The Six Perfections: An Oral Teaching

by Geshe Sonam Rinchen, Ruth Sonam (Editor)

The Six Perfections of generosity, ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic effort, concentration, and wisdom are practiced by Bodhisattvas who have the supreme intention of attaining enlightenment for the sake of others. These six are perfections because they give rise to complete enlightenment. Practice of them also insures the attainment of an excellent body and mind in the future and even more favorable conditions for effective practice than those we enjoy at present. Generosity leads to the enjoyment of ample resources, ethical discipline gives a good rebirth, patience leads to an attractive appearance and supportive companions, enthusiastic effort endows the ability to complete what is undertaken, fostering concentration makes the mind invulnerable to distraction, and wisdom discriminates between what needs to be cultivated and what must be discarded and leads to greater wisdom in the future.

Genres: Buddhism, Spirituality, Religion, Nonfiction

158 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 1998

Reviews

[Renato Silva]

It's an interesting explanation of the 6 perfections one should practice to find inner piece, balance and fulfillment, to eliminate the need for a ciclic existence. The last chapter, about wisdom, took me months to finish reading: The language was complex, concepts were very confusing, and overall the author keeps on repeating explanations on and on redundantly in many passages, which made me loose motivation for several times. Despite of all this, the book is very interesting, presenting Buddhist wisdom for the common reader, and perhaps it should be revised for lighter and simpler arguments.

[Meredith]

A good filter for a great many thoughts that needed sorting.