Pāramitā (Sanskrit, Pali: पारमिता) or pāramī (Pāli: पारमी) is a Buddhist term often translated as "perfection". It is described in Buddhist commentaries as a noble character quality generally associated with enlightened beings. Pāramī and pāramitā are both terms in Pali but Pali literature makes greater reference to pāramī, while Mahayana texts generally use the Sanskrit pāramitā.

Donald S. Lopez Jr. describes the etymology of the term:

The term pāramitā, commonly translated as "perfection", has two etymologies. The first derives it from the word parama, meaning "highest", "most distant", and hence "chief", "primary", "most excellent". Hence, the substantive can be rendered "excellence" or "perfection". This reading is supported by the Madhyāntavibhāga (V.4), where the twelve excellences (parama) are associated with the ten perfections (pāramitā). A more creative yet widely reported etymology divides pāramitā into pāra and mita, with pāra meaning "beyond", "the further bank, shore or boundary," and mita, meaning "that which has arrived", or ita meaning "that which goes". Pāramitā then means "that which has gone beyond", "that which goes beyond" or "transcendent". This reading is reflected in the Tibetan translation pha rol tu phyin pa ("gone to the other side").

Theravada teachings on the pāramīs can be found in late canonical books and post-canonical commentaries. Theravada commentator Dhammapala describes them as noble qualities usually associated with bodhisattvas. American scholar-monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu describes them as perfections (paramī) of character necessary to achieve enlightenment as one of the three enlightened beings, a samma sambuddha, a pacceka-buddha, or an arahant.

In the Pāli Canon, the Buddhavamsa of the Khuddaka Nikāya lists the ten perfections (dasa pāramiyo) as:

Two of these virtues—mettā and upekkhā—are also brahmavihāras, and two – vīrya and upekkhā—are factors of awakening.

The Theravāda teachings on the pāramīs can be found in canonical books (Jataka tales, Apadāna, Buddhavamsa, Cariyāpiṭaka) and post-canonical commentaries written to supplement the Pāli Canon that therefore might not be an original part of the Theravāda teachings. The oldest parts of the Sutta Piṭaka (for example, Majjhima Nikāya, Digha Nikāya, Saṃyutta Nikāya and the Aṅguttara Nikāya) do not mention the pāramīs as a category (though they are all mentioned individually).

Some scholars refer to the pāramīs as a semi-Mahāyāna teaching added to the scriptures at a later time in order to appeal to the interests and needs of the lay community and to popularize their religion. However, these views rely on the early scholarly presumption of Mahāyāna originating with religious devotion and appeal to laity. More recently, scholars have started to open up early Mahāyāna literature, which is very ascetic and expounds the ideal of the monk's life in the forest. Therefore, the practice of the pāramitās in Mahāyāna Buddhism may have been close to the ideals of the ascetic tradition of the śramaṇa.