Prajñā () or paññā (Pāli) is wisdom, understanding, discernment or cognitive acuity. Such wisdom is understood to exist in the universal flux of being and can be intuitively experienced through meditation. In some sects of Buddhism, it is especially the wisdom that is based on the direct realization of such things as the four noble truths, impermanence, interdependent origination, non-self and emptiness. Prajñā is the wisdom that is able to extinguish afflictions (kleśas) and bring about enlightenment.
For instance, when elaborating upon the five spiritual faculties—faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom—the Buddha describes paññā (here translated as "discernment") as follows:
Similarly, in discussing the threefold training of higher virtue (adhi-sīla), higher-mind (adhi-citta) and higher-wisdom (or "heightened discernment": adhi-paññā), the Buddha describes paññā in this way:
In a subsequent discourse regarding the threefold training, the Buddha indicates that higher wisdom entails the application of concentration and insight to end "fermentations" (or "mental intoxicants"; Pāli: āsava), effectively achieving arahantship:
In mapping the threefold training to the noble eightfold path, paññā is traditionally associated with right view () and right resolve () which the Buddha defined:
Buddhaghoṣa provides the analogy of a tree to discuss the development of paññā:
Buddhist scholar, Paul Griffiths, offers the following summary of Buddhaghoṣa's definition of paññā:
The beginning of the Heart Sutra includes the phrase "...doing prajñā..." indicating that prajñā is also an activity as well as an outcome, quality or state. As activity, prajñā can be described as "choiceless engagement" where "choiceless" means selflessly accepting outcomes as they develop while understanding interdependent co-existence and emptiness (śūnyatā), followed by further engagement.
In an article on Vipassana Research Institute, these three sources of panna are explained as followed.
These three aspects are the mūla prajñā of the sādhana of Prajñā-Pāramitā, the "pāramitā of wisdom". Hence, these three are related to, but distinct from, the prajñāpāramitā that denotes a particular cycle of discourse in the Buddhist literature, that which relates to the doctrinal field (Sanskrit: kṣetra) of the second turning of the Dharmachakra.
Gyatrul (b.1924), in a purport to the work of Chagmé (Wylie: karma-chags-med, fl. 17th century), rendered into English by Wallace, conveying the importance of internalizing and integrating the doctrine by extending the metaphor, states:
In a commentary to Rangjung Dorje's Namshe Yeshe Gepa (Wylie: rnam shes ye shes ‘byed pa) by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche rendered into English by Peter Roberts (2001), the mūla prajñā are discussed thus:
Category:Buddhist terms Category:Pāli words and phrases Category:Sanskrit words and phrases
ar:براجنا cs:Paňňá de:Prajna es:Prajñā eo:Prajna fr:Prajna ko:반야 it:Prajñā lt:Pradžnia my:ပညာ ja:般若 pl:Pradżnia pt:Prajna simple:Prajna sk:Pradžňá th:ปัญญา tr:Prajna vi:Bát-nhã zh:般若This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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