Determination and Resolve – The Eighth Perfection

This essay is based on a talk by Carol Russell on March 3, 2026

Tonight, we are continuing our series of the ten paramis, the ten noble qualities we are encouraged to develop, ten qualities that have both liberating and compassionate elements.

When I was working as a drafter in an architecture firm, I decided I wanted to become an architect. I didn’t want to leave Prescott to go to a university. At that time, you could still apprentice in architecture, put in your eight years, and then sit for the professional licensing exams. 

When I was accepted to sit for the exams, which were four days long and offered only once a year in June, I wanted to be as prepared as I could be. I knew that the passing rate was somewhere around 50 percent. Daunting odds, especially for someone who had a deep training in the real-life work of architecture, but hadn’t benefited from a formal education. Plus, I didn’t want to have to sit for the exams more than once.

I resolved that I would spend every free hour from January 1st until the exams in June preparing for the exams. So, evenings and weekends were spent studying and deepening my understanding of subjects that would be covered in the exams. Except for Sunday, May 25, 1986 when I went to I-17 and held hands with a line of people in the Hands Across America event – remember that? - I did stick with my plan.

In thinking about this subject of resolve, I can recall the internal sense of it, energetically and emotionally, what it felt like to commit with grit to something I really cared about. I imagine you can think of sometime in your life when you made up your mind to do something and you stuck with it. What is a word or two that describes the quality of that feeling?

We could think of resolve and determination as aspiration plus follow-through. We see something we want in our life (aspiration) and we commit to following through. 

The pali word for the eighth parami is adhitthana, the unshakable determination to engage in actions that lead to freedom and benefit others. 

How about that word ‘unshakable?’ Do we have to be perfect in our resolve? Daisaku Ikeda says, ‘Even if you have the tendency to make a determination but only stick to it for two or three days, it is OK as long as you keep refreshing that determination.’ What do you think of that? Sounds like to this teacher wavering on our follow-through is to be expected, as long as we keep renewing our commitment. It’s like we are determined to be determined, and can expect our determination to become steadier as we continue to stick to it. 

Adhitthana isn’t about meeting an obligation; it’s not meant to be a burden; it’s not harsh and exacting. Sure, it can be challenging to stick with a commitment we make to ourselves, we will cover that shortly. Adhitthana can have an expansive element; it opens us to new inner territory. There can be a devotional quality to it, the personal satisfaction of living up to an inner pledge, even at times an ardency to making our aspiration manifest in our life. Like Kenn said about patience, resolve has a dignity to it, a strength.

Do you find there are times when it is hard to follow through?  I sure do. Unless I’m resolved to follow through on something, I can get pulled off and distracted. There are always other things that come up in life to get my attention. Resolve and determination are ways to sift through the constant pulls on my attention and energy and stay on track or return to my intention. Resolve helps me be clear and overcome obstacles: I am going to do this because it is important to me, in spite of what others and society may say. 

And I am talking especially about practice – whether meditation, ethical living, or kindness. Sometimes it can be quite challenging to keep showing up day after day, let alone over a lifetime. Aspects of practice can be difficult and it take determination to overcome the hard stuff and follow through. What’s helpful for me to remember is that all of the paramis both support the practice and they grow out of the practice. Resolve supports me in showing up for my practice and resolve is itself strengthened by my practice. It is circular. Practicing demonstrates quite clearly the benefits in my life, which deepens my resolve to keep practicing. 

Gil Fronsdal says in his early years, he made up for a lack of natural ability to develop concentration by a tremendous sense of resolve. The paramis are all important and support one another, but if you have a natural strength in one or two, you can rely on those to intentionally develop the rest, as well as deeper meditative qualities.

Awakening doesn’t just happen to us; it is something we have to make up our mind that we want and resolve to go in that direction.

Remembering also that we can be resolved on many things, but resolve becomes a parami when it is connected to our path of liberation and it supports compassion. So, we are focused on the quality of resolve as it touches the heart of Buddhist teachings: as a vehicle and a support for freedom and for bringing compassion in the world.

