Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

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ihrjordan
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Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by ihrjordan »

Exactly as the title says, more specifically though did he teach all ten, less than that? More? I've read from a couple sources (In which I can't reference from memory) that he either didn't teach them at all or he taught less and that they vary from tradition. If so which did he actually teach?
Bakmoon
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by Bakmoon »

As far as I know the only places in the Canon itself where the Paramis are presented is implicitly in the Jatakas and the Cariyapitika, which are stories of the Buddha's previous lives that describe how he developed the Paramis, but they don't explicitly define and explain the Paramis like they are in the commentarial literature.

According to modern textual criticism these texts are later than the earlier texts in the Canon.
The non-doing of any evil,
The performance of what's skillful,
The cleansing of one's own mind:
This is the Buddhas' teaching.
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Sam Vara
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by Sam Vara »

I don't think they were taught by the Buddha as a "set", but more as individual qualities that were labelled as parami after his death.

This is from Ajahn Sucitto's book Parami:
The reason why this set was put together, some years after the
Buddha’s passing away, seems to have been that Buddhists
speculated on why this one person arose in the world who
surpassed all others in the depth and range of his wisdom. Many
of his disciples developed qualities that the Buddha manifested,
and also crossed over to the Other Shore, but none came close to
the Buddha in terms of depth, range and versatility in presenting
Dhamma. And, unlike his disciples, he realized the Path without a
teacher. So people reckoned that this unique person must have
inherited a huge stock of strengths and virtues in the process of
many lifetimes
http://forestsanghapublications.org/ass ... Parami.pdf
santa100
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by santa100 »

Details on the 10 paramis are available at Ven. Nyanatiloka's Buddhist Dictionary. He wrote:
These qualities were developed and brought to maturity by the Bodhisatta in his past existences, and his way of practising them is illustrated in many of the Birth Stories (Jātaka), of which, however, only the verses are regarded as canonical. Apart from the latter, the 10 pāramī are mentioned in only two other canonical works which are probably apocryphal, the Buddhavamsa (in the Story of Sumedha) and the Cariyapitaka. A long and methodical exposition of the pāramī is given in the concluding Miscellaneous Section (pakinnakakathā) of the Com. to Cariyapitaka
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mikenz66
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by mikenz66 »

Sam Vara wrote:I don't think they were taught by the Buddha as a "set", but more as individual qualities that were labelled as parami after his death.

This is from Ajahn Sucitto's book Parami:
....
http://forestsanghapublications.org/ass ... Parami.pdf
That looks like a nice book, Sam, with lot's of practical advice. Clearly the Buddha taught these as important qualities for development, even if he did not collect them together as a group:
  • Generosity — Dāna
    Morality — Sīla
    Renunciation — Nekkhamma
    Discernment or Wisdom — Paññā
    Energy — Viriya
    Patience — Khanti
    Truthfulness — Sacca
    Resolve — Adhitthāna
    Kindness — Mettā
    Equanimity — Upekkhā
:anjali:
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ihrjordan
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by ihrjordan »

I'm familiar with those ten, but why are there only 6 in most Mahayana circles? And are there any commentaries or post canonical works detailing how to master each and how you know they're mastered? I don't plan on becoming a buddha... I'm just curious
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fig tree
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by fig tree »

A Treatise on the Paramis (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... el409.html) says that some combined pairs of paramis to get just six. I also understand that one of them is sometimes broken up, producing a different list of ten.

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Dhammanando
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by Dhammanando »

ihrjordan wrote:And are there any commentaries or post canonical works detailing how to master each and how you know they're mastered?
A Treatise on the Paramis

A Manual of the Excellent Man
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

The link did eventually load the book.

They didn't seek my permission to host my PDF file as far as I know, and I rarely give it. Every page of my web site says this in the footer:
© You may print any of these books for your own use. However, all rights are reserved. You may not use any of the site content on your own website, nor for commercial distribution. To publish the books, permission must be sought from the appropriate copyright owners. If you post an extract on a forum, post a link to the appropriate page. Please do not link directly to PDF, MP3, or ZIP files.
I prefer not to let others distribute my books, because if I find any errors, and later make corrections, these sites will never update their copies. The copy on their site is dated 07/12/2010, 11:51:49 and was produced from PagePlus X5. The copy on my own site is dated 03/08/2013, 10:25:11 and was produced from PagePlus X7.

Readers should be directed to my own pages:

Try A Manual of the Excellent Man: Chapter One
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Dhammanando
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by Dhammanando »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote:Readers should be directed to my own pages:

Try A Manual of the Excellent Man: Chapter One
Thanks for the notice, bhante; I'll bear it in mind on future occasions. On this occasion I had just posted the first link that Google came up with.
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
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ihrjordan
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Re: Did the Buddha teach the paramis?

Post by ihrjordan »

Thank you everyone for the information :anjali:
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