The Paramis: An Introduction to the Ten Perfections

This essay is based on a talk given at Prescott Insight Meditation by Carol Russell on January 6, 2026.

Once upon a time, an immeasurably long time ago, an ascetic named Sumedho heard that an awakened Buddha named Dipankara was teaching in a nearby village. When Sumedho arrived, he saw a procession of people honoring this enlightened being. He glimpsed Dipankara Buddha and was immediately moved by his ‘noble bearing.’ 

In that moment, Sumedho realized that to become enlightened would be of benefit to the world and he made a vow on the spot to become a Buddha in a future life. And it’s important to note here that he made a vow not just for himself, but for all beings – the Boddhisatva vow. The Boddhisatva vow – to work for the liberation of all beings – is emphasized in the Mahayana tradition, but according to some scholars, has roots in the Theravadan as well.

There was Sumedha on the street – struck by this great being before him. Seeing Dipankara Buddha about to walk through a mud puddle, Sumedho threw himself into the mud so that Dipankara and his sangha could walk over his body rather than get their feet dirty. As the great teacher passed the prone Sumedho, he read Sumedho’s thoughts and aspiration to become a Buddha, and predicted this vow would be realized at ‘a time four incalculables and a hundred thousand eons in the future.’ 

Sumedho traveled back to his cave and wondered. ‘How can I make this vast journey? What aspects of the mind and heart do I need to develop in order to become a Buddha?’ He saw there were ten wholesome qualities that he would need to develop:

Generosity (Dana), Ethics (Sila), Renunciation (Nekkhamma), Wisdom (Pañña), Energy (Viriya), Patience (Khanti), Truthfulness (Sacca), Determination (Adhitthana), Loving-kindness (Metta), and Equanimity (Upekkha)

He then began the journey of innumerable lifetimes to develop the perfections of heart and mind that finally unfolded in his full enlightenment as Gotama Buddha under the bodhi tree in Northern India more than 2500 years ago. 


This is a beautiful parable about the origins of the paramis and how the Buddha made the Ten Paramis a part of his practice over many lifetimes. This story appears in the Sutta Pitaka, which is viewed by scholars to be later additions to the Pali Canon.

One scholar writes that although the Buddha spoke often about these ten qualities, they don’t appear as a list of paramis in the texts that are believed to be the words of the Buddha. And yet, from the early years of Buddhism, the paramis were considered essential elements of the path. It appears likely the list was created by people a few hundred years after the Buddha as they pondered the question, what aspects of the heart and mind will help me make this journey to awakening? 

In the Mahayana branch of Buddhism there are six paramis – often called the paramitas. The paramitas are considered the center of the Mahayana path, even the entire path. Shantideva wrote a classic text about the paramis as an entire path in the 8th c called Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way. This text is beloved by the Dalai Lama, who wrote a commentary on it called A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night.

I find it helpful to have a bit of this history and background of the paramis to deepen my understanding of the importance of these teachings.

Paramis is often translated as perfections, natural qualities that can be cultivated and developed by each of us. These ten perfections are potentials that everyone has.

There are, of course, many lists in Buddhism. These lists can be useful for ‘describing some aspect of the ecology of the heart‑mind,’ as Gil Fronsdal says. There are the Seven Factors of Awakening, for instance, which I like to think of as a map of the factors that arise and are developed in meditation as we mature spiritually. 

The same goes for the Ten Paramis, except that they have the added benefit that we can cultivate them in both our formal practice and everyday life. Maybe meditation isn’t part of your practice. That’s okay. We can readily develop the Buddhist path by fostering generosity, ethics, patience, renunciation, truthfulness, and loving-kindness in our time off the cushion, bringing more wholesome action into our everyday interactions.


One way I like thinking of the paramis is as virtues.
Wikipedia: "A virtue is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is valued as an end purpose of life or a foundational principle of being."
These ten qualities reflect the goodness  all humans are capable of and are a worthy foundation on which to build a life.

But there’s a way in which the ten perfections seem to reach beyond virtues. The paramis are rooted in both compassion and liberation, compassion and care for the world, and liberation from the greed, aversion, and ignorance of the unawakened mind. And I can see as I study and practice these marvelous qualities, how a virtuous trait becomes a perfection when compassion and liberation are woven through. Remember that: compassion and liberation. How do we become more compassionate and incline toward freedom? These paramis can be the standard for our life, the touchstone we orient our life around.


The paramis are often thought of in terms of a progression, one succeeds the other, as we are developing an inner ecosystem that allows wholesome qualities to grow. Let’s take a tour through the succession of the paramis.

The paramis begin with generosity (dana). Generosity is the foundation for the remaining nine paramis. We talk a lot about dana here, don’t we? We often talk about dana in relationship to support, whether it’s support for the sangha, the teachers, or our spring retreat. Dana is the act of generosity, a very profound way of being in the world. 

Generosity is relational, communal, acting for others or for the world. It’s a heart quality that knows abundance. We’re generous because we care, and have you noticed how being generous opens your heart? When we cultivate generosity, we cultivate an open and caring heart.

When I remember that the paramis are rooted in both compassion and liberation, I can see how generosity helps me learn to act from my care for others and to loosen my compulsion to hold on – to hold on to what I think is mine: possessions, treasure, self-image, a point of view. 

