The Six Perfections

1. The Perfection of Generosity
From the virtuous merit that I collect, by practicing generosity and the other perfections, may I attain the state of Buddha to be able to benefit all sentient beings.

2. The Perfection of Ethics
In order to observe a rule of life, the mind must zealously be guarded. It is not possible to observe any discipline without guarding the quivering mind.
Unsubdued and overwrought elephants do not effect that damage here which the unrestrained mind, an elephant roaming wild, does in the Avici hell and elsewhere.
If this elephant of mind is bound on all sides by the cord of mindfulness, all fear disappears and complete happiness comes.

3. The Perfection of Patience
Hostility destroys all the moral conduct, charity, and reverence of the Buddhas, which has been achieved in thousands of aeons.
No evil is equal to hatred, and no austerity is equal to patience. Therefore one ought diligently to cultivate patience by a variety of means.
Therefore I will destroy hatred's nourishment, because that enemy has no other purpose than my destruction.
My joy will not be disturbed, even by the occurrence of the most frustrating event, because even in unhappiness, there is nothing which can adversely affect a virtue which one truly desires.

4. The Perfection of Effort
Thus having become patient, one should become heroic, for Enlightenment is gained by standing strong. Without strength there is no merit, as without the mind there is no movement.
What is strength? Proper effort. What is its adversary? Sloth: attachment to contemptible things, despair, self-despising. Because one is unconcerned with the sorrow of rebirth, sloth arises through inertia, relish for pleasure, torpor, and eagerness to be protected.
Having obtained the chariot of the Thought of Enlightenment, which removes all depression and fatigue, going from happiness to happiness, who that is intelligent would be despondent?
For achieving the welfare of beings,there is the power of zeal, constancy, joy, and release.
Eagerness is derived from a fear of sorrow, and it becomes beneficial because of actions.
Then, after having eradicated the enemy, one should strive for an increase of strength, by means of the power of zeal, pride, joy, sacrifice, dedication, and mastery.

5. The Perfection of Concentration
Solitudes are pleasing, kindly, the dawn of all that is auspicious, the tranquilizers of all disturbance. Let me always frequent them!
Liberated from the thought of anything else, the mind centers one-pointedly upon its own thought, I shall strive for the composing of thought and its control.

6. The Perfection of Wisdom
The Buddha taught that this multitude of virtues is all for the sake of wisdom; hence, by means of one's desire for the extinction of sorrow, let wisdom arise.

Source: Bodhicitta