..續本文上一頁 the practice of the six paramitas. The first is generosity which means giving. There is giving to those who are worse off than oneself such as the poor, needy, and hungry. Then there is giving to those who are better off than oneself which means offering them the three jewels. These are the two main areas of generosity of the bodhisattva. When giving to those who are worse off, what is important is compassion and when giving to those who are better off what is important is faith, devotion, and confidence. So when one gives to the poor, one relieves their poverty and hunger temporarily because of compassion.

　　When one makes offerings to the three jewels, one makes an expression of devotion. If one never gives to those worse off, then compassion isn”t there and it is not complete. In the same way, if one doesn”t make offerings to the three jewels, then one”s faith, confidence and appreciation in the meaning of the three jewels isn”t quite right either. So offerings are a very important sign of what is going on in terms of compassion and devotion. Beside cultivating love, compassion, and devotion, the bodhisattva also has to actually practice the paramita of generosity.

　　The second paramita is moral or virtuous conduct. The very essence of virtuous conduct is that through love and compassion one does not directly harm other beings. If one has love and compassion and yet harms other beings, it is a sign that one”s love and compassion isn”t really there. So, if one is loving and compassionate, one must really never harm other beings. This is the bodhisattva”s approach to love and compassion. Therefore virtuous conduct is mainly concerned with the discipline of practicing right conduct with one”s body and speech so that one doesn”t hurt others directly or indirectly.

　　Generosity and virtuous conduct depend mainly on oneself. If one makes an effort to be loving and compassionate, it is relatively easy to develop generosity. Also, if one is loving and compassionate, it is relatively easy to maintain high moral conduct because this depends mainly on working with oneself.

　　The third paramita deals with something more difficult. It deals with how we react to situations arising from others, particularly what we do in the face of physical and verbal aggression from others. This is the paramita of forbearance, often called patience, which is remaining loving and compassionate in the face of aggression. The training of patience is the training of keeping one”s love and compassion in the face of those difficulties which come from other people. So if our love and compassion is incredibly stable, when others hit us, no matter how much they hurt us physically, we never reply in a like manner. Our only response is one of love, compassion, and understanding.

　　In order to practice generosity, virtuous conduct, and patience in the face of difficulties, one needs the fourth paramita of diligence to implement the first three paramitas and make them increase and become even more powerful factors in our life.

　　Diligence doesn”t mean some terrible drudge or difficult effort. Rather it is very joyful, meaningful, and vital. If one really thinks something has benefit, one values it, and one will do it very joyfully and out of this there is an automatic flow of diligence and industry. If one thinks something is not very important, then one will think it is a drag and a bore and one will do a little bit and then become lazy and stop. Later one may try to do a little bit more and stop again because of laziness.

　　Diligence means to practice without falling under the influence of laziness and practicing because one realizes the tremendous value of that practice. Once one has gained an insight into its value, effortlessly there will be joy and keenness to get on wi…

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