Panna

Paññā is understanding or wisdom gained at the experiential level, not at the intellectual level.

Paññā is translated into English as understanding, knowledge, wisdom, and insight. But knowledge is different from understanding. Understanding is wisdom and insight, because they come from one’s experience. But as far as knowledge is concerned, it is based on understanding but it is not experience. It is based on experience. In one of his essays, Aldous Huxley has brought out the difference between knowledge and understanding. “Understanding can only be talked about, and that very inadequately, it cannot be passed on, it can never be shared. There can, of course, be knowledge of such an understanding, and this knowledge may be passed on. But we must always remember that knowledge of understanding is not the same thing as understanding, which is the raw material of that knowledge. It is different from understanding as the doctor’s prescription for penicillin is different from penicillin. Understanding is as rare as emeralds, and so is highly prized. The knowers would dearly love to be understanders; but either their stock of knowledge does not include the knowledge of what to do in order to be understanders, or else they know theoretically what they ought to do, but go on doing the opposite all the same. In either case they cherish the comforting delusion that knowledge, and above all pseudo knowledge are understanding” [1].

Huxley’s “understanding” comes very close to “direct experience,” which is prajñā. Prajñā is made up of prefix “pra,” which means pratyakṣa (“direct”) and “jñā” means “to experience.” So prajñā means direct knowledge, that is, knowledge at the experiential level. One can know that rasamalai (a variety of Indian sweet) is sweet by eating and tasting it, not by hearing somebody say that it is sweet. And how can one differentiate between one kind of sweetness and another kind of sweetness without tasting them? Understanding is like tasting, not imagining nor intellectualizing.

The paññā that the Buddha talks about is born out of one’s own experience. The purer the experience the clearer and sharper is the paññā and the experience of a person can be pure when he is free from defilements. According to the Buddha, defilements can be removed by observing sīla (precepts). That is why it has been said that wisdom is purified by morality. The following quotation from the Soṇadaṇḍa Sutta brings out the characteristics of paññā.

Sīlaparidhotā paññā, paññāparidhotaṃ sīlaṃ. Yattha sīlaṃ tattha paññā, yattha paññā tattha sīlaṃ. Sīlavato paññā, paññavato sīlaṃ. ([2], Vol. I, p. 108)

“For wisdom is purified by morality, and morality is purified by wisdom: where one is, the other is, the moral man has wisdom and the wise man has morality, and the combination of morality and wisdom is called the highest thing in the world” ([3], p. 131).

In the Mūlapariyāya Sutta, the Buddha has shown that only a virtuous man can have understanding, wisdom, or insight and a wise man is virtuous. Of the three kinds of people, namely, puthujjana (a worldling), sekkha (a learner), and an Arhant, a Buddha or a Tathāgata, the last has developed complete understanding because he is virtuous.

In the Aṭṭhakathā of this sutta, it has been shown that complete understanding or comprehension (pariññā) consists of three stages, namely, ñāta pariññā, tīraṇa pariññā, and pahāna pariññā ([4], Vol. I, p. 32) Ñāta pariññā is a stage at which one becomes thoroughly familiar with an object, say, the earth (pathavī), in terms of its characteristics (lakkhaṇa), its function (rasa), its manifestation (paccupaṭṭhāna), and its immediate cause (padaṭṭhāna), that is, one does not know only its characteristics, function, and how it manifests but also knows its immediate cause. Tīraṇa pariññā is a higher stage of comprehension at which one realizes that nothing is permanent. All that look permanent reveal their three characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and no-self. This is a stage at which a meditator penetrates into dhammas and knows their true nature. Pahāna pariññā is the highest stage at which one begins to practice what he knows, that is, one begins to live up to his understanding or wisdom. In other words, he gives up his attachment to worldly objects and becomes completely free from rāga (craving) for them.

Paññā, as said above, is to know thoroughly and comprehensively. What to know? To know penetratingly the nature and ingredient of something. (Pajānātīti paññā, yathāsabhāvaṃ pakārehi paṭivijjhatīti attho. See [5], Vol. 1, p. 108). Paññā pierces into the real nature of things (nibbijjhatīti nibbedhikā paññā, [4], Vol. III, p. 105). It also grasps the real nature of things completely. And every object has three characteristics, namely, impermanence, suffering, and no-self (sammasanaṃ paññā. Sā maggasampayutta aniccādisammasana kiccaṃ sādheti niccasaññādi pajahanato, see also [4], Vol. III, p. 160). When a mediator practicing Vipassana knows at the level of his experience that what looks stable and permanent is not so, but it is characterized by the three characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and no-self, then it is paññā or insight attained through Vipassana.

