The Precepts and the Paramitas

09/24/2022, Anshi Zachary Smith, dharma talk at City Center. We discuss the precepts, giving a bit of history, and how they changed as Buddhism was infused with new ideas from the Mahayana philosophers and practitioners. In particular, we talk about the way in which the six Paramitas were proposed, at least in part, as a positive and aspirational adjunct to the Precepts. We also bring along a Koan, in which Dàzhū Huìhǎi remarks that Dana Paramita, the perfection of Generosity, is the key to all the others, as a way of revealing how the two lists inform and support each other.