Cultivating the Way: The Six Paramitas

Learning Outcome 1

How can we become more generous? More ethical? More patient? More energetic? More concentrated? More wise? And what does any of that have to do with Zen? Join Jiryu and the San Francisco Zen Center for this online course. Zen teaches clearly that when we let go of everything we think we are, and everything we think the world is, our basic Buddha Nature can shine and function freely. If we just get out of the way, this basic nature will respond spontaneously and appropriately to whatever arises, harmonizing with and bringing benefit to all beings. There is also in Buddhism a vital and complementary teaching that our ancient and unhelpful habits of body, speech, and mind can’t just be sidestepped in a “letting go” that fails to really face and wrestle with our deep greed, hatred, and delusion. There is long, careful cultivation that we must undertake if we are to achieve true maturity in the Buddhist sense. Right at this intersection of sudden and gradual, of perfect spontaneous enlightenment and the slow cultivation of virtue, lie the teaching of the paramitas, or perfections – the virtues that go beyond virtue. In this online course, we will explore and consider together how to cultivate the six paramitas (generosity, discipline, patience, energy, concentration, and wisdom), drawing inspiration from Zen and broader Buddhist teaching as well as from our own lives and practice.