Prajñā (Buddhism)

{{transliteration|sa|Prajñā}} 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".{{cite book|last=Keown|first=Damien|year=2003|title=A Dictionary of Buddhism|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=218}} The component parts of the word are:

; Pra ({{lang|sa|प्र}}) : an intensifier which can be translated as "higher", "greater", "supreme" or "premium",{{cite book|last=Monier-Williams|first=Monier|year=1899|chapter=prā|title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary|page=652|access-date=2012-08-14|chapter-url=http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/monier/serveimg.pl?file=/scans/MWScan/MWScanjpg/mw0659-prajalpana.jpg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006195704/http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/monier/serveimg.pl?file=%2Fscans%2FMWScan%2FMWScanjpg%2Fmw0659-prajalpana.jpg|archive-date=2018-10-06}}) or "being born or springing up", referring to a spontaneous type of knowing{{cite book|last=Loy|first=David|year=1997|title=Nonduality. A Study in Comparative Philosophy|publisher=Humanity Books|page=136}}

; jñā ({{lang|sa|ज्ञा}}) : can be translated as "consciousness", "knowledge", or "understanding"{{cite book|last=Monier-Williams|first=Monier|year=1899|chapter=jña|title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary|page=425|access-date=2012-08-14|chapter-url=http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/MWScanpdf/mw0425-jehila.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210754/http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/MWScanpdf/mw0425-jehila.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 }}

Pali scholars T. W. Rhys Davids and William Stede define {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} ({{transliteration|sa|prajñā}}) as "intelligence, comprising all the higher faculties of cognition" and "intellect as conversant with general truths".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC|url-access=limited|title=Pali-English Dictionary|last1=Davids|first1=Thomas William Rhys|last2=Stede|first2=William|date=1993|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|isbn=978-81-208-1144-7|page=390|language=en|access-date=2020-01-26|archive-date=2016-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207070637/https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC|url-status=live}}

British Buddhist monk and Pāli scholar Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu translates {{transliteration|sa|prajñā}} ({{transliteration|pi|paññā}}), as "understanding", specifically the "state of understanding". Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu notes that Pāli makes a distinction between the "state of understanding" ({{transliteration|pi|paññā}}) and the "act of understanding" ({{transliteration|pi|pajānana}}) in a way different from how English does.{{Cite book|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf|title=The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga|last=Buddhaghosa|author-link=Buddhaghosa|publisher=Buddhist Publication Society|translator-link=Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu|translator-last=Ñāṇamoli|translator-first=Bhikkhu|year=1991|isbn=978-955-24-0023-0|pages=431–432|language=en|access-date=2020-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118150922/https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf|archive-date=2020-01-18|url-status=live}}

{{transliteration|pi|Paññā}} is the fourth virtue of ten {{transliteration|pi|pāramīs}} found in late canonic (Khuddaka Nikāya) and Theravādan commentary, and the sixth of the six Mahāyāna {{transliteration|sa|pāramitās}}.{{multiref2

|1={{Cite book|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel409.pdf|title=A treatise on the Paramis: from the commentary to the Cariyapitaka|last=Dhammapala, Acariya.|date=1996|publisher=Buddhist Publication Society|translator-last=Bodhi|translator-first=Bhikkhu|isbn=955-24-0146-1|location=Kandy, Sri Lanka|pages=2–5|oclc=40888949|access-date=2020-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622131026/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel409.pdf|archive-date=2017-06-22|url-status=live}}

|2={{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeCAtSdxikYC|url-access=limited|title=The Six Perfections: Buddhism and the Cultivation of Character|last=Wright|first=Dale Stuart|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-538201-3|language=en|access-date=2020-01-27|archive-date=2021-06-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624212728/https://books.google.com/books?id=YeCAtSdxikYC|url-status=live}}

}} It is the third level of the Threefold Training in Buddhism consisting of {{transliteration|pi|sīla}}, {{transliteration|sa|samādhi}}, and {{transliteration|pi|paññā}}.

