What then are the Six Paramitas? They are generosity (dana), morality (sila), patience (ksanti), diligence (virya), meditation (dhyana), and wisdom (prajna). Their purpose is to eradicate the two types of self-attachment, to sever the two types of death, and to transcend the ocean of suffering.

Self-Attachment

What are the two types of self-attachment? First is attachment to one's own body, the extension of which is our concept of life span. The five skdndbas6--the material and mental factors that together lead to our sense of self--are the fundamental source of vexation and afflictions. To break away from this self our vexations and afflictions. To break away from this self through practicing the Six Paramitas is to give rise to wisdom that will sever the attachment to one's physical body. Eradicating this kind of self-attachment means transcending our illusions about the world.

The second type of self-attachment is aversion to the afflictions and sufferings of worldly existence. Eradicating this type of self-attachment means transcending our aversion to the phenomenal world, and no longer fearing the cycle of birth and death.

Death