About This Answer
How can we know which pāramī, or spiritual perfection, is weak and needs more development? Venerable Ajahn Dtun gives a very practical answer: look honestly at the places where your conduct and practice repeatedly break down. Weakness reveals what needs to be strengthened.
If a person makes a resolution but repeatedly fails to follow through, the perfection of sacca — truthfulness or fidelity to one’s word — needs development. If patience disappears as soon as difficulty or discomfort arises, khanti, patient endurance, is weak. If the precepts are kept only when convenient and are relaxed whenever circumstances become difficult, the perfection of moral virtue needs strengthening. In this way, pāramī is not something mysterious that must be measured through supernatural knowledge; its condition can often be seen in ordinary daily behaviour.
Ajahn Dtun applies the same principle to meditation. Some people sit repeatedly but find that the mind rarely becomes peaceful. He explains that this can indicate that the supporting causes for concentration were not strongly cultivated in the past. The answer is not to give up. This life becomes the opportunity to build what is lacking through repeated practice. In fact, this is where other pāramīs become essential: patience to remain with difficulty, effort to continue, and truthfulness to honour the intention to practise.
He uses the example of a group that agrees to meet regularly for Dhamma practice. Simply making the commitment and continuing to show up strengthens sacca. Making the effort to attend develops viriya, energy or perseverance. Sitting through discomfort without abandoning the practice develops khanti. The perfections therefore support one another rather than growing in isolation.
Ajahn Dtun’s teaching gives a constructive way to look at weakness. A restless mind, inconsistent discipline or lack of endurance is not a reason for discouragement. It is information. See clearly which quality is lacking and deliberately practise that quality more often.
Over time, repeated choices become strength of character. Pāramī grows because we keep doing what is wholesome even when it is difficult, gradually making the heart more dependable and better prepared for deeper meditation and wisdom. This makes the pāramīs concrete and observable. We do not need to wait for a special sign telling us what is weak. A broken promise, impatience with pain, irregular meditation or laxity in the precepts already provides useful feedback. Each difficulty can become the exact training ground in which that particular perfection is deliberately strengthened.