In the Mahāvedalla Sutta, Sariputta explains the purpose of paññā (wisdom). He says that “the purpose of wisdom is direct knowledge, its purpose is full understanding, its purpose is abandoning” ([6], p. 389).

From these quotations, it is clear that paññā is not intellect, which according to OED [7] is defined as “the faculty of reasoning and understanding.”

Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys Davids arrives at almost the same conclusion, of course, after a deep analysis of some of the suttas where “paññā” occurs. She examines two suttas, one from the Dīgha Nikāya and the other from the Majjhima Nikāya and at one point she says that “it might be called intellect ‘at a higher power’.” But she says further: “Nevertheless, it is clear that the term did not stand for bare mental process of a certain degree of complexity, but that it also implied mental process as cultivated in accordance with a certain system of concepts objectively valid for all Buddhist adepts. Hence I think it best to reject such terms as reason, intellect, and understanding, and to choose wisdom, or science, or knowledge or philosophy. Only they must be understood in this connection as implying the body of learning as assimilated and applied by the intellect of a given individual” ([8], pp. 17–18).

What Mrs. Rhys Davids understands from “understanding” is not the same as Aldous Huxley understands from it. But I think both of them, one using the term “wisdom” and the other using the term “understanding” mean more or less the same thing. Cultivation of mind by a man living a virtuous life is necessary for having wisdom or understanding which does not only enable him to see through the three characteristics of the objects of the world but also enables him to become disenchanted and disillusioned with them, develop non-attachment, and become free from desire to have them. Thus, the paññā he develops enables him to abandon objects of attachment.

Thus, paññā according to both of them is experiential knowledge, which is gained by concentrating one’s mind and observing what happens within. Paññā goes where intellect cannot go.

This paññā, therefore, is the best instrument to know the real characteristics of worldly objects. Sharpening the weapon of paññā one can cut down the roots of desires – the cause of suffering and attain a blissful state. Paññā enables one to go beyond the conventional truth (sammuti sacca) and attain the ultimate truth (paramattha sacca) where one experiences the three characteristics (impermanence, suffering, and not-self) of all objects of the world people hanker after. When one attains this knowledge he becomes disillusioned and develops non-attachment.

Three kinds of paññā ([9], Vol. II, p. 65) have been described by the Buddha. The first is sutamayā paññā, that is, knowledge gained by listening to others. The second is cintāmayā paññā, which one attains not by listening to others but by his own reasoning and reflection. And the third – bhāvanāmayā paññā – is the paññā, which one attains by his own experience.

According to the Buddha, the third kind of paññā is the most important of all as it enables one to realize the real nature of things. So long as one does not know the real nature of things he lives in darkness. One is attracted toward them and creates desires (taṇhā), which are the causes of his suffering. Paññā helps one know the real nature of objects clearly. As a result, he grows wise, he knows the transitory nature of all objects of the world, is not attached to them, and does not create and multiply his desires. Thus, paññā liberates one from suffering and also helps him come out of the cycle of birth and death.

Of the three paññās, sutamayā, cintāmayā, and bhāvanāmayā, the Buddha gives more importance to the last one than the first two because it is this paññā, which when developed enables one to be non-attached to worldly things, to give up desire – the cause of suffering and become liberated. It enables him to break the cycle of birth and death. It is by virtue of the cultivation of this paññā that one really comes to know why and where taṇhā (desire) arises and how and where it can be ended. Thus, it is this paññā, which explains how desire is created and how it can be eliminated.

What Is Necessary for Developing This Paññā?

For developing this paññā, the purity of mind is a sine qua non and this purity of mind cannot be attained without observing precepts. Only when five precepts like abstaining from killing, stealing, committing adultery, telling lies, etc., and from taking intoxicants are observed, defilements like aversion, greed, sensuality, pride, etc., can be rooted out. Under the influence of these defilements, man violates precepts.

Abstaining from intoxicants is the most important condition for mind to work properly. How can it work properly under the influence of intoxicating things? Concentration of mind cannot be achieved if it is under the influence of pollutants like greed, aversion, jealousy, etc. They are powerful distracting agents. Observation of precepts enables one to get rid of them.

