Six Successful Qualities

Six Successful Qualities

These six successful qualities are based on the paramitas, although the paramitas are an inspiration rather than a literal base.

The six qualities are:

1. Good-heartedness: Charity and Love,
2. Congruity: Harmony in word and act,
3. Freedom: Patience,  Indifference to pleasure and pain,
4. Dauntless energy,
5. Rationality and Intelligence and
6. Intuitive Wisdom: Creativity

1 Good-heartedness: Charity and Love

The fundamental of humanity is goodness. And the successful person seeks the benefit of humanity and not just their own benefit. Largely, we cannot achieve by ourselves and we need the support of others who trust and like us. Without charity and love, we cannot become part of a group who respect and admire us.

2 Congruity: Harmony in word and act

If we are in two minds over something, we are less powerful and less convincing than if we are united within ourselves. Because we are basically good, we cannot be harmonious when we aren't actual in a moral fashion, basically, not-harming. What we do is for the benefit of all sentient beings.

3 Freedom: Patience,  Non-reacting to pleasure and pain

Usually in life we act or do not act for four reasons:

1. We act because it is painful not to act
2. We act because it is pleasurable to act
3. We do not act because it is pleasuarble not to act
4. We do not act because it is painful to act

When we dance through life responding to pleasure and pain then we remain in a "comfort zone" from which we never escape and never achieve anything.

There is a third aspect, however. And this is "indifference". Sometimes indifference is not caring about sentient beings. Sometimes it is indifference to different ways of acting, when they differ significantly in how effective they are or how they lead us on our road to success. While pain and pleasure are easier to identify, indifference can be a subtle enemy.

Similarly when we act without thinking, we act out of habit or because we feel a certain emotion that is produced by the environment and controls our actions. We act rashly or unkindly.

The successful person does not react to the environment and does not act thoughtlessly. He or she always "counts to ten" and then reviews the situation.

The successful person becomes free because they are not trapped in the "comfort zone", however miserable it is, because they are not deterred by pleasure or pain, or provoked by it.

4 Dauntless energy

This principle means diligence, energy, courage and enthusiasm, etc. The successful person has to "work hard" to attain the distant shore.

5 Rationality and Intelligence

This is meditation. The meaning includes thinking rationally, remembering, solving problems in a logical manner and growing in understanding. This is related to the Yang and to the right-hemisphere of the brain. 

6 Intuitive Wisdom: Creativity

This particular quality is thought to be the most important one. The intuitive wisdom comes not from outside but from the inside. The successful person does not do things because of outside reasons, pleasure, pain and indifference, but because his or her very essence embodies all these qualities. He avoids harming, not because it is a rule, but because it is part of his or her very nature.

At a lower level, this quality is creativity. It is associated with right-brain hemisphere functions, and with creativity.

Note

The paramitas are often named and described as:

1. Dana paramita: Generosity
2. Sila paramita: Morality
3. Shanti paramita: Patience
4. Virya paramita: Energy
5. Dhyana paramita: Meditation and Contemplation
6. Prajna: Transcendental Wisdom