This leads into the second parami, ethics (sila). This is also relational and practiced in community. Buddhist ethics is about non-harming and relates to the five precepts: don’t kill, don’t take anything that isn’t freely given (don’t steal), don’t cause harm through sexual misconduct, don’t lie, and don’t intoxicate your mind so that you are unwise. I think it’s easy to see how non-harming is rooted in compassion, our care for others. And the liberative quality of ethics lies in releasing the clinging that leads us to cause harm. These two paramis, generosity and ethics, are about our connections with others.

The third perfection is renunciation (nekkhamma). This is the natural restraint that comes as a stance of non-harming takes root in my heart and mind. Another translation of nekkhamma I’ve read is ‘going forth freely.’ As I practice generosity and I take care to live more ethically, it becomes clearer how I might be causing myself and others harm by clinging. Maybe it’s clinging to a self-image I try to uphold or a grudge against someone. I begin to see that it doesn’t feel good to try to maintain it. And I renounce that clinging in order to go forth more freely. I can sense the wisdom in lightening my grip on what I cling to.

And so, wisdom (pañña) is the fourth parami. I begin to learn, from my own experience, the goodness of seeing how the dynamic of holding on causes me stress. Maybe it’s just a glimpse, but it opens a door to an understanding about the dhamma, about life, about goodness, a door I want to step through again and again. I feel energized and motivated to practice in this way.

That energy points to the fifth perfection, viriya, often translated as energy. Gil Frondal translates as courageous effort, wise effort. It takes courage to walk this path. It takes courage to be willing to see myself as I am, the good things and the warts, all of it. As Gil says, "And rather than being discouraged, by now you have enough experience, you know this is part of the richness." Another way to look at this parami, that Tuere Sala offers, is that it is the energy that keeps me going on the path in spite of living in a world that offers little support for living a generous, ethical, restrained, and wise life. Viriya pulls me along the path.

The path also takes patience (khanti), the sixth parami. I like thinking of courageous effort and patience going together, because this path is challenging and has its ups and downs. And the results of my efforts are out of my hands. I put in the effort as best I can, and what comes of it is not up to me. And so, it behooves me to be patient, to be kind to myself and to let go of expecting any predictable outcome. There are those two ubiquitous qualities: compassion and liberation. This is not a gritting-my-teeth-kind of patience, but rather a willingness to be still with what are called the vicissitudes of life, the changing fortunes that come to all of us.

It seems quite natural that as I am patiently staying present with how things are, that allows me to be truthful with myself. Truthfulness, (sacca), is the seventh parami. To be willing to see the truth about myself is itself a compassionate and freeing thing to do.

The eighth parami is determination or resolve to continue on (adhitthana). Gil Fronsdal calls this ‘taking a stand.’   This is what I want my life to be about. I want these qualities, generosity, ethics, healthy renunciation, wisdom, courageous effort, patience, and truthfulness, I want these to be the lodestar of my life, my guiding light. I am resolved to make this my foundation. 

With that commitment to living the perfections to the best of my ability, to practice not only for myself but for the benefit of others, it feels good, it feels connecting, and from that my kindness naturally flourishes. That is the ninth parami, loving-kindness (metta). Becoming a kind person. Nurturing the inner capacity to love the world no matter what — what Tuere Sala calls ‘the ability to be intimate with the upside of life and the downside.’

And finally, equanimity (upekkha) is the tenth parami. Nine beautiful qualities have been cultivated and that results in this potent mind/heart state of balance, where it’s possible to see myself and the world in all its beauty and its pain, and not be reactive, not contract, rather to stay open, clear, free, and holding a deep compassion for all the suffering in the world.


You might wonder, how can I relate to these qualities? Here I offer some attitudes that I bring to this study and practice:

• As heart qualities worthy of my attentiveness. As Tuere Sala says, we can’t liberate our minds without a stout and open heart.
• Precious gems to protect in my heart, not allow to scatter in a culture that often does not value these ways of being. 
• Beauty. Aspirations for my practice that bring more beauty into my life. 
• Sacred. Sacred qualities that I have great respect for and wish to nurture in my life. 
• Reverence. Related to something greater than I am.

An excellent reason addressing why we might wish to study and practice the Ten Paramis came from Tuere Sala. The unawakened mind, she says, is uncomfortable with the unknown, the unfamiliar. It likes to know what is happening; it likes certainty about who everybody is and what is happening. It will force you to live in a smaller and smaller world, to stay in the known, the familiar. But the world we live in is uncertain; it is an unknown and mysterious world. The heart has no problem with that. The paramis will train the heart and mind to remain open, to abide and flourish with whatever comes in this uncertain and beautiful life.


We will be talking in depth about each of these paramis over the next ten weeks. How might you enter into this study?

One way you can participate is to come each week and listen to each talk, allowing each parami to soak in. You’ll receive what you need to hear.

On the other hand (and this is what we’d like to encourage) is after the Tuesday talk, you can resolve to take a parami on each week and practice it in your life, make it yours, see what you learn about yourself. Think about it, put post-it notes on your bathroom mirror and your refrigerator to remind you. Talk to one another during the week. Take it out into the world. 

Then at the next sangha meeting you can share what you learned the previous week. We will make space for this sharing each week. Over the weeks, you can experience how the ten paramis progress from one to the next. We encourage you to take this on as a thoughtful study in your own life.

I hope you get a sense of what an incredible teaching this is, with a potential to transform your life. It doesn’t have to be all of these qualities in this order, but it can be very valuable to explore and be curious about the possibility of cultivating our hearts and minds in daily life, just as Sumedho did once upon a time, pondering the question, what aspects of the heart and mind will help me make this journey to awakening?