Seeds of Happiness Taught by Shakyamuni Buddha
Question
Shakyamuni Buddha condensed all good deeds into six categories called “The Six Paramitas”.
Write all the six.
Answer
Giving (Kindness)
Discipline (Keeping promises)
Forbearance (Patience)
Diligence (Effort)
Contemplation (Self-reflection)
Wisdom (Self-cultivation)
Explanation
There are various good deeds taught in Buddhism, and all of them are seeds of happiness. If you perform good deeds, you will earn happiness. If we were told to do countless good deeds, we might get overwhelmed and have difficulty choosing or knowing where to begin.
When we go shopping for clothes, for example, sometimes it is hard to choose an item we like from hundreds of clothes. However, if a store clerk comes and picks a few up for us to choose from, it will then become easy for us to make a decision.
This is the same reason why Shakyamuni Buddha summarized all the various good deeds for us into the Six Paramitas. These are giving, discipline, forbearance, diligence, contemplation, and wisdom. Giving means doing kindness to others. Discipline means to match our actions with our words no matter what. Forbearance is to exercise patience when enduring hardships and not forgetting to smile. Diligence means to make effort many times that of others. Self-reflection means to calm the mind and reflect on our behavior. Wisdom is to put the various good deeds into practice.
Buddhism encourages us to choose whichever of these six good deeds we feel we can practice and focus on it. If we practice even one of the Six Paramitas to the best of our ability, we will end up carrying out all of them, so let’s try to put this into practice as often as possible.
Material Wealth is Treasure for One Lifetime; the Dharma is Treasure for All Eternity.
The first of the six good deeds is giving, which means to contribute with kindness. There are two kinds of giving: material giving and Dharma giving. Material giving means giving your money or possessions to help others and bring them joy.
When it comes to material giving, it is very important to give to others because you feel you want to help and you want to make others happy from the bottom of your heart. Furthermore, if you feel you are losing something when you give to others, it is because you do not understand the law of cause and effect.
No one would look at a farmer planting seeds in a field and think, “What an idiot, throwing seeds away in a place like that!” That’s because undoubtedly once the seed germinates and grows to produce its fruit, all the harvest will go to the farmer.
Source: The Buddhist Village Times #62 | 2016, Seeds of Happiness Taught by Shakyamuni Buddha
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