Already it might be apparent that the other paramis we’ve talked about are weaving in to our understanding of resolve and determination: 

Renunciation, wisdom, energy (effort), patience. We likely have to give something up to put our energy into what we are determined to do – not as a deprivation, but as a way of gathering our attention and effort. Wisdom will be essential in guiding our efforts. Certainly, patience is required to work toward a goal that might take a long time to unfold, whether it is six months or the rest of our lives.

There is a story in the Canon in which the Buddha gives a teaching on the four skilled determinations: A person of the Way, he says, is diligent about discernment, or right view (wisdom); guards truthfulness; is devoted to renunciation; and trains in tranquility. Someone who understands these teachings “is free from longing…[and is] said to be a sage at peace.” 


I am sure many of us have been following the monks who have completed their 120-day 2300-mile Walk for Peace from Texas to Washington DC. I saw an interview with Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara who was asked what it meant that so many people came out to see them and cheer them on. He said it was overwhelming to have so much support and that expression of support told him that walking with a message of peace was the right thing to do. 

Isn’t that a beautiful example of resolve? When I heard these words, I was moved by the commitment of these monks to bring this peace message to the people they met. It wasn’t easy in the face of cold weather, protestors, even a serious accident, but they kept going. 

It is fascinating to wonder what draws millions of people to follow the Walk for Peace? Is it the monks’ steadfast devotion to their message of peace and compassion? Does it remind us of our own heart’s longing for peace and unity in a time of profound division? Are we moved by their determination and courage? If you look at some of the video, you can see in the mindful way they walked, step by step, how they were embodying their message of peace in their very actions, how they stayed true to their vow. 

Another thing Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara said is that there were people who said hateful things, people who were protesting the Walk. But this didn’t deter the monks, because their goal was to bring the message of peace to all people. ‘We just focus on that message,’ he said, ‘and not let anything else out there bother us. Peace with a condition, that is not peace. It will not last. So, in any condition we will be able to stay calm and cool and patient, that is when peace begins, that is the real peace.’

Woah, this really touches me, because this is the heart of Buddhist teachings. To be at peace without conditions. 

To not say: I can be at peace if only that person didn’t say that thing to me. I can be at peace when I get myself together. Yeah, once things work smoothly, then I will be peaceful. Sure, I can be peaceful, but first I have this list of requirements that must be met.

Buddhism is so radical, because it turns that on its head. It says, ‘Today is going to be my peaceful day,’ which is what Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara suggests we write down first thing every morning. ‘’Today is going to be my peaceful day." 
I am resolved to be peaceful – or compassionate or kind or mindful or truthful or patient - and then I put no conditions on that aspiration. I am resolved to be peaceful. I am determined to meet life as it is – outer circumstance and inner reactivity - and remain peaceful. This, I feel, is a profound message of resolve. No conditions.

Uncertainty is the nature of life. These times may feel especially ungrounded for many of us. Some things we’ve counted on may seem shakier than they used to. 

Ajahn Succito says, 'My sense and practice then is to not fill up the gap or gloss over it, to not pass through it, but to rise to meet that groundless space. If the heart can open in equanimity towards that, there’s also an opening to compassion, joy and a deep appreciation of the gift that each human being carries. We’re both alone and on the same blank page at the same time.’

It takes determination and courage to be willing to meet life face to face in the way he is describing. It is radical to drop the negotiations with life and resolve to be present with both the sweetness and sorrow of existence, to be present with the wildly imperfect and breathtakingly beautiful humanity of ourselves and our fellow humans, those we agree with and those we disagree with, as we stand and act for peace and for kindness, toward ourselves and all beings. 

As Pema Chödrön writes, ‘To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. From the awakened point of view, that’s life.’

Rising to meet the groundless space. How are you resolved to meet these times? How can you lean into your practice of awakening and bring compassion into the world for the benefit of all? What are you determined to bring to the world around you?

Our practice is not separate from the world’s healing. It is at the center of it.

-------

May the merit of our time together generate resolve for peace for all beings everywhere.