Virtues
Six Perfections
A Mahāyāna Buddhist path of generosity, ethical conduct, patience, diligence, meditation and wisdom.
- Tradition or school
- Buddhism
- Framework type
- Virtues
- Authority classification
- Traditional
- Observance
- Mixed requirements
- Research status
- Identified for research
- Origin period
- Developed in early Mahāyāna Buddhist literature
- Origin region
- South Asia
- Attributed origin
- Mahāyāna sūtra and bodhisattva traditions
- Intended audience
- Bodhisattva practitioners, with wider ethical application
- Published constituent items
- 6
- Last reviewed
- 28 June 2026
Names and terminology
Alternative names: Six Pāramitās
Original name: षट्पारमिता
Transliteration: Ṣaṭpāramitā
Primary texts and authority
Mahāyāna sūtras and treatises describing the pāramitās as qualities perfected on the bodhisattva path.
Rules, principles or steps
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Generosity
Give resources, protection, knowledge or time in ways that genuinely help.
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Ethical conduct
Avoid harmful conduct and cultivate responsible behaviour.
-
Patience
Respond to difficulty without hatred, while retaining boundaries and justice.
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Diligence
Sustain constructive effort rather than surrendering to apathy.
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Meditative concentration
Train attention and mental stability.
-
Wisdom
Understand reality critically and reduce ignorance and attachment.
Historical development
Lists of six became standard in many Mahāyāna traditions, while some texts expand them to ten.
Variations
Translations and ordering vary, and some schools distinguish ordinary virtues from their perfection through wisdom and bodhicitta.
Traditional interpretation
The six are practised for awakening and the benefit of sentient beings rather than personal merit alone.
Controversies and disputes
Patience and generosity can be misused when they are interpreted as requiring submission to abuse or irresponsible giving.
Truth By Reason analysis
The framework usefully combines care for others, disciplined action, mental training and critical understanding. Each virtue still requires judgment about consequences and power.
Ethical themes
Sources
- The Dhāraṇī of the Essence of the Six Perfections Mainstream secondary source