Buddhism for Today, p38The fifth of the Six Perfections is meditation, dhyāna in Sanskrit and zenjō in Japanese. Zen means “a quiet mind” or “an unbending spirit,” and jō indicates the state of having a calm, unagitated mind. It is important for us not only to devote ourselves to the practice of the Buddha’s teachings but also to view things thoroughly with a calm mind and to think them over well. Then we can see the true aspect of all things and discover the right way to cope with them.
Tag Archives: 6paramitas
800 Years: The Benefits of Understanding by Faith
Introduction to the Lotus SutraSakyamuni describes the great merit to be gained from taking the first step, “Understanding by Faith in a Single Moment’s Thought.” He says that the merits which Bodhisattvas gain by practicing the five perfections (Paramitas), which consist of generosity, morality, patience, effort, and meditation, are indeed great. However, when compared to the benefits of Understanding by Faith in a Single Moment’s Thought, all those merits are not equal to a hundredth, a thousandth, a hundred thousand myriadth of a koti of the merits for Understanding by Faith in a Single Moment’s Thought. These five perfections are the same as the well-known “Six Perfections,” minus the sixth and culminating one, the Perfection of Wisdom. To have faith in a single moment’s thought when hearing the Buddha’s deepest teaching, even if it is just a tiny bit, is an incomparably precious venture of the heart. Its merit is equal to that of the Perfection Of Wisdom (which it achieves at one stroke). It is equal to the wisdom of the Buddha.
Six Perfections: Assiduity
Buddhism for Today, p37-38The fourth of the Six Perfections is assiduity. This means to proceed straight toward an important target without being distracted by trivial things. We cannot say we are assiduous when our ideas and conduct are impure, even if we devote ourselves to the study and practice of the Buddha’s teachings. Even when we devote ourselves to study and practice, we sometimes do not meet with good results or may even obtain adverse effects, or we may be hindered in our religious practice by others. But such matters are like waves rippling on the surface of the ocean; they are only phantoms, which will disappear when the wind dies down. Therefore, once we have determined to practice the bodhisattva-way, we should advance single-mindedly toward our destination without turning aside. This is assiduity.
Six Perfections: Perseverance
Buddhism for Today, p36-37The third of the Six Perfections is perseverance, a quality that is especially important for people today. Śākyamuni Buddha was endowed with all the virtues and became the Buddha through his constant practice. Although it is a sin against him to emphasize only one of his virtues, the greatest virtue of the Buddha as a man seems to have been his generosity. No matter what biography of Śākyamuni Buddha we read or which of the sutras, we find that nowhere is it recorded that the Buddha ever became angry. However severely he was persecuted and however coldly his disciples turned against him and departed from him, he was always sympathetic and compassionate.
If I were asked to explain with a single phrase the character of Śākyamuni Buddha as a man, I would answer without hesitation, “A person of perfect generosity.” Therefore, I think that there is no action that makes Śākyamuni Buddha more sorrowful than when we become angry about something and reproach others or when we blame others for our own wrongs. Above all else, we should refrain from such actions toward each other. Perseverance is, in short, generosity. As we persevere in the practice of the bodhisattvas, we cease to become angry or reproachful toward others, or toward anything in the universe. We are apt to complain about the weather when it rains and to grumble about the dust when we have a spell of fine weather. However, when through perseverance we attain a calm and untroubled mind, we become thankful for both the rain and the sun. Then our minds become free from changes in our circumstances.
When we advance further, we come not only to have no feeling of anger and hatred toward those who hurt, insult, or betray us but even to wish actively to help them. On the other hand, we should not be swayed by flattery or praise of the good we may do but should quietly reflect on our conduct. We should not feel superior to others but should maintain a modest attitude when everything goes smoothly. All these attitudes come from perseverance. This mental state is the highest point of the practice of perseverance. Even though we cannot attain such a state of mind immediately, we can attain an attitude of compassion toward those who cause difficulties for us sooner than we expect. We ought to advance at least to this level. If this kind of perseverance were practiced by people throughout the world, this alone would establish peace and make mankind immeasurably happier.
Six Perfections: Precepts
Buddhism for Today, p36The practice of keeping the precepts is the second of the Six Perfections. This teaches us that we cannot truly save others unless we remove our own illusions through the precepts given by the Buddha, and that we should perfect ourselves by living an upright life. However, we must not think that we cannot guide others just because we are not perfect ourselves. We cannot improve ourselves if we shut ourselves off from others in our efforts to live correctly. A major point of keeping the precepts is to render service to others. The more we do for others, the more we can elevate ourselves, and the more we elevate ourselves, the more we can render service to others. Each reinforces the other.