Theravada Buddhist commentator Acariya Dhammapala describes {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} as the comprehension of the characteristics of things or phenomena with skillful means.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=osX219x8WzAC|url-access=limited|title=Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way|last=Kalupahana|first=David J.|date=15 January 1986 |publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-0820-0|pages=15|language=en|access-date=2020-01-31|archive-date=2022-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506233524/https://books.google.com/books?id=osX219x8WzAC|url-status=live}} Dhammapala states that {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} has the attribute of penetrating the true nature of phenomena.{{Cite book|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel409.pdf|title=A treatise on the Paramis: from the commentary to the Cariyapitaka|last=Dhammapala|first=Acariya|date=1996|publisher=Buddhist Publication Society|translator-last=Bodhi|translator-first=Bhikkhu|isbn=955-24-0146-1|location=Kandy, Sri Lanka|pages=5–6|oclc=40888949|access-date=2020-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622131026/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel409.pdf|archive-date=2017-06-22|url-status=live}}

Abhidharma commentaries relate that there are three types of {{transliteration|pi|paññā}}:{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EaHRDgAAQBAJ|url-access=limited|title=Under the Bodhi Tree: Buddha's Original Vision of Dependent Co-arising|first=Bhikkhu|last=Buddhadasa|date=2017-05-16|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-61429-219-7|pages=22|language=en|access-date=2020-01-23|archive-date=2022-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506233524/https://books.google.com/books?id=EaHRDgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/the-great-chronicle-of-buddhas/d/doc365130.html|first=Sayadaw|last=Mingun|title=Fourth Pāramī: The Perfection of Wisdom (paññā-pāramī)|date=2019-09-21|website=www.wisdomlib.org|access-date=2020-01-23|archive-date=2022-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506233525/https://www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/the-great-chronicle-of-buddhas/d/doc365130.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf|title=The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga|last=Buddhaghosa|date=1991|publisher=Buddhist Publication Society|translator-link=Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu|translator-first=Bhikkhu|translator-last=Ñāṇamoli|isbn=978-955-24-0023-0|pages=434–435|language=en|access-date=2020-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118150922/https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf|archive-date=2020-01-18|url-status=live}}

1. learned {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} ({{transliteration|pi|suta-maya-paññā}})
2. : knowledge or wisdom that is acquired from books or listening to others.
3. reflective {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} ({{transliteration|pi|cinta-maya-paññā}})
4. : knowledge or wisdom that is acquired from thought or logic and reasoning.
5. {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} from spiritual development ({{transliteration|pi|bhāvanā-maya-paññā}})
6. :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 {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} as {{transliteration|pi|dhamma}} on the theory-level and the last as {{transliteration|pi|dhamma}} on the practice-level. Ajahn Lee states that this results in two levels of {{transliteration|pi|paññā}}: mundane {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} which is the comprehension of worldly and {{transliteration|pi|dhamma}} subjects, and transcendent {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} which is an awareness of the supramundane that is realized by enlightened beings.{{Cite book|url=https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/BasicThemes_181215.pdf|title=Basic Themes: Four Treatises on Buddhist Practice|last=Dhammadharo|first=Ajahn Lee|publisher=Metta Forest Monastery|translator-last=Thanissaro|translator-first=Bhikkhu|year=2012|location=USA|pages=89|access-date=2020-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802190437/https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/BasicThemes_181215.pdf|archive-date=2019-08-02|url-status=live}}

Abhidharma commentaries describe seven ways to gain {{transliteration|pi|paññā}}:

1. asking a wise person
2. keeping things clean
3. balancing the five faculties (faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom)
4. avoiding foolish people
5. associating with wise people
6. reflecting on and analyzing the {{transliteration|pi|dhamma}}
7. 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 {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} but does not define them all. Buddhaghosa specifies {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} in relation to Buddhist meditation as being specifically {{transliteration|pi|vipassanā-paññā}} ("insight wisdom"), meaning insight knowledge endowed with virtue.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XFW45RDK6wC|url-access=limited|title=A Study Guide for Right Practice of the Three Trainings|last=Thepyanmongkol|first=Phra|date=2012|publisher=Wat Luang Phor Sodh|isbn=978-974-401-378-1|pages=255–258|language=en|access-date=2020-01-23|archive-date=2020-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111110048/https://books.google.com/books?id=6XFW45RDK6wC|url-status=live}}

Buddhaghosa defines {{transliteration|pi|vipassanā-paññā}} as “knowing in a particular mode separate from the modes of perceiving ({{transliteration|pi|sañjānana}}) and cognizing ({{transliteration|pi|vijjānana}})”. Buddhaghosa makes the analogy of how a child, villager, and money-changer sees money to explain his definition. The child can perceive ({{transliteration|pi|sañjānana}}) coins through the senses but does not know the value, the villager knows the value of the coins and is conscious ({{transliteration|pi|vijjānana}}) of the coins' characteristics as a medium of exchange, and the money-changer has an understanding ({{transliteration|pi|paññā}}) 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.

