(六波羅蜜)
Overview
In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Six Transcendental Practices (Sanskrit ṣaṭ-pāramitā, Chinese 六波羅蜜) form the foundation of the bodhisattva path, the conduct through which one crosses from delusion to awakening.
Zhiyi (智顗, 538–597), founder of the Tiantai school, taught that these six are not merely moral disciplines but modes of perceiving reality.
Each perfection embodies the Threefold Truth of emptiness, provisional existence, and the Middle Way: generosity that transcends giver and receiver, patience grounded in emptiness, and wisdom that sees all acts as mutually inclusive.
For Tiantai practitioners, cultivating the six paramitas is not sequential but simultaneous: every action can reveal all six when undertaken with calm clarity.
The Six Practices Explained
1. Generosity (布施, Dāna)
Generosity begins with giving material support to others but extends far beyond charity. Tiantai masters describe three forms of giving:
- Material giving (food, shelter, medicine)
- Giving of fearlessness (protecting others from harm)
- Giving of Dharma (sharing wisdom that liberates)
When rooted in the insight of emptiness, generosity becomes non-attached giving: offering without expectation, where giver, gift, and recipient are one.
2. Morality (持戒, Śīla)
Morality is not mere adherence to rules but the harmony of behaviour, speech, and thought with the truth.
Saichō, founder of Japanese Tendai, carried Zhiyi’s teaching forward by emphasising the Mahāyāna precepts of the Bodhisattva, which arise from compassion rather than fear of wrongdoing.
In Tiantai understanding, morality (śīla) is dynamic, not restrictive but liberative, supporting meditation and insight while embodying compassion in daily life.
3. Patience (忍辱, Kṣānti)
Patience is the strength to remain unmoved amid suffering, criticism, or difficulty.
Zhiyi interprets this pāramitā as the ability to see through appearances into their empty nature. Anger and insult lose power when seen as transient phenomena.
True patience, then, is not passive endurance but active wisdom, the quiet courage of a mind resting in the Middle.
4. Perseverance (精進, Vīrya)
Perseverance is the energy that sustains practice through both ease and challenge.
Tiantai texts describe vigorous yet balanced effort: applying energy without grasping, striving without agitation. Perseverance is sometimes translated as diligence, but its deeper meaning lies in constancy: the steady flame of aspiration that fuels compassion and insight.
5. Concentration (禪定, Dhyāna)
Concentration refers to meditative stability, the unified focus cultivated through zhǐ-guān (止觀, calming and contemplation). In Tiantai practice, concentration is not withdrawal from the world but seeing reality as it is while remaining unmoved, the still mind within movement.
This pāramitā integrates meditation with morality and wisdom, forming the heart of the Four Samādhis taught by Zhiyi.
6. Wisdom (智慧, Prajñā)
Wisdom is the direct insight into the Threefold Truth: that all phenomena are empty of fixed essence, function provisionally through causes and conditions, and are simultaneously both.
Zhiyi taught that prajñā does not negate the world but illuminates it, perceiving each thought, act, and object as interpenetrating the whole. Thus wisdom is not the final step but the ever-present clarity that informs all other perfections.
Integration in Tiantai Thought
In Tiantai philosophy, the Six Perfections inter-exist in every act.
To give generously is already to exercise patience, morality, and wisdom; to meditate deeply is already to perfect generosity through compassion.
Each pāramitā reflects and contains the others, a practical manifestation of “one thought containing all dharmas” (一念具萬法).
Zhiyi’s synthesis turns moral conduct into a contemplative act and contemplation into moral life. The perfections are not goals but expressions of the awakened mind already present.
Practising the Perfections Today
Modern practitioners can live the pāramitās through small, deliberate acts:
- Generosity: offering attention, time, or kindness without seeking reward
- Morality: making decisions that foster trust and harmony
- Patience: pausing before reacting, recognising shared humanity
- Perseverance: sustaining a daily practice even when enthusiasm wanes
- Concentration: dedicating a few quiet moments each day to stillness
- Wisdom: viewing challenges as transient and opportunities for compassion.
Through such mindfulness, the ancient path of the bodhisattva becomes the rhythm of everyday life.
Conclusion
The Six Transcendental Practices summarise Tiantai Buddhism’s vision of awakening as lived experience.
They are not abstract virtues but active ways of perceiving reality, interwoven through every compassionate act, ethical choice, and meditative breath.
When cultivated with understanding, each perfection reveals all others, and every moment becomes the bridge from delusion to enlightenment.
Recommended Reading
- Mohe Zhiguan (Great Calming and Contemplation)
- Brook A. Ziporyn, Emptiness and Omnipresence
- Paul L. Swanson, Foundations of T’ien-t’ai Philosophy