To Understand Buddhism - The Paramita of Wisdom

The Paramita of Wisdom

The Sixth Paramita is intuitive wisdom. We apply it in our daily lives, as we learn the Bo" dhisattva way. We know everything around us but we do not cling to it as we do our best to help others. Why? This act of helping others originates from the thought and practice of This is like a person naturally using the left hand to brush away a mosquito that is biting the right hand. Would the left hand ask why it should help the right hand? Of course not. They are part of the same body.

Today, we have temporarily lost our self-nature, not knowing that all beings and we are one entity. So we discriminate between others and ourselves becoming perplexed and obsessed, spreading confusion, committing wrongdoings and thus bringing sufferings to oth" ers and ourselves. The Buddha taught us how to break through delusion so that we would awaken to the truth that helping others is helping ourselves. Such a heart of compassion is unconditional because it originates from understanding of  Unconditional compassion for all others as we are all one entity .

In conclusion, everything has its own methods and continuity. This is abiding by the precepts. With endurance and perseverance we will have patience. To specialize without indolence is diligence. To be master of our mind and not to be swayed by external condi" tion is concentration. To thoroughly understand all phenomena is wisdom. Therefore, the Buddha taught us to adopt the Six Paramitas of giving, abiding by the precepts, patience, diligence, deep concentration and wisdom into our daily lives. In this way we will be practic" ing the Bodhisattva way. It is a mistake to think that once we have accepted the Bodhisat" tva precepts, we will automatically become a Bodhisattva. If we are ignorant of the Six Pa" ramitas and thus cannot apply them, then even if we have accepted the Bodhisattva pre" cepts, we will be no more than clay Bodhisattvas.


The Ten Great Vows of Universal Worthy Bodhisattva

Principles of Harmony, the Three Learnings and the Six Paramitas will we truly be a student of the Buddha and be close to Bodhisattvas. Based on the foundation of the Six Paramitas, we can progress to the next level of our practice, which is comprised of the Ten Great Vows of Universal Worthy Bodhisattva. These vows were taught to us by the Buddha in the Flower Adornment Sutra. This is the last stage of our cultivation leading to Buddhahood. We cannot practice the Six Paramitas and advance to the Ten Great Vows until we have fulfilled the first four guidelines. The main characteristic of Universal Worthy Bodhisattva is an immeasurably broad and compassionate heart. Every one of his vows is complete and perfect.