Once the concentration of mind is attained, it is easy to see the nature of things clearly at the experiential level. Experience keeps a dear school. Even fools can learn in the school of experience. What does experience do? It enables one to see things arising and passing away the same way over and over again. Sensation, which is an important object of meditation when one practices vipassana, arises on one’s body and passes away. Whatever its nature is, pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, it keeps on changing, it does not last for ever. One experiences this again and again. Thus, one’s bhāvanāmayā paññā develops and he realizes with its help that nothing in this world is permanent. Thus, the veil of the darkness of ignorance is rent and he develops non-attachment to things of the world to which he used to be attached when he did not know their true nature.

The beauty of this paññā is that like the first two it cannot be developed by a man who has defilements like craving and aversion. Freedom from defilements is the sine qua non for developing this paññā. Because physical and vocal actions follow one’s volition, wholesome or unwholesome, only freedom from defilements will keep both these actions pure.

With this paññā developed one can prove the veracity of the Law of Dependent Origination and the Law of Impermanence – profound laws discovered and taught by the Buddha. With the help of the Law of Dependent Origination, he proved how suffering is caused and how it can be ended. With the help of the Law of Impermanence, he showed why one should give up attachment for worldly objects – attachment which causes desire – the root cause of suffering.

But persons who are not pure, in other words, who do not observe sīla and whose physical and vocal actions are not pure are not spiritually fit to develop this paññā, let alone understand its characteristics. The laboratory where the experiment of whether the Law of Impermanence and the Law of Dependent Origination are true or not can be made only in this fathom long body by a person who has a pure mind and whose conduct is good.

Thus, it becomes clear that whereas the first two paññās can be understood by anybody whether his mind is pure or not, bhāvanāmayā paññā can be developed and understood by persons who have cultivated mental purity. It can only be understood by those who have cultivated mindfulness and who with its help understand the impermanent nature of reality, that is, who have developed sampajañña and these two qualities cannot be expected in a person who does not observe virtue (sīla). The concept of bhāvanāmayā paññā and how to develop it, therefore, is an invaluable contribution by the Buddha to world culture.

Once a deity asked the Buddha a question. The question was

Anto jaṭā bahi jaṭā,jaṭāya jaṭitā pajā/

Taṃ taṃ gotama pucchāmi, ko imaṃ vijaṭaye jaṭanti ([9], p. 1)

The inner tangle and the outer tangle---

This generation is entangled in a tangle,

And so I ask of Gotam this question:

Who succeeds in disentangling this tangle? [7] The Buddha’s answer was:

Sīle patiṭṭhāya naro sapañño, cittaṃ paññaṃ ca bhāvayaṃ/

Ātāpī nipako bhikkhu, so imaṃ vijaṭaye jaṭanti ([9], p. 2)

When a wise man, established well in Virtue,

Develops Consciousness and Understanding,

Then as a bhikkhu ardent and sagacious

He succeeds in disentangling this tangle [7].

How this paññā can help one to disentangle the tangle becomes clear from what Buddhaghosa says as to who can disentangle the tangle:

Just as a man, standing on the ground and taking up a well-sharpened knife might disentangle a great tangle of bamboos, so too he…. standing on the ground of virtue and taking up with the hand of protective-understanding exerted by the power of energy the knife of insight-understanding well sharpened on the stone of concentration, might disentangle, cut away and demolish all the tangle of craving…. ([7], p. 4)

Buddhaghosa wrote the Visuddhimaggo (The Path of Purification) and explained sīla (virtue), samādhi(concentration), and paññā (wisdom or understanding) in detail.

According to him, “it is knowing (jānana) in a particular mode separate from the modes of perceiving (sañjānana) and cognizing (vijānana). For though the state of knowing (jānana-bhāva) is equally present in perception (saññā), in consciousness (viññāṇa) and in understanding (paññā) nevertheless perception is only the mere perceiving of an object as say ‘blue’ or ‘yellow’; it cannot bring about the penetration of its characteristics as impermanent, painful and not-self. Consciousness knows the object as blue or yellow, and it brings about the penetration of its characteristics; but it cannot bring about, by endeavouring the manifestation of the [supramundane] path. Understanding knows the object in the way already stated, it brings about the penetration of the characteristics and it brings about, by endeavouring, the manifestation of the path” ([7], p. 480).

