The Perfection of Determination - Steadfastness in calm and panna

If we give things away for the benefit and happiness of someone else but we are forgetful of our defilements, the determination to eradicate them is not yet firm enough. Without the four foundation dhammas, aditthana dhammas, of truthfulness, relinquishment, calm, and panna, we cannot reach the further shore.
If a person sees the benefit of steadfastness in relinquishment, cagaditthana, the elimination of defilements, he also has steadfastness in calm, upasamaditthana; calm is freedom of defilements. We are absorbed in and disturbed by visible object, sound, odour, flavour and tangible object. True calm is freedom from infatuation with the sense objects. We also need to develop the perfection of renunciation, nekkhamma paramí, in order to reach this freedom. Even someone who is a layfollower may gradually abandon clinging to the sense objects and to the married state. He may be a layfollower who is not married because he sees the disadvantage of the strong bond of family life which is a burden. Thus, seeing the benefit of renunciation conditions steadfastness in calm.
When someone is firmly established in the foundation dhamma of calm, it is conditioned by the foundation dhamma of panna. Pannaditthana is the fourth foundation dhamma. Panna can be accumulated by listening to the Dhamma, by considering it and testing its meaning by asking questions. In this way we can verify what is kusala, what is akusala, what is wrong, what is right, and we can understand what kamma is and what its result. When we listen to the Dhamma we can investigate the true nature of realities that are cause and that are result.
We should use every opportunity to listen to the Dhamma during this lifespan. Someone may be negligent in listening to the Dhamma, and he may think that by listening once or only a few times, he can be freed from the cycle of birth and death. Then his determination is not yet firm enough. He should further develop the foundation dhamma of panna, and in this way the perfection of determination will become accomplished. The perfection of determination is an essential condition for the perfection of panna that leads to reaching the further shore, that is, the realization of nibbana.