Essentials 2.4 Summary of the first 3 Paramitas

The six perfections, or “transcendental perfections” are found in both foundational texts such as the Pali Buddhavaṃsa and in Mahayana teachings. The prior lives of the Buddha, the Jataka tales, also describe the path of a Bodhisattva, or buddha-to-be, as one who engages in these practices.
According to the Tibetan etymology, the Sanskrit word pāramitā can be divided into the syllables pāra and mita. Pāra means “beyond”, or “the further bank or shore” and mita, “that which has arrived,” or ita, “that which goes.” In this interpretation, pāramitā means “that which has gone beyond,” or “transcendent.” The Tibetan translation parol tu chinpa reflects that understanding.
On the Mahayana path, these are considered to be the core trainings in the bodhichitta of application and are to be practiced in daily life situations as well as in meditation sessions. The Prajñapāramitā (Perfection of Widom sutras) and a number of other Mahayana texts list six perfections:
Dāna pāramitā: generosity or giving (Tibetan, སྦྱིན་པ jinpa)
Śīla pāramitā: ethics, virtue, morality, discipline, proper action or conduct (Tibetan ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས tsultrim)
Kṣānti pāramitā: patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance (Tibetan བཟོད་པ zöpa)
Vīrya pāramitā: joyful diligence, vigour, effort (Tibetan བརྩོན་འགྲུས tsöndrü)
Dhyāna pāramitā: one-pointed concentration, non-distraction, contemplation (Tibetan བསམ་གཏན samten)
Prajñā pāramitā: wisdom, discernment, insight (Tibetan ཤེས་རབ sherab)
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