800 Years: Perfections in the Spinning Top
Lotus SeedsOne way to illustrate the Nichiren practice is through the analogy of a top. Just as a top spins on a single point, when we take faith in Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, it becomes the central point upon which our lives turn. If the point of the top remains steady, then the top will not wobble and can continue spinning. Similarly, if we consistently practice Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, our lives will manifest the Six Perfections – generosity, discipline, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom – which describe a way of life that is strong and centered.
Six Perfections: Donation
Buddhism for Today, p35-36[The Six Perfections] doctrine teaches us the six kinds of practice that bodhisattvas should follow to attain enlightenment. The Six Perfections are donation (fuse), keeping the precepts (jikai), perseverance (ninniku), assiduity (shōjin), meditation (zenjo), and wisdom (chie).
A bodhisattva is a person who, unlike the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha, wishes not only to extinguish his own illusions but to save others, as well. Therefore, the doctrine of the Six Perfections has the salvation of all living beings as its aim.
The practice of donation comes first in this doctrine. There are three kinds of donation: donating material goods, donating the Law, and donating fearlessness (the body). The first means to give others money or goods. The second refers to teaching others rightly. And the third means to remove the anxieties or sufferings of others through one’s own effort. There is no one who is unable to perform some form of donation. No matter how impoverished one is, he should be able to give alms to those who are worse off than he or to support a public work with however small a donation, if he has the will to do so. Even if there is someone who absolutely cannot afford to do so, he can be useful to others and to society by offering his services. A person who has knowledge or wisdom in some field should be able to teach others or guide them even if he has no money or is physically handicapped. Even a person of humble circumstances can perform donation of the Law. To speak of his own experiences to others can be his donation of the Law. Even to teach others a recipe or how to knit, for example, can be a way to donate the Law.
It is essential that we be useful to others by practicing these three kinds of donation within the limits of our ability. Needless to say, nothing can be better for us than to practice all three. The fact that donation is the first of the practices of the bodhisattva is highly significant.
On the Journey to the Other Shore
Higan is a seven-day period that happens three days before and three days after the Spring and Fall Equinox. During this period Buddhists are asked to consciously reflect upon themselves and their deeds in relation to the Six Paramitas, the perfections in behavior that make up the Bodhisattva practice. The three days before the Equinox and the three days after focus on each of these perfections. On the day of the Equinox, a ceremony his held honoring one’s ancestors and loved ones who have passed away.
This year the Equinox occurs on Sunday, March 20. Last year, I devoted the entire month of March and September to the topic. This year, since I’m already in the midst of my 800 Years of Faith project, I am going to post a single quote on the three days before and after the Equinox. For March, I’ve decided to use Nikkyō Niwano’s definition of the perfections found Buddhism for Today.
Perfecting Wisdom
Prajñāpāramitā means “perfection of wisdom.” It is the last of the six perfections: generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom. These are the virtues to be cultivated in religious training by bodhisattvas. The first five are seen as expedient means for perfecting wisdom, which is the final goal. Perfecting wisdom means understanding śūnyatā or “emptiness.” The word emptiness itself means “absence” or that “there is not (something).” In Buddhism the concept means having “no self-nature,” in other words, lacking an inherent essence. Emptiness was emphasized as an object of meditation in the “three gateways to liberation” meditation method along with nirābhāsa, “signlessness” and apraṇidhāna, “wishlessness.” The Vimalakīrti Sūtra, named for its main character, Vimalakīrti, also spoke to this concept of emptiness.
History and Teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, p 40Energy: Universal
Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, p 171Buddhists claim (1) that everything is change, and this flux is without beginning or end, (2) that all things arise and pass away dependent on the force of energy surging forth from other things, which themselves were similarly generated, ad infinitum, and (3) that therefore there is “no-self” or essential unchanging core to anything, since all things are temporary formations of energies that are simply passing through their current states.
No traditional metaphysical system, whether religious or philosophical, comes as close to prefiguring modern physics as the Buddhist one. Contemporary physics works out of an understanding of energy as the generator of all things. Energy is thought to take a broad range of forms – from nuclear energy, gravitational energy, electrical energy, heat energy, chemical energy, kinetic energy, elastic energy, radiant energy, to mass energy. We are told, by no less a source than Albert Einstein, that matter is energy – that the two are essentially interchangeable. The various theories of creation in contemporary physics all point to the energy required to give rise to the universe. The leading theory – the Big Bang – sees the cosmos resulting from a primordial explosion of energy that is still expanding into increasing complexity. Nevertheless, we are told, the amount of energy in the universe is constant. It never changes, even though the forms it takes are constantly changing. The energy of an exploding star is the same as that of a boulder tumbling down a mountain, which is the same as that stored in a carrot, released in the spin of Einstein’s mind or the play of a small child.