The idea of paramis to be cultivated as part of the Busshist path is
secure but the fact whether the concept of "paramis" which must be
fully developed was ever meant in the earliest Buddhist discourses is
debatable. Many monks and Buddhist scholars will question that the
Buddha actually specified 6 or 10 paramis as such although the Pali
suttas are full of numerous occasions where the Brahmaviharas are
expounded, as well as khanti, dana and others. It is revealing that
the paramis as such are usually associated with the Jatakas, which
most scholars will not accept as the Buddha's actual teachings but
rather as moral stories aimed at the local, rather unlearned,
unsophisticated Indian peasantry of the time. It is also, as has
been mentioned in an earlier reply, a reaction to distinguish the
Buddha's attainment from that of a normal arahant - part of the
development towards the Mahayana concept of the Bodhisattva path in
contrast to the savaka path [referring to the "Hinayana" vehicle].
Warder's comments in his "Indian Buddhism" may be the most
intelligent when he wrote that in the later development of Buddhism,
the perfections of the Buddha which were MERE DESCRIPTIONS of the
Buddha's supreme qualities at the time of his enlightenment became to
be taken as A PRESCRIPTION for attaining enlightenment, i.e. somthing
which must be perfected in anyone who seeks enlightenment. In the
local Malaysian context, this view of paramis as qualities to be
perfected is accepted by many Buddhists unquestioningly, together
with Jataka tales, which often is not very conducive to a deeper
understanding and further practice of the Theravadan path.

With mettaa,
Cheang oo

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, macdocaz1@... wrote:
> To Mike:
>
> In a message dated 4/29/03 5:25:56 PM, mlnease@... writes:
>
> << suttas at
>
>
> http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/perfections.html
>
>
> From his introduction:
>
>
> In the early centuries after the Buddha's passing away, as Buddhism
became a
>
> popular religion, the idea was formalized that there were three
paths to
>
> awakening to choose from: the path to awakening as a disciple of a
Buddha
>
> (savaka); the path to awakening as a private Buddha (pacceka-
buddha), i.e.,
>
> one who attained awakening on his own but was not able to teach the
path of
>
> practice to others; and the path to awakening as a Rightly Self-
awakened
>
> Buddha (samma sambuddho). The question then arose as to what the
differences
>
> between these three paths might be. All Buddhists agreed that the
third path
>
> took by far the longest to follow, and that it involved extra
perfections
>
> (parami) of character beyond those of the other two paths, but
disagreements
>
> arose as to what those perfections might be. The Theravadins, for
instance,
>
> specified ten perfections, and organized their Jataka collection so
that it
>
> culminated in ten tales, each illustrating one of the perfections.
The
>
> Sarvastivadins, on the other hand, specified six perfections, and
organized
>
> their Jataka collection accordingly.
>
>
> I haven't read this piece and don't recall the paramis
(perfections) all
>
> appearing together (per se) in the canon.
>
>
> Good hunting,
>
>
> mike >>
>
> %%%%%%%%%%
> Jeff:
> Thank-you my good friend Mike, for your fine contribution to this
topic. I
> thought I would list those Ten Perfections as they appear in the
above
> website for easy reference. It is interesting to note that 4 of
these are
> the Bramhaviharas, and there are actually 11 items. It is also
reminiscent
> of the list describing Bodhichita in Mahayana.
>
> The Ten Perfections
>
> 1. Discernment
> Good Will
> 2. Truth
> Virtue
> Persistence
> 3. Relinquishment
> Generosity
> Renunciation
> 4. Calm
> Endurance
> Equanimity
>
> Best to all,
>
> layman Jeff