波羅蜜多, Part Two (how to write पारमिता/pāramitā in Chinese characters)

蜜多 is the second part (the third and fourth characters) of 波羅蜜多, which is the Chinese transliteration of पारमिता/pāramitā.

(pinyin: mì) is the Chinese word for “honey”. It can also be used to refer to the color of honey, or to anything that is sweet. It is made up of three characters stacked one on top of the other. In descending order they are (mián), which means “roof”, followed by (bì), which means “certainly, invariably”, and then finally 虫 (chóng), a Chinese word for “insect”.

(duō) is the Chinese word meaning “many, much, a lot, numerous”. This character is made by stacking two copies of the character (xī) on top of each other. By itself, means “night, evening”. The two character combination 多时 literally means “much time” and that is how the phrase is used in Chinese (or more idiomatically in English, “a long time”).

The six paramitas in Chinese and Sanskrit, with approximate English translations are:
布施 Dāna (devanagari: दान) generosity
持戒 Śīla (शील) discipline
忍辱 Kṣānti (क्षांति) patience
精進 Vīrya (वीर्य) diligence
禪定 Dhyāna (ध्यान) meditation
般若 Prajñā (प्रज्ञा) wisdom

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