Prajñāpāramitā - perfection of wisdom

We’ve probably heard or used phrases like, “that’s just who they are, it’s their personality”. As if personality were some kind of fixed package of behavioural traits we were born with. What if we did the same for ourselves? “I’m British, French, American, Latino, Mediterranean, a man, a woman, tall, short; it’s just how we all behave”. 

It’s an easy trap to fall into and behavioural patterns can become deeply ingrained as we go through life. However, under close examination, it becomes apparent that our traits are not a set menu we will repeatedly act out during for our entire existence. We certainly adopt many traits from the people we spend time with; our parents, friends, social groups and even nations but we’re under no obligation to behave as others around us do. 

Awakening the understanding that all phenomena are in fact empty of any solidity or everlasting nature is the essence of Prajñāpāramitā, the ‘perfection of wisdom’ in Mahayana Buddhism. This emptiness or ‘sunyata’, doesn’t mean that nothing exists but that no ‘thing’ has any kind of fixed essence or unchanging self-nature. Looking deeply we see that in fact, everything in the universe is interdependent - things come together and things fall apart, again and again, and again.

A sign that we’re cultivating prajna (wisdom) and understanding is a decrease in the frequency of our afflictive emotions and misperceptions and the power they have over us. We become more able to respond positively to challenging or stressful situations and will feel more in control and peaceful. If we choose to we can certainly change our traits and the way we respond to what’s going on around us - in their book The Science of Meditation: How to Change Your Brain, Mind and Body, Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson explain how this happens. 

It takes effort and concentration but when it comes to the nature of our minds, like everything else, nothing is fixed or unchangeable.

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Virya Paramita - gardening the mind with diligence, perseverance and energetic joy

Not everyone is into gardening, nor is everyone fortunate enough to have a garden. But, we humans have consciousness - and if we choose to we can practise cultivating a beautiful mind with the same enthusiastic joy we might invest in our garden.

Like a gardener’s seed store, in the depths of our store consciousness we have a whole array of wonderful seeds, waiting to be sown. But this selection doesn’t just include lovely looking examples of fauna - there are also a whole selection of nasty weeds, if allowed to grow the type that could give us backache after hours spent pulling them out only to watch them re-grow.

These seeds in our store consciousness are a mixture of negative mind activity - fear, anger and ignorance and positive mental activity - understanding, compassion and forgiveness. Many of the seeds that exist in our store consciousness have been handed down from our parents, guardians, society and ancestors. 

To ensure our mind doesn’t end up as a garden of weeds, one whose angry stinging nettles hurt others we need to practice the same diligence as an expert gardener. We need to cultivate and water the positive ones so we can bring happiness to the upper levels of consciousness, as we strengthen these positive seeds we can bring more joy to those around us. The negative seeds must be watched carefully, if we see them starting to grow we must avoid watering them so they wilt and don’t take hold of us.

In relating to others we can take the same approach - we can notice when negativity starts to arise and do our best to prevent it. We can also encourage positivity and seek to provide the conditions for it to arise and remain.

The best opportunity to practise diligence is perhaps when conditions are particularly challenging and we’re faced with the frequent arising of our negative thought patterns and emotions. We can learn to be grateful for testing times and the opportunity to practise that they present.

This gardening of the mind should be carried out with energetic joy, diligence and perseverance. The seeds are there - it’s our job to cultivate those that will lead to happiness.

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Kshanti paramita - Patience/inclusivity

Just imagine if only moments after waking and feeling happy our mood immediately switched because someone we live with said or did something we didn’t like. Toilet seat up/down, wrong music playing, tea too hot or cereal not milky enough. 

What if all our interactions with the world around us were only a whisker away from setting us off, making us frustrated or angry. Perhaps we find ourselves saying our pet hates are slow walkers, drivers that don’t indicate or aren’t keeping to the speed limit. Maybe we even retaliate - raising our voice, dishing out insults and beeping our horns.

Is this behaviour necessary? Perhaps it’s ‘just who we are’, part of our personality, constantly saying things like, “I just don’t have the patience for this”, or, “that person is so frustrating”.

Patience can be considered to be inclusivity. The more inclusive we are, the more understanding of all the funny things that can happen to us and all the strange ways that other people behave, the greater our capacity will be to be patient with everything that goes on around us. When we’re open to all experiences without forcefully imposing our own desires on them we may very quickly find that our own state of mind is peaceful and steady and that this inner state transforms the outer situations we face.

The analogy of a cup of salty water sums up inclusivity or patience pretty well. The cup represents our capacity to love others. The salt, all the stuff that causes us to get irritated. If we have a small cup it won’t take long before we’re screwing up our faces and spitting out the salty water. However, if we have a massive body of fresh water, like one of the Great Lakes in Canada, we can chuck a load of salt in but because of the enormous capacity, we’re unlikely to even notice the saltiness.

Expand the heart, expand the mind, be open, be kind, love unconditionally.

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