I’ve been doing a series of Dharma talks on the six paramitas. The six paramitas are:

• Generosity

• Ethical behavior/Virtue

• Patience

• Effort

• Concentration/Meditation

• Wisdom

Last week I talked about generosity this week I’d like to talk about the paramita of virtue. Paramita is usually translated as “perfection” but a literal translation is “to carry across.” Because it is believed that practicing and actualizing these will carry us across the vast ocean of suffering - to the other side - which is enlightenment.

Practicing Buddhism is on a very fundamental level is about not harming self or others through body, speech or mind. When we formally take refuge vows, part of this vow has what are called “commitments of restriction” and part of that is vowing to do you best not to harm others.

So the question then might become - what do you mean by “harming others?” The answer to this question is in a wonderful story from the Jewish tradition. There is a story about a Roman who encountered a Rabbi and said he would convert to Judaism if he (the Rabbi) could explain the entire Torah while standing on one foot. It is said the Rabbi stood on one foot and said, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Now go and study it.”

The Five Precepts as given by the Buddha are all also designed to keep us from harming self or others. They are to abstain from: killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct, or intoxicants. You could boil these down to just one rule and that is just “don’t harm others.” In Buddhism there is great emphasis placed on a Sanskrit word known as “ahimsa” which translated means non-harming.

For most of us keeping these precepts in a general sense are not too difficult. You may be saying to yourself, “Well, I don’t kill, steal, lie (or at least not too often), commit sexual misconduct, or over indulge in liquor or take drugs.” However, on a subtler level we do harm self or others in all kinds of small ways through our body, speech or mind - very frequently - every week - possibly every day. For example, when we get angry at someone whether it is our spouse or a co-worker and we raise our voice or yell - that is considered wrong speech. Wrong speech is not only lies, but it includes, gossip, slander and harsh speech. Why is this wrong? Because it not only harms the person it is directed to, but it also harms us too by disturbing our mind. We can’t be at peace or happy if we are so upset we are yelling at someone.

Sexual misconduct for laypersons means being faithful to our partner in other words not committing adultery. Again, if you are unfaithful it harms everyone involved, our partner, the other person and ourselves.

Without practicing mindfulness in our lives it is so easy for us to harm self or others through body, speech or mind. We so often react to life’s situation in knee-jerk sorts of ways. Someone cuts us off on the freeway and what do we do? We yell at them or call them bad names. And we often do the same with family or friends.

It is through meditation that we develop the kind of mindfulness so that we can see how the result of our non-virtuous activity causes suffering. When we practice mindfulness we stop going through life unconsciously harming self or others through our actions.

As with generosity and patience, virtue or ethical behavior is traditionally divided into several types:

1. Restraint: This has to do with not committing non-virtuous activities. In other words not breaking the precepts - especially if you have taken the lay ordination vows.

2. Accumulating virtue: You accumulate virtue by making offerings to the Three Jewels, performing prostrations, doing tonglen practice for the benefit of others, studying the dharma, and adhering to the precepts. Accumulating virtue, therefore, is like charging your spiritual batteries.

The following Zen story illustrates the value in practicing virtue. It is said there was a Zen Master, a devotee of Zen in Japan, who decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to be printed with wood blocks in an edition of seven thousand copies, a tremendous undertaking.

The Zen Master began by traveling and collecting donations for this purpose. A few sympathizers would give him a hundred pieces of gold, but most of the time he received only small coins. He thanked each donor with equal gratitude. After ten years he had enough money to begin his task.

It happened that at that time the Uji River overflowed. Famine followed. The Zen Master took the funds he had collected for the books and spent them to save others from starvation. Then he began again his work of collecting.

Several years afterwards an epidemic spread over the country. Zen Master again gave away what he had collected, to help his people.

For a third time he started his work, and after twenty years his wish was fulfilled. The printing blocks which produced the first edition of sutras can be seen today in the Obaku monastery in Kyoto.

People would compliment the Zen Master on the beautiful sutra he printed, but he would comment that, “Yes, but you should have seen the first two sets - they far surpassed even the last.

1. Benefiting others: Benefiting others is the whole purpose of developing bodhichitta. In daily life, you have so many opportunities to help people around you that listing them all here is simply impossible. In brief, they include everything you do with your body, speech, and mind that’s directed toward the welfare of others.

So in the coming week I want you to think about the paramita of virtue. Try to cultivate mindfulness in all you do - so that you stop reacting in knee-jerk sorts of ways. When someone annoys you - stop for a moment, and think about them as a sentient being just like yourself - stuck in suffering - doing the best they can.

No matter what job you have - you can think about performing it with virtue - that is being of help to others. You can perform the work of a Bodhisattva (enlightened being) no matter what job you do. Remember practicing the paramita of virtue is all about not harming others through body, speech or mind. I want you to work on that in the next week. Cultivate mindfulness in all you do.

Next week I will discuss the paramita of “patience.”