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10 pāramīs
6 pāramitās
Colored items are in both lists.

Pāramitā (Sanskrit, Pali) or pāramī (Pāli) is "perfection" or "completeness". While, technically, pāramī and pāramitā are both Pāli terms, Pali literature makes far greater reference to pāramī.


The scholar Donald S. Lopez, Jr. describes the etymology of the term:

The term pāramitā, commonly translated as "perfection," has two etymologies. The first derives it from the word parama, meaning "highest", "most distant", and hence "chief", "primary", "most excellent". Hence, the substantive can be rendered "excellence" or "perfection". This reading is supported by the Madhyāntavibhāga (V.4), where the twelve excellences (parama) are associated with the ten perfections (pāramitā).


A bodhisattva benefitting sentient beings. Palm-leaf manuscript. Nalanda, Bihar, India

Theravāda Buddhism[edit]

Theravada teachings on the pāramīs can be found in late canonical books and post-canonical commentaries.

Canonical sources[edit]

In the Pāli Canon, the Buddhavaṃsa lists the ten perfections (dasa pāramiyo) as:[citation needed]

  1. Dāna pāramī : generosity, giving of oneself
  2. Sīla pāramī : virtue, morality, proper conduct
  3. Nekkhamma pāramī : renunciation
  4. Paññā pāramī : transcendental wisdom, insight
  5. Viriya pāramī : energy, diligence, vigour, effort
  7. Sacca pāramī : truthfulness, honesty
  8. Adhiṭṭhāna pāramī : determination, resolution
  9. Mettā pāramī : loving-kindness
  10. Upekkhā pāramī : equanimity, serenity

Two of the above virtues, mettā and upekkhā, also are brahmavihāras.


The Theravādin teachings on the pāramīs can be found in canonical books (Jataka tales, Apadāna, Buddhavaṃsa, Cariyāpiṭaka) and post-canonical commentaries written to supplement the Pāli Canon at a later time, and thus might not be an original part of the Theravādin teachings.[2][3] The oldest parts of the Sutta Piṭaka (for example, Majjhima Nikāya, Digha Nikāya, Saṃyutta Nikāya and the Aṅguttara Nikāya) do not have any mention of the pāramīs as a category (though they are all mentioned individually).[4]

Some scholars even refer to the teachings of the pāramīs as a semi-Mahāyāna teaching added to the scriptures at a later time in order to appeal to the interests and needs of the lay community and to popularize their religion.[5][6] However, these views rely on the early scholarly presumption of Mahāyāna originating with religious devotion and appeal to laity. More recently, scholars have started to open up early Mahāyāna literature, which is very ascetic and expounds the ideal of the monk's life in the forest.[7] Therefore, the practice of the pāramitās in Buddhism is close to the ideals of the ascetic tradition of the śramaṇa.

Traditional practice[edit]



Mahāyāna Buddhism[edit]

In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Prajñapāramitā sūtras, the Lotus Sutra and a large number of other texts list the six perfections:

  1. Dāna pāramitā: generosity, giving of oneself (in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, 布施波羅蜜; in Tibetan, སབྱིན་པ sbyin-pa)
  2. Śīla pāramitā : virtue, morality, discipline, proper conduct (持戒波羅蜜; ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས tshul-khrims)
  3. Kṣānti pāramitā : patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance (忍辱波羅蜜; བཟོད་པ bzod-pa)
  4. Vīrya pāramitā : energy, diligence, vigor, effort (精進波羅蜜; བརྩོན་འགྲུས brtson-’grus)
  5. Dhyāna pāramitā : one-pointed concentration, contemplation (禪定波羅蜜, བསམ་གཏན bsam-gtan)
  6. Prajñā pāramitā : wisdom, insight (般若波羅蜜; ཤེས་རབ shes-rab)


In the Ten Stages Sutra, four more pāramitās are listed:

7. Upāya pāramitā: skillful means (方便波羅蜜）
8. Praṇidhāna pāramitā: vow, resolution, aspiration, determination (願波羅蜜）
9. Bala pāramitā: spiritual power (力波羅蜜）
10. Jñāna pāramitā: knowledge (智波羅蜜）

Tibetan Buddhism[edit]

According to the perspective of Tibetan Buddhism, Mahāyāna practitioners have the choice of two practice paths: the path of perfection (Sanskrit: pāramitāyāna) or the path of tantra (Sanskrit: tantrayāna), which is the Vajrayāna.



The pure illusory body is said to be endowed with the six perfections (Sanskrit: ṣatpāramitā).[11][12]

See also[edit]



  1. ^ Lopez 1988, p. 21.
  7. ^ "As scholars have moved away from this limited corpus, and have begun to explore a wider range of Mahāyāna sutras, they have stumbled on, and have started to open up, a literature that is often stridently ascetic and heavily engaged in reinventing the forest ideal, an individualistic, antisocial, ascetic ideal that is encapsulated in the apparently resurrected image of "wandering alone like a rhinoceros." Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (2004): p. 494
  9. ^ The passage is translated in Bodhi (1978), p. 314.
  12. ^ Graham Coleman, Thupten Jinpa (ed.), The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition), Penguin Classics ISBN 9781101462287

Works cited[edit]

External links[edit]