Panna Parami: About Wisdom

The perfection of wisdom is the fourth perfection of the mind state in Buddhism. MC Brigitte Schrottenbacher explains what wisdom is and how we can develop it in daily life. This episode is part of an ongoing series covering all ten parami in Buddhism.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome to our talk on wisdom today.

I'm gonna talk a little bit about the fourth paramy,

The fourth of the series of our paramys,

And that is wisdom.

So there is often a question coming up.

Why is wisdom the fourth of the paramys?

Because usually wisdom should be the ultimate,

So the tenth of the parami.

And so I want to speak a little bit about that.

Why is it like that?

Yeah,

The first we know,

The first of the parami is dhanaparam.

And dhanaparam opens our heart,

Being generous,

Being able to give,

Opens the heart.

So we are able to also to receive.

If you open your door,

Let go of things,

Be generous,

Then with an open door you can also receive.

Only if the door is open,

It's possible that someone is also coming in.

And that is not just material things,

But also knowledge,

Wisdom can only happen if you open up for it.

So dana is always the base,

Generosity is always the base for that.

Then the second parami can develop out of that,

The sila parami.

So sila means morality or having ethic principles.

If we have an open mind,

Then surely we will also see that certain,

Doing certain things will lead to suffering.

Others suffer,

I'm suffering.

If I harm others,

So trying to be wholesome,

Trying to do good will benefit me,

Myself,

And will benefit others.

So it leads to happiness.

And that makes more wisdom arise that we understand,

Okay,

That's why I should keep some sila,

I should keep or try to develop ethic principles.

But there is already wisdom,

The understanding of what it leads to.

If I'm doing wrong,

It leads to suffering.

If I'm doing right things,

Wholesome things,

It will lead to happiness.

And then the third parami that I was talking about last time,

Nekama parami,

That is kind of renunciation,

But renunciation does not always mean that we give up everything,

Become a monk or a nun.

Renunciation in this case is that we are able to let go.

In this case,

Letting go of unwholesome states of mind.

If we see unwholesome things arise,

Anger arises,

That we are able to let it go.

The problem is not in the anger that arises.

The problem is if we are attached to it and we react out of this anger,

We speak or do things out of anger,

Out of greed or delusion.

So renunciation in this case means we try to let that go,

Try to let it be and not get attached to it.

And then of course we need wisdom.

We need the wisdom because whatever parami will follow after,

If we practice this parami,

It will not lead to the goal that we intend to reach.

If you want to be enlightened or at least you want to be a good being,

You want to develop a more wholesome quality for that.

You have to know what it is,

Having wholesome qualities.

What is wholesome,

What is unwholesome.

So that's why wisdom is very much in the beginning of the whole parameters.

So only with wisdom we will be able to follow the path in a correct way.

So having this effort and then going with all the effort a wrong way then it leads to a lot of unhosen.

So that's why wisdom is in the beginning.

We also have to know that the Buddha,

When he,

As his main,

Our historical Buddha,

Our historical Buddha,

Gotama Buddha,

His main perfection was also wisdom.

A Buddha is a fully awakened being.

That's what Buddha means,

Fully awakened being.

And there have been many Buddhas before that historical Buddha and there will be many Buddhas after.

So this is also a natural thing that when the time is ripe a Buddha will reach Buddhahood,

Bodhisattva will reach Buddhahood.

And this historical Buddha,

Gotama Buddha,

For him it was the main Paramī wisdom.

But other Buddhas have other main Paramīs.

Like the next one is Maitreya Buddha and he will have as his main Paramī Vīryā effort.

Our historical Buddha,

Gotama Buddha,

With his main Paramī wisdom,

He needed only four,

Only four eons to reach Buddhahood.

Aeon is an amazing long time.

It's not countable long time,

But only he needed only four.

And that is because wisdom,

It's usually compared to a sword that is well sharpened.

And like a sword cuts through soft butter,

It goes very fast and quick and it cuts off all ignorance.

