076. DIFFERENT TRADITIONS
In the Mahayana tradition there are six paramitas: generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation and wisdom. In the Theravada tradition there are ten: meditation is not included, and renunciation, truthfulness, resolution, loving kindness and equanimity are added.
077. THE PERFECTIONS
The paramitas, or perfections, are the skills for living that lead to freedom and happiness. Cultivating them is fundamental to practice. Each paramita is demonstrated by the Buddha in one of his past lives, which are retold in tales known as the Jatakas.
078. THE IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICE
“All those who live in the practice of the ten right ways of behaviour thereby get nearer to enlightenment.”
THE MAHAVASTU
079. JUST-SO STORIES
The Jataka stories are more than 500 tales, first written down in Pali in the 3rd century BCE. They are a mixture of fable and folklore and are about the lives of Buddha’s previous incarnations. Each story has a moral and demonstrates the practice of one of the paramitas, which lead eventually to full Buddhahood.