The Six Pāramitās

The Joyous Entrance to the Path to Liberation

How to Practise the Six Transcendent Perfections

by Rongtön Sheja Künrig

To the guru and the supreme deity, I pay homage!

Like a boat for crossing the vast sea of existence,
The single path which is travelled by all the buddhas,
And which leads to Joyous and the other bhūmis:
The way to practise the six perfections, I shall reveal.

Generosity helps us to avoid the preta realm,
To alleviate poverty, and guide other beings.
It brings about inexhaustible resources,
And the vast riches of happiness and wellbeing.

Discipline protects from the sufferings of lower realms,
And takes us far from the states that lack opportunity,
It perfectly brings about all the qualities of freedom,
And immaculate control over body, speech and mind.

Patience overcomes the hatred that propels us
Towards the lower realms; it brings us sanctity,
Leads us to gain a captivating, noble form, and
To take up the excellent, delightful path to liberation.

Diligence increases our capacity for virtue,
And makes it easier to reach states of awakening.
It causes us to accumulate merit and wisdom,
And to perfect all qualities without exception.

Concentration subdues movement and agitation.
With the qualities of patience, it counteracts confusion.
It produces the bases of miraculous ability,
And qualities of vision and higher perception.

Wisdom brings understanding of emptiness,
And full transcendence of the three realms.
It dispels entirely the darkness of the twin veils,
And causes primordial insight to develop in full.

Discipline, concentration and wisdom—
As the "three trainings" these are known.
The view, meditation and action too are here,
As are the accumulations of merit and wisdom.

The first five—generosity and the rest—are means,
While the sixth is the aspect of wisdom itself.
Means and wisdom, therefore, are here complete.

The seven bodhi-branches and eightfold noble path—
They too are perfectly included within these six,
As are the ten bodhisattva bhūmis, it is said.
When each of these is utterly pure, devoid of
The three conceptual spheres, action is unsurpassed.

This is the single path taken by all the buddhas,
And proclaimed by the victorious ones in their teachings.
Among the Three Jewels, this is the Jewel of Dharma.
And this is the Truth of the Path as well.

Through whatever virtues this praise might bring,
May the two accumulations be flawlessly perfected,
And obstacles to the ten bhūmis entirely cleared away,
So that we may all attain the level of omniscience!

This text entitled "The Joyous Entrance to the Path to Liberation: How to Practise the Six Transcendent Perfections" was composed by the great Rongtön Sheja Künrig in the monastery of Pal Nālendra.

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2016

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

shes bya kun rig. "phar phyin drug gi nyams su len tshul thar lam bde ba'i 'jug ngogs." In gsung 'bum/ shes bya kun rig. gsung 'bum/ shes bya kun rig. skye dgu mdo: gangs ljongs rig rgyan gsung rab par khang, 2004. (BDRC W28942). Vol. 1: 115–117.

Version: 1.4-20220809