Knowra Six Perfections Six Perfections The Six Perfections are generosity, ethical discipline, patience, effort, meditation, and wisdom cultivated by bodhisattvas to attain awakening for the benefit of all beings.
Dāna : Generosity: giving material aid, protection, or teachings without attachment to reward. The first perfection trains bodhisattvas to give without clinging.
Bodhicitta : The aspiration to attain awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. This motivation gives the six practices their bodhisattva orientation.
Prajñāpāramitā : A Mahāyāna body of texts and teachings centered on the perfection of wisdom. These texts develop wisdom as the culmination and guide of the other perfections.
Śrāvakayāna : A path oriented toward liberation as an arhat through hearing and practicing the Buddha’s teaching. The bodhisattva perfections distinguish a path aimed at universal awakening from arhatship.
Śīla : Ethical discipline: conduct guided by precepts and the intention to avoid harm. The second perfection gives generosity a framework of non-harming conduct.
Emptiness : The absence of independent, permanent existence in phenomena. Wisdom understands giving, giver, and recipient as empty of inherent existence.
Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra : An early Prajñāpāramitā scripture, known as the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines. It presents bodhisattva practice and the perfections in an influential early form.
Four Brahmavihārās : The four immeasurable attitudes of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. These qualities overlap with the perfections but form a distinct meditation framework.
Kṣānti : Patience: the capacity to endure hardship, insults, and difficult truths without anger. The third perfection meets adversity without abandoning compassion.
Skillful Means : The adaptable use of teachings and actions to help beings according to their needs. Compassionate methods apply the perfections appropriately to different circumstances.
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