be considered the correct one? It would be easy to say that generosity is always welcome, always helpful, always appropriate. But if a child were starving, would giving them a rubber ball for breakfast be generous? Would giving a basketball player a sandwich and expecting to see a fast break really be practicing the perfection of generosity? If someone’s wife just died, is pointing out the Buddhist teaching of no birth/no death be correct function? Would offering candy to a child who’s a stranger? None of these examples are necessarily bad actions, but they all reflect a certain tone-deafness regarding the situation and relationship.

We face challenges about what correct response—correct function—should be many times every day. If we aren’t paying attention—being mindful—and sensing the nuances in a given situation, we can very easily just do a shallow “Buddhist” response. Even the Buddha wasn’t all hugs all the time:

“….Ananda said to the Blessed One, "This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie."

"Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life….” (Upaddha Sutta)

In the Sutra in 42 sections, the Buddha said, “Giving food to a hundred bad people is not as good as giving food to a single good person,” meaning that not all dana is appropriate dana, or correct function. Through our pride, we might think to ourselves, “I’m so great, I just donated all this food to all these people,” but that isn’t as meritorious or wholesome as supporting even one person who helps all beings find their True Nature. Even within the realm of “saving all beings,” there are priorities. Sustaining one who will do the work of the Bodhisattva is more beneficial to all beings in the long run than randomly performing self-congratulatory acts that only help people who only spread greed, hatred, and delusion. Even this, however, is subject to paying attention to situation, relationship, and function. There are the King Ashokas, who start out evil and become good, and conversely Devadatta, who does the opposite. On the surface, generosity to Devadatta would seem more appropriate, but that may turn out to be a grave error. Even the Zen stick, a punch, or a twist of the nose may have skillful function…depending on situation and relationship.

The first of the Perfections (Paramitas) is generosity, or dāna-pāramitā); followed by morality (śīla-pāramitā); perseverance (kṣānti-pāramitā); vigor (vīrya-pāramitā), meditative concentration (dhyāna-pāramitā); and wisdom (prajñā-pāramitā). They are known as the Practice of Perfections, that’s to say that they are ongoing like our Zen practice. (Think of the phrase “Practice makes perfect,” but without ever achieving total perfection). They Practice of the perfections is how we perform correct function, skillfully adapting to situations and relationships from moment to moment, and always returning to the same simple point: “How may I help you?”

Haengdal Citta gave the Dharma talk June 26, 2024

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The Paramis: How to Gain Energy by Playing Cards

Energy is the fourth of the 6 Paramis. So, what does it have to do with learning Bridge?

The six Paramis–generosity, virtue, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom–take seconds to read and a lifetime or more to master. So, this blog offers an introduction to them, or perhaps a reminder that they are there to be practiced, contemplated, and shared. https://bit.ly/3esQMsX

[tsultrimpawo]

"Paramita practice is based on human decency, and how to be in the world and help others who are suffering. . . . Paramita practice is the essence of how to be a bodhisattva. A bodhisattva is someone who is brave, and utterly and thoroughly involved in the discipline taught by the Buddha. Bodhisattvas are ideally soaked in the water of helping others in every way."

- Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume Two

[acaringcounselor]

I don’t know who wrote this...it is wise and words that speak truth. Patience can be with anger...not pushing it away nor getting consumed by it...it os the soulmate of compassion 🙏❤️#patienceinthefaceofchallenges #equanimity #compassion #paramitas #khanti #freedomfromsuffering #wiseattention https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq9nIICnEHB/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=f8q26kv23yfd

[tsultrimpawo]