{{transliteration|pi|Paññā}} 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 {{transliteration|pi|paññā}} is "to abolish the darkness of delusion" in order to understand the "individual essence of states".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_UWm9xLDVQC|url-access=limited|title=The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga|last=Buddhaghosa|date=1991|publisher=Buddhist Publication Society|translator-link=Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu|translator-last=Ñāṇamoli|translator-first=Bhikkhu|isbn=978-955-24-0023-0|pages=433|language=en|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2022-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506233525/https://books.google.com/books?id=B_UWm9xLDVQC|url-status=live}}

{{See also|Prajnaparamita}}

File:Hermitage_hall_342_-_03.jpg, the bodhisattva of wisdom, holding a sword (a symbol of prajñā's ability to cut through delusions) from Candi Jago, 14th century Java, Indonesia]]

In Mahayana Buddhism and in the northern Abhidharma schools, prajñā (Tibetan: shes rab; Chinese: 般若/慧, bōrě/huì; Japanese: hannya) or understanding, is one of the five mental factors (caitta) present in all wholesome (kuśala) mental states. Prajñā involves the precise and analytical discernment of dharmas (phenomena) as expounded in Buddhist teachings. This wisdom allows practitioners to distinguish between virtues and flaws, thereby dispelling doubt and fostering clarity.Buswell, Robert E; Lopez, Donald S. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 655. Princeton University Press, Nov 24, 2013.

Prajñā is also one of the five spiritual faculties (pañcendriya) and powers (pañcabala). It works alongside faith (śraddhā) to overcome skepticism (vicikitsā) and cultivates balanced spiritual development. As one of the three primary trainings (triśikṣā), along with morality (śīla) and concentration (samādhi), prajñā transcends mere mental stability achieved through meditation. It entails a deep comprehension of reality, often compared to a sword that cuts through ignorance.

According to Mahayana sources like the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, to cultivate prajñā one must also cultivate ethics (sīla), since a mind free of guilt is one which is psychologically fertile for the arising of wisdom.

Three distinct forms of prajñā (Sanskrit: trividhā prajñā; Chinese: 三慧) are recognized in the Indian Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra, reflecting different ways a Buddhist can attain an understanding of reality or three capabilities of knowledge.{{Cite journal |last=Jannel |first=Romaric |date=June 2022 |title=Xuanzang and the Three Types of Wisdom: Learning, Reasoning, and Cultivating in Yogācāra Thought |journal=Religions |language=en |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=486 |doi=10.3390/rel13060486 |doi-access=free |issn=2077-1444}} These three are:

1. Śrutamayī-prajñā (Wisdom from Hearing / Learning; Ch: 聞慧): This foundational form of wisdom arises through listening to teachings, reading texts, or studying the Dharma. It lays the groundwork for mindfulness and concentration, which are vital for achieving meditative calm (śamatha).
2. Cintāmayī-prajñā (Wisdom from Reflection; Ch: 思慧): Building on learning, this type of wisdom emerges from thoughtful contemplation and analysis of teachings. Practitioners deepen their intellectual grasp of the Dharma, applying insights to understand the nature of existence. While it involves focused attention, it does not yet reach the full tranquility of advanced meditation.
3. Bhāvanāmayī-prajñā (Wisdom from Cultivation; Ch: 修慧): The culmination of wisdom, this form is generated through meditative practice and experiential realization. It represents the integration of śamatha (calm abiding) and vipaśyanā (insight), allowing practitioners to perceive reality directly and profoundly.{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrHi1aUXmjkC |title=Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations |date=1989 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-02537-9 |pages=43–44 |language=en |access-date=2020-01-29 |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214002657/https://books.google.com/books?id=jrHi1aUXmjkC |archive-date=2019-12-14 |url-status=live}}

These three forms of wisdom are always discussed in this order, indicating that they are a progressive and developmental process, from a more foundational kind of wisdom to a more complete form of wisdom (though this does not indicate one abandons the earlier wisdoms on attaining the latter forms). The three types of wisdom are said to be “generated through practice” (prayogajā). One list of practices which is closely linked to the three types of wisdom are found in various sources, including the Mahāyānasūtrālaṅkāra, and consist of ten practices “associated with the Dharma”: "copying (lekhanā), worshipping (pūjanā), gifting (dānam), hearing (śravaṇam), speaking (vācanam), memorizing (udgrahaṇam), clarifying (prakāśanā), reciting (svādhyāyanam), reflecting (cintanā), and cultivating (bhāvanā)."

