Simple reminder.

 

The Six Perfections (Paramitas)

These core practices form the foundation of a bodhisattva's daily life and spiritual progression:

• Generosity: Giving material gifts, teachings, and fearlessness to others to overcome personal attachment and greed.
• Ethical Conduct (Morality): Living a virtuous life, respecting the rights of all living beings, and refraining from harmful actions of body, speech, and mind.
• Patience: Maintaining tolerance, calmness, and understanding in the face of adversity, harm, or difficult situations.
• Joyous Effort (Diligence): Steadfastly and enthusiastically engaging in virtuous actions without laziness or discouragement.
• Meditative Concentration: Focusing the mind to develop inner calm, stability, and the mental clarity needed to benefit others.
• Wisdom: Realizing ultimate truths, such as the nature of emptiness and interconnectedness, to guide oneself and others out of delusion.

The Four All-Embracing Virtues

To engage with and help others effectively, bodhisattvas also develop four altruistic social acts: 

• Generosity: Giving people what they need, both materially and spiritually.
• Kind Speech: Offering gentle, encouraging, and truthful words that uplift others.
• Beneficial Action: Helping others overcome difficulties by guiding them on the proper path.
• Cooperation: Embodying what you preach and working alongside others to reach common, positive goals.

 

The Bodhisattva Ideal:
Five Rare Powers
Roshi Joan Halifax

Creations are numberless, I vow to free them
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to transform them
Reality is boundless, I vow to perceive it
The Awakened Way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it
(The Four Great Vows of the Bodhisattvas)

 

For as long as space remains
and as long as beings remain,
may I too remain
to end the sorrows in this world

Shantideva