Overview
In the first story (Cp. I), the Buddha says he will illustrate his practice of the perfections (Pali, pāramitā or pārami) by stories of his past lives in this current age. The text contains 35 such stories, spanning 356 to 371 verses.
The body of the Cariyapitaka is broken into three divisions (vagga), with titles correlated to the first three of the ten Theravada pāramitā:
- Division I (dāna pāramitā): 10 stories for the perfection of offering (dāna)
- Division II (sīla pāramitā): 10 stories for the perfection of conduct (sīla)
- Division III (nekkhamma pāramitā): 15 stories distributed among five other perfections, as follows:
- renunciation (nekkhamma pāramitā): five stories
- resolute determination (adhiṭṭhāna pāramitā): one story
- truth (sacca pāramitā): six stories
- loving-kindness (mettā pāramitā): two stories
- equanimity (upekkhā pāramitā): one story
The three remaining Theravada perfections — wisdom (paññā), energy (viriya), patience (khanti) — are mentioned in a closing stanza but no related Cariyapitaka stories have come down to us. Horner suggests that these latter three perfections are "implicit in the collection," referenced in both story titles and contexts.
Read more about this topic: Cariyapitaka