And wisdom has this.

It's sharp,

It's fast and you go through it.

Whereas the next Buddha,

Vīryā,

Is the main Paramī.

He will need 16 eons,

Four times as long as Gotama Buddha needed to reach enlightenment.

Because Vīryā needs much more effort and needs much,

Much longer time.

So this is also one important thing to understand if we speak about wisdom.

It's very important,

Very sharp and cutting through.

So what is wisdom for us?

Usually we always,

We don't understand things as they really are.

There is,

Our mind is pretty twisted.

We,

We call that in Bhātī Vipālasat,

The mind doesn't see things as they really are.

Example,

We see things as permanent,

As lasting.

Although you have listened to many Dhammatavs,

Read many books or whatever,

And you know about anicca,

There is impermanence going on.

Yes,

We know it anywhere in our brain.

But still,

How do we act in our lives with things?

It's usually still the same.

You know,

We see things as permanent.

They are there.

This is my thing and it's there and it lasts.

But it's not like that.

We see the body as lasting.

We don't look deeper.

Or even if we heard that the body is changing every moment,

That cells are dying,

New cells are born,

It's always changing.

We're going towards old age,

Sickness and death.

We know it anywhere in the brain.

It's only knowledge.

It's not wisdom.

So we didn't realize it yet.

And we don't live this way.

And wisdom shows us that again and again.

So we have to use that knowledge and apply it every moment in our lives.

And then it will become more and more like a puzzle,

You know,

A puzzle you have and these little pieces of the puzzle that you fit in each other.

And then slowly a picture will appear.

And that's how wisdom works.

We do this again and again and look at the things as they really are until understanding is deep.

So the second thing we usually never see is the non-self nature of everything.

We see things as substantial as having a substance.

And yeah,

It's not an unchanging substance or whatever.

But it's not like that.

The body arises,

It stays a while and then it will die.

So the impermanence shows already that there can't be a substance in this body that stays.

It's always changing.

Then sometimes we think then maybe there is a deeper substance that is there,

Something like a soul inside us that is unchanging that will always stay the same.

But if you reflect on what you are or how you are and what is going on within your mind,

Then you will also see it's insubstantial.

It's changing all the time.

How was your mind 10 years ago?

How is it now?

So many things you have learned.

And so you see there is no substance.

It's always changing.

Whether body nor mind has a deeper substance that is always there.

And we see that things are kind of bringing us happiness,

The dukkha.

We don't see the dukkha.

Things are suffering.

It's not bringing us happiness.

We have a short moment of happiness arising when we get the thing we want,

But it doesn't stay with us.

It changes.

We get a kick out of it and we have some happiness arising,

But this happiness is impermanent.

Then we wish for the next thing.

This I got,

So now I need something bigger,

Something more.

I got more of this,

But now my space,

My room,

My apartment is just why I need the bigger one just to place more into it and things like this.

So there is no real happiness in getting more and more.

But our human mind,

Our twisted mind tells us this.

If I get that,

Then I will be happy.

All the advertising is telling you that.

If you have that,

Then you're nice,

You're happy,

You're beautiful,

You're in,

You're modern,

You're whatever.

No,

It doesn't work this way.

But it happens far off.

And so we have to see there's these three ways where our mind is really working in a twisted way.

And we don't see things as they really are.

Wisdom always has an overview.

Wisdom is wide.

It's all embracing.

And we can see things in a whole,

In a kind of a holistic way.

If you practice mindfulness,

Then it's usually always getting just small snippets out of the present moment.

You say,

Okay,

Present moment is dead now,

And you see one piece of it,

But it's not the whole.

So yes,

Mindfulness is very important,

Going to that piece.

But then you also have to reflect.

We have to contemplate,

Practice sampachana,

This reflection,

And then wisdom will arise.

Yeah.

Wisdom is,

As I said before,

When you really realize the three characteristics of existence,

Anicca,

Tukka,

And bhanata,

The impermanence,

The suffering,

And the non-self nature.

