Here is a lucid, accessible, and inspiring guide to the six perfections--Buddhist teachings about six dimensions of human character that require "perfecting": generosity, morality, tolerance, energy, meditation, and wisdom. Drawing on the Diamond Sutra, the Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom , and other essential Mahayana texts, Dale Wright shows how these teachings were understood and practiced in classical Mahayana Buddhism and how they can be adapted to contemporary life in a global society. What would the perfection of generosity look like today, for example? What would it mean to give with neither ulterior motives nor naivete? Devoting a separate chapter to each of the six perfections, Wright combines sophisticated analysis with real-life applications. Buddhists have always stressed self-cultivation, the uniquely human freedom that opens the possibility of shaping the kind of life we will live and the kind of person we will become. For those interested in ideals of human character and practices of self-cultivation, The Six Perfections offers invaluable guidance.

Six Perfections: Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character, Dale Wright, Oxford University Press, Paperback, 2009, 292 Pages, $19.95

Dale Wright is David B. and Mary H. Gamble Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and Asian Studies at Occidental College, the author of Philosophical Meditations on Zen Buddhism and, the co-editor (with Steven Heine) of a series of five OUP books on Zen Buddhism.

	Contents: The Six Perfections - Buddhism & the Cultivation of Character
	Introduction	3
ONE	The Perfection of Generosity	18
	Traditional Buddhist Images of the Perfection of Generosity
	Critical Assessment: A Contemporary Perfection of Generosity
TWO.	The Perfection of Morality	55
	Traditional Buddhist Images of the Perfection of Morality
	Critical Assessment: A Contemporary Perfection of Morality
THREE.	The Perfection of Tolerance	94
	Traditional Buddhist Images of the Perfection of Tolerance
	Critical Assessment: A Contemporary Perfection of Tolerance
FOUR	The Perfection of Energy	137
	Traditional Buddhist Images of the Perfection of Energy
	Critical Assessment: A Contemporary Perfection of Energy
FIVE	The Perfection of Meditation	173
	Traditional Buddhist Images of the Perfection of Meditation
	Critical Assessment: A Contemporary Perfection of Meditation
SIX	The Perfection of Wisdom	218
	Traditional Buddhist Images of the Perfection of Wisdom
	Critical Assessment: A Contemporary Perfection of Wisdom
	Conclusion	266
	Acknowledgments	277
	Notes	279
	References	285