Prajnaparamita: The Perfection of Wisdom

The heart of wisdom

 is the ever deepening awareness of emptiness,

 and the way of living

 that arises from such awareness.  

       Prajna means wisdom, which in Buddhism refers to having deep insight into emptiness.  Wisdom is the sixth and last perfection.  The practice of the perfections supports the growth of wisdom, and all of the perfections in turn are perfected themselves in through the growth of prajnaparamita.  

–      Three aspects of emptiness, 219: Sunyata is a Mahayana term; but it brought together under one name three earlier Buddhist concepts: impermanence, dependent arising, and no-self… all of which served to undermine the dominant Indian notion of svabhava.  “Nothing generates itself, nothing stands on its own, and nothing just is what it is forever.” 

–      Against eternal truth, 222: “If you seek a kind of wisdom that is unchanging, an eternal wisdom that exists in and of itself, something that just is what it is without reference to context, relations, and time, then you seek it unwisely.”  So, if someone claims, “but the Buddha said that emptiness…”

–      The Vimalakirti Sutra: Wisdom is “overcoming the habit of clinging to an ultimate ground.”     

–      Prajnaparamita and language, 225:  In The Large Sutra of Perfect Wisdom: Bodhisattvas refer to the ideas in their minds as “notions, agreed symbols, and convenient expressions,” but not as truth.  The Buddha says: “Beings are supported on words and signs, based on imagination of that which is not.”  Wright: “The tendency to assume the solidity, the permanence, and the independence of things is grounded in the familiarity of language.”  Part of the perfection of wisdom is recognizing how the way we perceive the world is shaped by the language we have about it. 

–      Why do we not speak of wisdom today?  Are we unsure of it’s meaning?  Do we associate it with a timeless truth and morality in which, as a society, we no longer believe in?  I feel we have trouble conceiving of wisdom, and that Buddhism is an aid in gaining a fresh understanding of it. 

–      Wisdom as flexibility: wisdom does not follow rules, it looks at whether or not rules are appropriate in a situation; wisdom requires improvisation.

–      Wisdom’s relation to knowledge: Wisdom involves being able to see “how all the elements of a situation fit together, how each factor should be weighted in relation to the others, and how this particular situation stands in relation to overarching ideals.”  “Wisdom includes a realistic understanding of the contours of our ignorance.” A wise person will understand the value of knowledge and seek it constantly.   

–      “Experience disillusions us.  It divests us of ‘knowledge’ that is sometimes so dogmatically held that it gets in the way of learning.” 

–      Wisdom and suffering: A wise person opens themselves up to being wrong, to not understanding, and perhaps even to needing to fundamentally re-analyze the world.  A wise person seeks out the transformative powers within moments of disruption and suffering. 

–      The word “perfection” can be misleading.  Perfection is emptiness, not a final goal that looks the same for everyone.  It is not “an established ultimate level beyond which we cannot go.”  Practicing the six perfections means being engaged in the constant act of perfecting, of moving towards greater vision, greater wisdom. 

–      Form is emptiness, emptiness form, 240: “When the early Mahayana sutras claim that ‘form is emptiness and emptiness is form,’ they contemplate the relationship between individual things and the always moving contexts within which they receive their identity.” 

–      Wisdom involves contextualization, 241: “Whenever we understand anything, we do so from a position within a particular context, a setting that defines a particular point of view, a perspective.  We never stand outside the world to see it as a whole, but always understand in finite ways from a position within it.”  A wise person examines the context in which they stand and examines all things contextually.

–      The discipline of truth: “We are always charged with the discipline of truth, the effort to see the world for what it is.”  We should always “strive to see things as clearly and profoundly as we can, given the circumstances in which we find ourselves.” 

–      “Wisdom calls on us to release ourselves from dogmatic self-assertion, setting aside insecure claims to absolute certainty, while at the same time avoiding the hopeless posture of relativistic arbitrariness that prematurely surrenders the quest for understanding.”     

–      Genetic fallacy, 250: “the common assumption that the value of something is based solely on its origins… the fact that something comes into being through particular circumstances, all contingent, does not in any sense undermine its value.  Indeed, there are no alternatives to this form of origination.  Everything that exists arises out of dependent circumstances, and everything is for that reason open to reformation.”  The genetic fallacy is important to consider because we have inherited a notion that the “pure” form of a religion is its original form, which impedes us from examining how religious traditions brilliantly transform themselves to make sense in new contexts. 

–      Working with traditions: Traditions offer powerful ideals, and are a place to start and advance from.  We can use traditions to articulate and refine contemporary ideals.  In thinking creatively about traditions, and morphing them to suit current needs, we are not overthrowing tradition but standing on it.  Mindfulness requires us to create our own Buddhist traditions, such as these non-traditional reassessments of the paramitas.