Apparently November 2021 was a break so December is month 4 of “The Pāramitā Challenge” (which I previously wrote and spoke on the first three months.)
In addition to contemplating topics about the Pāramitās or Perfections, so far, this challenge also includes precepts, the (10 Abodes from the) 52 Stages of the Bodhisattva Path and Bodhisattva vows.
Instructions are to journal contemplations resulting from observed intentions, opportunities, and actions to be generous, moral and ethical while arousing faith in the Triple Gem then seeing where/when confident and where/when in doubt.
This month includes the Pāramitā on diligence, the Right Speech precept (also doubling as a past Insight Timer live event) and the middle stages of the 10 Abodes from the 52 Stages of the Bodhisattva.
I’ve not taken Bodhisattva vows, and so with little instruction in Mahāyāna Buddhism, apart from maybe a smidgen of the zen stuff, there’s the benefit of beginner’s mind is a nice way to put it. I continue to shoot from the hip in this recording and will use a Theravada lens now and again plus a lot of inquiry as I ponder out loud. It may come off at times as criticism, and sometimes it may actually be, but these are mostly solo efforts at summonings what is really meant by the material.
(Past) material for the Pāramitā Challenge is now at https://maba-usa.org/paramita-challenge.
The Pāramīs in Theravāda Buddhism:
- Dāna pāramī: generosity, giving of oneself
- Sīla pāramī: virtue, morality, ethics, proper conduct
- Nekkhamma pāramī: renunciation
- Paññā pāramī: wisdom, discernment
- Viriya pāramī: energy, diligence, vigour, effort
- Khanti pāramī: patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance
- Sacca pāramī: truthfulness, honesty
- Adhiṭṭhāna pāramī : determination, resolution
- Mettā pāramī: goodwill, friendliness, loving-kindness
- Upekkhā pāramī: equanimity, serenity
The Pāramitās in Mahāyāna Buddhism:
The Prajñapāramitā sūtras (प्रज्ञापारमिता सूत्र), and a large number of other Mahāyāna texts list six perfections and the Ten Stages Sutra gives pāramitās 7 – 10:
- Dāna pāramitā (दान पारमिता): generosity, giving of oneself (in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, 布施波羅蜜; in Tibetan, སྦྱིན་པ sbyin-pa)
- Śīla pāramitā (शील पारमिता): virtue, morality, ethics, discipline, proper conduct (持戒波羅蜜; ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས tshul-khrims)
- Kṣānti pāramitā (क्षांति पारमिता): patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance (忍辱波羅蜜; བཟོད་པ bzod-pa)
- Vīrya pāramitā (वीर्य पारमिता): energy, diligence, vigor, effort (精進波羅蜜; བརྩོན་འགྲུས brtson-’grus)
- Dhyāna pāramitā (ध्यान पारमिता): one-pointed(ness) concentration, contemplation (禪定波羅蜜, བསམ་གཏན bsam-gtan)
- Prajñā pāramitā (प्रज्ञा पारमिता): wisdom, insight (般若波羅蜜; ཤེས་རབ shes-rab)
- Upāya pāramitā (उपाय पारमिता): skillful means (方便波羅蜜）
- Praṇidhāna pāramitā (प्राणिधान पारमिता): vow, resolution, aspiration, determination (願波羅蜜）
- Bala pāramitā (बल पारमिता): spiritual power (力波羅蜜）
- Jñāna pāramitā (ज्ञान पारमिता): knowledge (智波羅蜜）
This month more or less includes slightly edited original notes both for week 4 and for the Insight Timer live event doubling as week 3:
Week 3 — (Also doubled as a “Mindfulness of Speaking” Insight Timer Live event I did with some mostly initial rough notes being:
Event description:
Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? Is it helpful? Is it the right time? We’ll explore these guidelines for wise and skillful speech and share stories, challenges, insights and do some practice
The Ten Non-Virtuous and Ten Virtuous Actions:
The Unwholesome and the Wholesome
Speech:
4. False speech, lying
4. Speak only what is truthful
5. Harsh words
5. Speak with a tone of gentle caring
6. Divisive speech, slander
6. Use harmonious, unifying speech
7. Idle speech, gossip
7. Discuss beneficial topics
58 Bodhisattva Vows:
- 4th — Don’t lie or engage in wrong speech.
From The Brahmā’s Net Sutra:
- Prohibition of Intentional Lying:
My disciples, if you engage in lying on your own, encourage others to lie, or lie through deception, then you are involved in the causes of lying, the conditions of lying, the method of lying, and the act of lying. This also includes saying that one has seen what one has not seen, saying you have not seen something that you have seen, or lying [implicitly] through bodily actions or within one’s own mind. Bodhisattvas always give rise to right speech and right views, and also lead all sentient beings to practice right speech and right views. If, on the other hand, you lead sentient beings to wrong speech, wrong views, and wrong activities, this constitutes a bodhisattva pārājika offense. The fourth major precept prohibits false speech. A disciple of the Buddha must not himself engage in false speech, encourage others to do so, facilitate false speech, nor may he involve himself in the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of false speech, to the extent of saying that he has seen what he has not seen, or that he has never seen what he has actually seen, or lying through physical or mental deeds. A Bodhisattva should always maintain proper speech and proper views and lead all other beings to maintain them as well. If, instead, he causes all beings to give rise to deviant karma, he thereby commits a Bodhisattva Parajika offense.