While the term prajñā can refer to all kinds of understanding and discernment of Buddhist truths (such as understanding the four noble truths, the various dharmas taught in Abhidharma, the various Buddhist theories of rebirth and enlightenment etc.), the highest kind of prajñā in Mahayana is Prajñāpāramitā, the "Perfection of Wisdom". This is a direct non-conceptual knowledge of the ultimate truth (Dharmadhatu, Thusness, Emptiness, etc), which is both an essential quality for bodhisattvas striving for enlightenment and a genre of texts detailing this profound wisdom. These teachings emphasize the realization of ultimate truth as a means to attain Buddhahood.

According to Paul Williams, Mahayana considers the analysis of {{transliteration|sa|prajñā}} found in the Hinayana and Abhidharma texts to be incomplete in comparison to Mahayana teachings on wisdom. For Mahayana, the abhidharma descriptions of {{transliteration|sa|prajñā}} stops at the discernment of {{transliteration|sa|dharmas}} as the final reality, but Mahayana and some non-Mahayana schools go on to teach that all {{transliteration|sa|dharma}}s (all phenomena) are empty ({{transliteration|sa|śūnyatā}}).{{Cite book |last=Makransky |first=John J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vGzvLkYs2MC |title=Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet |date=1997-07-31 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-3432-1 |pages=109 |language=en |access-date=2020-01-29 |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506233526/https://books.google.com/books?id=1vGzvLkYs2MC |archive-date=2022-05-06 |url-status=live}} Williams goes on to say that the meaning of {{transliteration|sa|prajñā}} according to Mahayana Prajñāpāramitā sutras is ultimately the state of understanding emptiness ({{transliteration|sa|śūnyatā}}). This view of prajñā is found in texts like the Heart Sutra which states that those who want "to practice the profound perfection of wisdom ({{transliteration|sa|prajñā}}) should view things in this way [as empty]". Dale S. Wright explains that while the conceptual view itself is not the perfection of wisdom, it can aid in its attainment.{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Dale Stuart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeCAtSdxikYC |title=The Six Perfections: Buddhism and the Cultivation of Character |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538201-3 |pages=218–221 |language=en |access-date=2020-01-27 |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624212728/https://books.google.com/books?id=YeCAtSdxikYC |archive-date=2021-06-24 |url-status=live}}

• {{annotated link|Adhiṭṭhāna}}
• {{annotated link|Bodhipakkhiya dhamma}}
• {{annotated link|Dāna}}
• {{annotated link|Five wisdoms}}
• {{annotated link|Four Noble Truths}}
• Four ways of knowing – the perfection of action, observing knowing, universal knowing, and great mirror knowing
• {{annotated link|Kenshō}}
• {{annotated link|Khanti}}
• {{annotated link|Metta}}
• {{annotated link|Nekkhamma}}
• {{annotated link|Noble Eightfold Path}}
• {{annotated link|Passaddhi}}
• {{annotated link|Sacca}}
• {{annotated link|Upekkhā}}
• {{annotated link|Vīrya}}

{{Reflist|2}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite web |last=Anōmadassi Thero |first=Alawwe |date=November 2018 |location=Renaketuwagala Aranya Senasana Bharaya, Ettapolawatta, Wademada, Ovilikanda, Matale, Sri Lanka |editor-last=Gunatilake |editor-first=Sanura |title=Discover Yourself |url=https://anomadassi.lk/english-books/#flipbook-df_5252/11 |website=anomadassi.lk |type=Booklet |translator-last=Premaratne |translator-first=Geetha |url-status=live |access-date=January 1, 2025}}
• {{Citation | last1 =Nyanaponika Thera | last2 =Bhikkhu Bodhi | year =1999 | title =Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: An Anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikaya | publisher =Altamira Press | isbn =0-7425-0405-0}}

{{refend}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{cite web|url=https://buddhism.ygoy.com/what-is-prajna/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728131145/http://buddhism.ygoy.com/what-is-prajna/|archive-date=2013-07-28|title=What is Prajna?|website=Ygoy Health Community}}

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