He further brings out the difference between perception, consciousness, and understanding by giving the example of how different persons see a coin. A child sees it differently from a villager and both see it differently from a money changer. A child perceives a coin and sees its color, etc., its external characteristic, or its external form. A villager sees the coin and apprehends its characteristics. In other words he sees color and something more. He penetrates into it and is conscious of its characteristics. A money changer does not only see the mode of the coin, or its characteristics, but also reaches “the manifestation of the path.”

Prajñā helps one to understand that tangles are taṇhās (desires), which cause our suffering. It also shows the path to end it. Suffering can be made extinct by annihilating desires. But how to annihilate desires?

If one could know how jaṭās are formed and how he is entangled both inside and outside by them and how he can disentangle them he will have developed paññā (intuition, wisdom, or understanding).

Right view of the Noble Eight-fold Path comes under prajñā (understanding).

Right view, as explained by Venerable Sariputta in the Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya, consists in knowing wholesome actions and their roots and unwholesome actions and their roots. It also means knowing nutriment (āhāra) its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to the cessation of nutriment.

Right view is also understanding suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation. “Birth is suffering; ageing is suffering, death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation pain, grief and despair are suffering; not to obtain what one wants is suffering; in short, the five aggregates affected by clinging are suffering. This is called suffering.

“And what is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that; that is craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being and craving for non-being. This is called the origin of suffering.

And what is the cessation of suffering? It is the remainderless fading away and ceasing, the giving up, the relinquishing, letting go, and rejecting of that same craving. This is called the cessation of suffering.

And what is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is just the Noble Eightfold Path; that is right view…right concentration. This is called the way leading to the cessation of suffering” [6].

On being further asked by the monks Sariputta said that if one understands ageing and death, their origin, their cessation, and the way leading to their cessation; if one understands birth, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation; if one understands being, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation he develops right view. If he understands clinging, craving, feeling, contact, the sixfold base, mentality-materiality, consciousness, formations and ignorance – the 12 links of the Law of Dependent Origination in this fourfold way, he develops right view. If he understands taints, their origin, their cessation and the way leading to their cessation, he has developed right view.

The Path to Develop Bhāvanāmayā Paññā

The Buddha has explained in many of the suttas the training that one has to undergo in order to develop this paññā. This training is gradual and there are several steps leading to its culmination. With the help of a beautiful simile he has shown how this training is given to produce the right type of effect. In the Gaṇakamoggallāna Sutta he says that “when a clever horse trainer obtains a fine thoroughbred colt, he first makes him get used to wearing the bit, and afterwards trains him further” (See [6], p. 874), In the same way the Tathagata first disciplines a person to be tamed by asking him to be virtuous, “restrained with the restraint of the Pātimokkha” and asks him to be “perfect in conduct and resort and seeing fear in the slightest fault, train by undertaking the training precepts” (ibid.).

After he gets into the habit of observing precepts he is further asked to guard the doors of his sense faculties. Why? Because unless the doors are guarded well he will, because of the ingrained habit of mind, see a beautiful form or hear a melodious sound or smell a sweet perfume and so on and will go on desiring them and create more miseries for him. When the sense faculties are unguarded, unwholesome states of covetousness and grief are likely to invade him. So, the Buddha expressly asks him not to grasp at the sign of an object nor at its features. (Nānunimittagāhī hohi, nānu vyañjanagāhī hohi.) Nimitta means the object such as eye and vyañjana means detailed description of its features like the black eye, the eye like that of doe or lotus and so on. The same thing applies to all the objects of other sense faculties if they are left unguarded. Therefore, restraint of all sense faculties should be practiced.

After observing precepts and practicing restraint of the sense faculties the Buddha teaches him to become moderate in eating. Why? Because if one is not moderate in eating, one will fall prey to sloth and laziness. Food should be taken not for amusement nor for intoxication nor for the sake of physical beauty and attractiveness. It should be taken only for the continuance of body so that a holy life can be lived. It should also be taken for developing endurance so that he can terminate old feelings without arousing new feelings and be healthy and blameless.

The next quality which the Buddha asks to develop is wakefulness. Only when one is awake one will be able to purify one’s mind of obstructive states. The next step of the training is to develop mindfulness (sati) and full awareness (sampajañña) which should be cultivated in all situations of life.