- This talk puts stuff under a microscope but coming from a place of kindness and care usually supersedes this approach
- millennial texting
- Pain
- Lashing out with speech
- Victim/victimizer cycles
- Shutting down
- my background with this:
more emphasis on how words are spoken than what - kind of abusing power of speech for influence and gain
- not respecting power of speech
- not saying I don’t know, or giving a quick answer as not to appear stupid or not helpful
- forgetting significant key points then remembering later and wondering whether to go back and mention them
- Not so much me clinging to negative speech anymore but me not remembering what I said or overemphasizing something I said where the other (says) they don’t even remember it
- Started off behind the scenes organizing and editing podcasts with little interest to be public myself
- awkwardness of hearing voice recorded
- inferior ego prevented from even considering doing such a thing
- now the spiritual ego has other challenges like balancing as long as there’s no harm intended is it all OK with am feeling too loose so over regulating, self-censoring, or putting speech under a spiritual microscope
- recording dynamics: slow, fast, (no)time limits, relaxation, energy
- um, like, aaah, you know, right, and other shutterings
- Buddha’s guidelines for speech:
- true
- kind
- necessary
- helpful
- unifying
- right time
- (Priority order for these guidelines in general and in certain situations?)
- (What takes priority over these guidelines?)
- saying things that lack other truths thus some statements aren’t really fully accurate, only in one sense
Misc:
- an acquaintance seems in love with hearing their voice and I can’t discern if it is based in egotism
- Mirror teachings. Most fond of what we notice in others is what’s we’ve already addressed in ourselves; and maybe reflect back my own light
- Dominating and foisting unrequested wisdom in real life mostly with groups so thank goodness for online outlets to share wisdom as alternative to compulsion to force something on somebody, or step on their path. This way others can choose. What’s the real life version of this? Speaking events?
- “you need to think a little before talking so much” “yes, i agree, thank you”
- “Why do I need to think before I speak; why can I just talk?”
- Righteousness
- While we do have freedom of speech it carries responsibility.
- Repression versus excessiveness
(Quasi-formal, experimental) speech practices:
- read neutral text with main intention to hear your voice, secondary to what’s going on in your experience. Or read something charged like contract revocations for contrast
“Monks, there are these five aspects of speech by which others may address you: timely or untimely, true or false, affectionate or harsh, beneficial or unbeneficial, with a mind of good-will or with inner hate. Others may address you in a timely way or an untimely way. They may address you with what is true or what is false. They may address you in an affectionate way or a harsh way. They may address you in a beneficial way or an unbeneficial way. They may address you with a mind of good-will or with inner hate. In any event, you should train yourselves: ‘Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic to that person’s welfare, with a mind of good will, and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading him with an awareness imbued with good will and, beginning with him, we will keep pervading the all-encompassing world with an awareness imbued with good will — abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will.’ That’s how you should train yourselves.
“Suppose that a man were to come along carrying a hoe & a basket, saying, ‘I will make this great earth be without earth.’ He would dig here & there, scatter soil here & there, spit here & there, urinate here & there, saying, ‘Be without earth. Be without earth.’ Now, what do you think — would he make this great earth be without earth?”
“No, lord. Why is that? Because this great earth is deep & enormous. It can’t easily be made to be without earth. The man would reap only a share of weariness & disappointment.”
“In the same way, monks, there are these five aspects of speech by which others may address you: timely or untimely, true or false, affectionate or harsh, beneficial or unbeneficial, with a mind of good-will or with inner hate. Others may address you in a timely way or an untimely way. They may address you with what is true or what is false. They may address you in an affectionate way or a harsh way. They may address you in a beneficial way or an unbeneficial way. They may address you with a mind of good-will or with inner hate. In any event, you should train yourselves: ‘Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic to that person’s welfare, with a mind of good will, and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading him with an awareness imbued with good will and, beginning with him, we will keep pervading the all-encompassing world with an awareness imbued with good will equal to the great earth — abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will.’ That’s how you should train yourselves.
Kakacupama Sutta: The Simile of the Saw (excerpt)
- identify challenges with being down on ourselves then just start talking focusing mostly on them. for me: um, like, aaah, you know, right, and other shutterings
- How much do we want to amplify the unskillfulness of any perceived challenges balanced with not denying them?
Week 4
- How about “impending immediacy” [in addition to emptiness, stillness, (light of) presence] for a translation of suññatā / Śūnyatā?
- empty of what?
- only encouraged to study, contemplate and practice emptiness with very stable, gathered, collected and unified mind
- can investigate phenomena by going behind, behind, behind, beyond, beyond, beyond
- [Did not mention in the audio:] what are the similarities and differences between emptiness and 7th formless jhana of nothingness? Between emptiness and voidness?
- Notion of “emptying” referencing a talk on the “Shorter Discourse on Emptiness”
- essence
- unbalance of cart blanche because nothing is really real and substantive, what does it matter. unbalance of the inferior ego of I’m insignificant, less than and futile
- womb
- consider pairing with non-emptiness because with how existence is now how would we know one without the other?
- reference points for emptiness
- some other talks on emptiness (not mentioned in the audio)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajnaparamita
- [Did not mention in the audio:] Fond of “Ever Beyond” (from Ever Beyond radio show) in reference to:
Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
“gone, gone, everyone gone to the other shore, awakening, svaha.”
literally: “Gone gone, gone beyond, gone utterly beyond, Enlightenment hail!” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra
Audio: Pāramitā (Perfections) Challenge: December 2021
Months 1-3, August thru October 2021 of the Pāramitā Challenge
Integrating Presence 
7 thoughts on “Podcast | Multi-month Pāramitā (Attainments/Perfections) Challenge For December 2021”