Buddha Story 2: 10 Paramita or parami before Enlightenment

In the first episode, we learned how Sumedha (Gautam Buddha in his earlier birth) because of infinite compassion towards humanity let go of the opportunity to become fully liberated when he met Dipankar Buddha and instead accepted the life of sacrifice for countless kalpas and took the vow to become Samyak SamBuddha.

For anyone or everyone who wants to be liberated, it is a must to develop 10 good qualities of parami.

Now to next step for Sumedha was to develop 10 Paramita or Parami in extremely huge quantities. The point to be noted here is that one can be liberated even if someone has all the 10 good qualities in small quantity provided one learns the Buddha teachings correctly and practice it daily however to become Samyak Sambuddha one has to increase the same 10 good qualities perhaps countless times more.

So Sumedha works for countless life to increase the following 10 parami.

Dana-parami: Donation or Virtue in alms-giving (or generosity)
Sila-parami: Living life of Morality
Nekkhamma-parami: Living life of Renunciation
Panna-parami: Wisdom (Panya or Panna)
Viriya-parami: Great effort (or perseverance)
Khanti-parami: Forbearance (or patience)
Sacca-parami: Truthfulness
Aditthana-parami: Determination
Metta-parami: All-embracing love
Upekkha-parami: Equanimity

It is, therefore, unimaginable hard work to become a Buddha. The utmost strength of willpower is necessary even to imagine it.

In the next episode, we would learn Magical event on the birth of Siddarth Gautam Buddha.