After he develops mindfulness and full awareness, he is disciplined further. He is asked to “resort to a secluded resting place: the forest, the root of a tree, a mountain, a ravine, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a jungle thicket, an open space or a heap of straw” after returning from his almsround and having his meal he sits down cross-legged, keeping his body erect and establishing mindfulness before him. He then purifies his mind of five hindrances such as kāmacchanda (covetousness, sensuality), byāpāda (ill-will), thīnamiddha (sloth and torpor), uddhaccakukkucca (restlessness and remorse), and vicikicchā (doubt). After he has got rid of the five hindrances, he is fit to practice jhāna. He enters upon and abides in the first rūpāvacara jhāna, which “is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion. With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, he enters upon and abides in the second jhāna, which has self-confidence and singleness of mind without applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of concentration. With the fading away as well of rapture he abides in equanimity, and mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body, he enters upon and abides in the third jhāna, on account of which noble ones announce: ‘He has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.’ With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, he enters upon and abides in the fourth jhāna, which has neither pain nor pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity” ([6], pp. 876–877).

Any body who trains himself like this purifies his mind of all defilements by observing sīla. He does not further create defilements by guarding the doors of his sense faculties perfectly. What is needed for guarding the doors of sense faculties is wakefulness, which can be cultivated by being moderate in eating food. Wakefulness leads him to develop mindfulness (sati) and full awareness (sampajaññā). When these qualities are developed he becomes fit for practicing jhāna to attain concentration of mind and with this concentrated mind he sees reality as it is. Knowing the impermanent nature of all the objects of the world he develops non-attachment (nirveda) to them and thus stops creating desires – the root cause of suffering. All this is done by having knowledge at the experiential level. Thus, bhāvanāmayā paññā goes a long way in ending his suffering. This paññā also enables him to see how and where suffering is caused and also enables him to know how and where it can be ended. The philosophy of the Buddha has an action plan. What he propounds can be practiced in life and its fruit can be achieved.

Buddhaghosa says almost the same thing as to how to develop paññā. He is quoted here in extenso.

Now the things classed as aggregates, bases, elements, faculties, truths, dependent origination, etc., are the soil of this understanding, and the [first] two purifications, namely, Purification of Virtue, and Purification of Consciousness, are its roots, while the five purifications, namely, Purification of View, Purification by Overcoming doubt, Purification by Knowledge and Vision of What is the Path and What is not the Path, Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Way, and Purification by Knowledge and Vision are the trunk. Consequently one who is perfecting these should first fortify his knowledge by learning and questioning about those things that are the ‘soil’ after he has perfected the two purifications that are the ‘roots,’ then he can develop the five purifications that are the ‘trunk.’ ([7], p. 488)

Developed paññā, according to Buddhaghosa, is like a big tree of which the roots are the two Purifications of Virtue and Consciousness. These roots are struck in the soil of aggregates, bases, elements, faculties, truths, etc., which draw sustenance from them and then grow into a big tree with five Purifications as its trunk.

When Buddhaghosa says that Purification of Virtue (sīlavisuddhi) and Purification of Consciousness (cittavisuddhi) are the roots of Understanding, he underlines the importance of both sīla and samādhi. Only a virtuous man can attain concentration of mind, which can enable him to see the real nature of reality. When he sees the reality as it is at the experiential level, he is on the way to develop non-attachment to the so-called attractive things because the darkness of ignorance is now over.

These two purifications, which are roots, derive their nourishment from the soil of aggregates, bases, elements, faculties, truths, dependent origination, and so on as said above. When they are studied in detail and their characteristics (lakkhaṇa), function (rasa), how they are manifested (paccupaṭṭhāna), and their immediate cause (padaṭṭhana) are known, it becomes clear that all things of the world are dependently originated.

When things are seen in such a way, then Purification of View (diṭṭhi visuddhi) is developed. This is followed by the development of Purification by Overcoming Doubt (kaṅkhāvitaraṇa visuddhi). Further progress is made and what is the Path and what is not the Path is known. Thus, Purification by Knowledge and Vision of “what is the Path” and “what is not the Path” (maggāmaggañāṇadassana visuddhi) is made. This is followed by the development of Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Way (paṭipadāñāṇadassanavisuddhi) and finally Purification by Knowledge and Vision (ñāṇadassanavisuddhi) is developed.

This paññā is developed by practicing Vipassana. This is understanding based on direct experience. This paññā thus developed enables one to walk on the Noble Eightfold Path, cut all fetters that bind him to the wheel of birth and death, and also enables him to be liberated from suffering.