Prajñā (Buddhism)

Prajñā (Buddhism)
() or , is a Buddhist term often translated as "wisdom", "intelligence", or "understanding". It is described in Buddhist texts as the understanding of the true nature of phenomena. In the context of Buddhist meditation, it is the ability to understand the three characteristics of all things: ("impermanence"), ("dissatisfaction" or "suffering"), and ("non-self"). Mahāyāna texts describe it as the understanding of ("emptiness"). It is part of the Threefold Training in Buddhism, and is one of the ten of Theravāda Buddhism and one of the six Mahāyāna .
Etymology
is often translated as "wisdom", but according to Buddhist bioethics scholar Damien Keown, it is closer in meaning to "insight", "non-discriminating knowledge", or "intuitive apprehension". The component parts of the word are:
Pra an intensifier which can be translated as "higher", "greater", "supreme" or "premium", or "being born or springing up", referring to a spontaneous type of knowing
jñā can be translated as "consciousness", "knowledge", or "understanding"
Pali scholars T. W. Rhys Davids and William Stede define as "intelligence, comprising all the higher faculties of cognition" and "intellect as conversant with general truths".
British Buddhist monk and Pāli scholar Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu translates , as "understanding", specifically the "state of understanding". Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu notes that Pāli makes a distinction between the "state of understanding" and the "act of understanding" in a way different from how English does.
Role in Buddhist traditions
is the fourth virtue of ten found in late canonic (Khuddaka Nikāya) and Theravādan commentary, and the sixth of the six Mahāyāna . It is the third level of the Threefold Training in Buddhism consisting of and .
Theravada Buddhism
Theravada Buddhist commentator Acariya Dhammapala describes as the comprehension of the characteristics of things or phenomena with skillful means. Dhammapala states that has the attribute of penetrating the true nature of phenomena.
Abhidharma commentaries relate that there are three types of :
learned
knowledge or wisdom that is acquired from books or listening to others.
reflective
knowledge or wisdom that is acquired from thought or logic and reasoning.
from spiritual development
knowledge or wisdom that is acquired from direct spiritual experience. Fifth-century Theravada commentator Buddhaghosa states that this category of knowledge is produced from higher meditative absorptions.
Thai Buddhist monk and meditation-master Ajahn Lee classifies the first two types of as on the theory-level and the last as on the practice-level. Ajahn Lee states that this results in two levels of : mundane which is the comprehension of worldly and subjects, and transcendent which is an awareness of the supramundane that is realized by enlightened beings.
Abhidharma commentaries describe seven ways to gain :
asking a wise person
keeping things clean
balancing the five faculties (faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom)
avoiding foolish people
associating with wise people
reflecting on and analyzing the
having the mind inclined towards developing wisdom
Buddhaghosa states in his commentary and meditation treatise, the Visuddhimagga, that there are many different types and aspects of but does not define them all. Buddhaghosa specifies in relation to Buddhist meditation as being specifically ("insight wisdom"), meaning insight knowledge endowed with virtue.
Buddhaghosa defines as “knowing in a particular mode separate from the modes of perceiving and cognizing”. Buddhaghosa makes the analogy of how a child, villager, and money-changer sees money to explain his definition. The child can perceive coins through the senses but does not know the value, the villager knows the value of the coins and is conscious of the coins' characteristics as a medium of exchange, and the money-changer has an understanding of the coins that is even deeper than the surface understanding the villager has because the money-changer can identify which coins are real or fake, which village created them, etc.
in the context of Buddhist meditation is described as the ability to understand the three characteristics of all things, namely impermanence, suffering, and non-self. Buddhaghoṣa states that the function of is "to abolish the darkness of delusion" in order to understand the "individual essence of states".
Mahāyāna Buddhism
Buddhist-studies scholar Paul Williams states that Mahayana Buddhist tradition considers the analysis of found in the Abhidharma texts to be incomplete. According to Williams, the Abhidharma description of stops at the discernment of as the final reality, but Mahayana and some non-Mahayana schools go on to teach that all s are empty. Buddhist scholar John Makransky describes s in this sense to mean "phenomena". Williams goes on to say that the meaning of according to Mahayana Prajñāpāramitā sutras is ultimately the state of understanding emptiness.
Religious studies scholar Dale S. Wright points to the Heart Sutra which states that those who want "to practice the profound perfection of wisdom should view things in this way [as empty]". Wright states this view is not wisdom, but having the view will make you wise.
According to Williams, Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition also has another understanding of , that is a meditative absorption or state of consciousness that results from analysis and leads to the ultimate truth.
See also
Four ways of knowing – the perfection of action, observing knowing, universal knowing, and great mirror knowing
References
Additional sources
External links
Nonduality
Sanskrit words and phrases
Wholesome factors in Buddhism
Wisdom