As we all know, modern developments in medicine are helping us find new methods for overcoming all kinds of diseases. Many machines are also being built constantly for taking care of our needs. Yet a crucial question remains. Are these medicines and machines enough to give us freedom from all suffering and lasting happiness?

Spiritual traditions deal with this question – a way to get beyond all suffering, a way to greater happiness. Shouldn’t we investigate whether there is indeed a technique to do that? What do such techniques have to offer us?

Buddhism as a spiritual tradition ascertains a stage of cessation of suffering - a stage of freedom from every kind of suffering. The Buddha found the path to attain that stage. The Buddha expounded this through his teaching on the Four Noble Truths. This was the first teaching the Buddha delivered after his enlightenment. This teaching reveals the true nature of suffering, its causes, the nature of cessation of suffering, and the path to such liberation. One might choose to practice this path for one’s own liberation. This is known as Sravaka-yana (Hearer’s vehicle). One might also practice the path with an altruistic motivation to uplift every sentient being from the state of suffering. Such a person becomes a practitioner of the Bodhisatva vehicle (Bodhisatva-yana). This is also known as Mahayana (vehicle of higher scope).

The motivation for the Mahayana path comes from love and compassion. Love is the wish to help others in achieving happiness and the causes of happiness. Compassion is the wish to help others in overcoming their suffering and its causes. This love and compassion become the true Mahayana motivation when it is applied in an unbiased way towards all sentient beings.

Having that kind of love and compassion is not good enough to rescue all sentient beings from the prison of samsaric suffering. We can do nothing without the energy or power to accomplish it. How do we get that power? Well, we need to traverse the path to enlightenment. Having traversed the path ourselves, we gain the knowledge to show the way to others. One who is traversing the path to complete awakening for the sake of gaining the power to rescue others is called Bodhisatva. The state of mind of a bodhisatva is bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is the altruistic motivation to gain complete awakening in order to liberate all sentient beings from the prison of samsaric suffering.

How do we get to the stage that gives us the power to rescue others? Well, Mahayana teaching gives us two kinds of instructions that need to go hand in hand. One is the practice to realize the ultimate truth and the other the practice to boost the energy of realization. The former covers the whole idea of selflessness and emptiness (sunyata). This is known as the perfection of wisdom. The latter covers the practice of five remaining perfections. Both the practices should be cultivated side by side.

What are those six perfections? Well, those are (i) perfection of generosity, (ii) perfection of ethical discipline, (iii) perfection of forbearance, (iv) perfection of joyous effort, (v) perfection of concentration and (vi) perfection of the wisdom.

1. As for the perfection of generosity, Lama Je Tsongkhapa, the renowned Yogi-scholar of Tibet records in his ‘Lines of Experience’[1] ,

Generosity is the wish-granting jewel with which you can fulfill the hopes of sentient beings. It is the best weapon for cutting the knot of miserliness. It is the (altruistic) conduct that enhances your self-confidence and undaunted courage. It is the basis for your good reputation to be proclaimed in the ten directions. Knowing this, the wise have devoted themselves to the excellent path of completely giving away their body, belonging and merit. I, the yogi, have practiced just that. You, who also seek liberation, please cultivate yourself in the same way.

2. As for the perfection of ethical discipline ‘Lines of Experience’ reads,

Ethical discipline is the water that washes away the stain of faulty actions. It is the ray of moonlight that cools the scorching heat of the defilements. (It makes you) radiant like Mount Meru in the midst of the nine kinds of being. By its power, you are able to bend all beings (to your good influence) without (recourse to) mesmerizing glares. Knowing this the holy ones safeguarded, as they would their eyes, the precept that they have accepted (to keep) purely. I, the yogi, have practiced just that. You, who also seek liberation, please cultivate yourself in the same way.

3. For the perfection of forbearance ‘Lines of Experience’ reads,

Patience is the best adornment for those tormented by delusions. It is the high-soaring eagle as the enemy of the snake of anger, and the thickest armor against the weapons of abusive language. Knowing this, (the wise) have accustomed themselves in various ways and forms on the armor of supreme patience. I, the yogi, have practiced just that. You, who also seek liberation, please cultivate yourself in the same way.

4. As for the perfection of joyous effort in ‘Lines of Experience’ Lama Tsongkhapa explains,

Once you wear the armor of resolute and irreversible joyous effort, your expertise in the scriptures and insights will increase like the waxing moon. You will make all your actions meaningful (for attaining enlightenment) and will bring whatever you undertake to its intended conclusion. Knowing this, the bodhisatvas have exerted great waves of joyous effort, washing away all laziness. I, the yogi, have practiced just that. You who also seek liberation, please cultivate yourself in the same way.

5. For the perfection of concentration ‘Lines of Experience’ explains,

Meditative concentration is the king wielding power over the mind. If you fix it (on one point), it remains there, immovable like mighty Mount Meru. If you apply it, it can engage fully with any virtuous object. It leads to the great exhilarating bliss of your body and mind being made serviceable. Knowing this, yogis who are proficient have devoted themselves continuously to single-pointed concentration, which overcomes the enemy of mental wandering. I, the yogi, have practiced just that. You, who also seek liberation, please cultivate yourself in the same way.

6. Finally, for the perfection of wisdom ‘Lines of Experience’ explains,

Profound wisdom is the eye with which to behold profound emptiness and the path by which to uproot (fundamental ignorance), the source of cyclic existence. It is the treasure of genius praised in all the scriptural pronouncements and is renowned as the supreme lamp that eliminates the darkness of closed-mindedness. Knowing this, the wise who have wished for liberation have advanced themselves along this path with every effort. I, the yogi, have practiced just that. You, who also seek liberation, please cultivate yourself in the same way.

When elaborated, these six perfections go up to ten by making four more divisions in the last one, the perfection of wisdom. These are perfection of power, perfection of aspiration, perfection of knowing and perfection of method. These ten perfections can be summarized in three ethical disciplines. Namely, the ethical disciplines of refraining from negative action, engaging in positive action and working for the welfare of others.

The person who attains these six perfections not only attains liberation for oneself but also becomes a savior of all living beings. That is the state of perfect and complete enlightenment, all-knower, omniscient being or Buddha. Achieving this state of a fully enlightened Buddha for the benefit of all beings is the goal of a Mahayana practitioner.