PĀRAMITĀS. The term pāramitā, Sanskrit and Pali for "perfection," refers to the virtues that must be fully developed by anyone aspiring to become a Buddha, that is, by a bodhisattva. The practice of the pāramitās makes the career of a bodhisattva exceedingly long, but their fulfillment transforms the enlightenment process from one that benefits only the individual to one that is, in the words of the Visuddhimagga, "for the welfare and benefit of the whole world."

The idea of the pāramitās as a group is not found in the oldest Buddhist literature. Such a notion developed in the general expansion of Buddhist thought and practice before the beginning of the common era, which movement gave new recognition to types of religion other than renunciation. The pāramitās provided an alternative scheme of...