OVERCOMING AGGRESSION The Buddhist meaning of patience is freedom from aggression, and the main obstacle to patience is anger. According to the sutras, there is no greater evil than aggression, and there is no greater practice than patience. You may have attained a level of generosity and discipline, but if you cannot be without aggression, you have not achieved the paramita of patience. Aggression is the most dangerous emotion, because it does not allow any form of gentleness. One instant of aggression can destroy your connection with the world, including your dedication to the relative and absolute bodhichitta principles. If you want to kill your dharmic connection, a moment’s aggression is your best weapon. It has been said in the scriptures that one moment of aggression will destroy aeons and aeons of virtue. Aggression is absolutely terrible; it is anti-mahayana. Passion, lust, and desire may have qualities of neurosis, and they may destroy your mindfulness and awareness, but at the same time they have the nature of acceptance. However, aggression is based on total rejection, whether it is aggression toward yourself or aggression toward other sentient beings. When you recognize your ego-orientation or your indulgence in aggression, there is a tendency to punish yourself. However, patience is not based on punishing yourself. Patience means that you wait a minute; you wait and see what happens. It means not coming to conclusions too quickly. Just because you have indulged, you should not panic. Just wait. Be patient. The paramita of patience continues the pattern of alternating shamatha and vipashyana through the paramitas. That is, the first paramita, generosity, is connected with shamatha; the second paramita, discipline, is connected with vipashyana; and with the third paramita, we are back to shamatha. Patience is the way to quell the heat of aggression by following the way of shamatha tranquillity and peacefulness—but it is a highly advanced level of shamatha discipline. As we go on to higher and higher levels of paramitas, the standard of shamatha and vipashyana escalates, so the paramita of patience involves a higher level of shamatha than the paramita of generosity. The sequence of the paramitas is significant. Generosity is the stripping-off process, and discipline is remaining in the loneliness. Having gone through those two processes, we find our situation unbearable, as if we were being beaten by hundreds of people. All kinds of pain come up in our life, not as the result of punishment but as the result of being generous and disciplined. We actually invite pain by being alone and keeping our discipline. We are like an owl in the daylight, physically and psychically attacked from all directions by visible and invisible forces. The paramita of patience means not getting resentful about that. When you have anger and resentment, however disciplined or generous you might be, you are not actually that enlightened. When you have a burst of aggression, it makes everything dry and terribly unproductive. You may have cultivated the soil, sowed the seeds, and watered the ground beautifully, but aggression destroys the whole thing. When you are angry, you reject both other people and yourself. At that point, you have no connection with the dharma at all. When you lose your temper, you are so furious that you couldn’t care less about the sacredness of anything. You couldn’t care less about yourself, or the other person, or your teacher, or your path. But if you reverse the logic, when somebody is angry with you and you are patient with that person, you are creating a thousand kalpas1 of merit on the spot. When somebody is angry, that is your chance to be patient. You could breathe in the anger, and not only that, you could project goodness. But if you get angry in turn, you lose it. One of the best things about patience is that it is very sharp and clear. It speaks for itself. Anger is anger, and patience is patience. They are very sharply divided, and that distinction should be properly understood. However, patience is not based on suppressing anger. At times aggression may be legitimate, such as when others are doing something wrong and you lose your temper in order to stop them. At other times aggression is not legitimate, such as when you are simply unable to cope with a situation and become impatient. But basically, it is not appropriate to apply anger unless you are in the role of teacher. When you are teaching somebody how to behave or you are helping others, some form of anger may be necessary. Anger may be obvious or subtle, but whether you are expressing anger in subtle or obvious ways, the point is to get rid of the anger at the first possibility. Any method that quells aggression is valid. You might even need to manifest your anger first, if that helps, and develop patience afterward. You don’t have to be genteel about the whole thing. Overcoming aggression is not simply based on the moralistic approach of saying that you have been bad, so you had better be good. You develop patience and forbearance in order to maintain a quality of continual virtue. Such virtue is based on the idea of basic goodness and the sense that you are a worthy person, a healthy person. You are able to develop basic goodness, and you have the potential to attain enlightenment and eventually be a buddha. - Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, "The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion: The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume Two"

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Shantideva on the first 5 Perfections

In “Way of the Bodhisattva” Shantideva starts going through the six perfections, our method for practicing the bodhisattva path. This section is only going to be about the first five. The sixth perfection, the Perfection of Wisdom, is something we will be saving for later. The teaching of the Six Paramitas was created early in the history of Mahayana Buddhism. Paramita is usually translated as…

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The Six Perfections

The six perfections are: generosity, virtue, patience, diligence, concentration, and wisdom.   The Perfection of Generosity The perfection of generosity represents more than just giving material things. Obviously, it does represent giving money or items to the needy. It also represents giving your time, things like helping a friend move or spending time comforting someone who is suffering from a…

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