Then wisdom is seeing our five aggregates.

Is it the five aggregates?

Body,

Then feelings,

Perceptions,

Mental formations,

And consciousness.

This five that we call me,

Mind,

That's me,

Self.

To see these five,

That they arise,

Stay for a while,

And then they cease.

Again,

We see that impermanence of the five khandhas,

The five aggregates,

That lets wisdom arise.

Yeah.

Buddha said,

We have to practice our way in three steps.

The first is practicing pariyapti,

Which means knowledge,

Gaining knowledge.

So you have the knowledge,

You listen to a teacher,

You read a Dharma book,

Whatever,

Knowledge comes out of that.

You listen to the knowledge or you read it.

This is what we call pariyapti.

The second is bhatibhati,

That is the meditation.

You practice,

You reflect,

You meditate on it.

The third is bhatibheda,

That is the realization.

So we need all three.

The first,

One of my teachers,

Lungku Sanghwan,

Always said,

Pariyapti is like a torch.

You have a torch,

A flashlight,

And that gives you light.

You have this torch in the night,

It's dark.

Then you turn on the torch,

You can see what is in front of you.

So you see there is a path you can walk.

If you don't have that and you straight away jump into meditation,

As I'm saying,

To bhatibhat,

Then you might walk this way without seeing it.

So it's dark,

You might fall in a hole or there are hindrances,

Something's lying there in the way and you fall or whatever.

That is because you don't really see what could be a hindrance on the path.

So you need this torch.

You need the knowledge to see the way.

But the knowledge alone is not sufficient.

It doesn't work because you just see the way,

But it doesn't say you walk it.

Without walking it,

You will never arrive at your goer.

So you need the torch to show you the way to see holes,

To see hindrances,

And then you walk.

That's the meditation.

You walked away.

And what will result is bhatibhata.

That is the realization.

That is then the real wisdom arising.

So first it's mainly knowledge,

Which can be read,

Can be heard,

But then it transforms through the meditation and insights that arise into wisdom.

So knowledge is not wisdom.

Wisdom is beyond that.

It needs more to get to wisdom.

Yeah,

Then there are three types of wisdom.

Again,

It goes into the same direction.

There's the wisdom that arises from reading and listening,

As I said before.

We call it sutamaya panya,

This kind of wisdom.

Then there is the wisdom that's acquired through reflective thinking.

We call it cintamaya panya.

You reflect on what you've heard,

What you've read.

In your meditation,

You reflect on it.

You really like that.

Okay.

What does she just say?

Some rubbish.

Just try it out.

Meditate on it.

And then the third one is wisdom based on spiritual kind of purification through meditation.

We call that bhavana maya panya.

And that is then the real and absolute,

The true wisdom,

Because it comes through the meditation and through the reflection.

It's a result of going through the other,

The first two kinds of wisdom.

Yeah.

Buddha saw in the night of his enlightenment all existences.

How are his existences?

What was the cause,

Why he was born?

Cause and effect,

Why he was born in this kind of existence with this body,

As in this gender,

In this family,

In this country.

Why was it?

There was always cause and effect.

Then he also saw in this first night,

In this enlightenment night,

That the existences of all beings,

Why are they born into this life?

Why are they born this way?

Why are they born with it,

With having everything or having nothing?

What is the cause for this?

He could see that in the night of his enlightenment.

He saw the causality of existence and also the condition of it of existence.

And this was what they call sammasambodhi panya.

Sammasambodhi is the enlightenment of a Buddha and the panya is the wisdom.

So wisdom that arises for a Buddha in his enlightenment.

So sammasambodhi panya is also described here in the Dhammapada.

I read you a bit,

Something out of that.

It said he knows how it really is.

This is suffering.

This is the origin of suffering.

This is the extinction of suffering.

This is the path leading to the extinction of suffering for noble truth.

And he knows what it is really like.

These are the influences.

This is the origin of the influences.

This is the extinction of influences.

And this is the way to extinguish the influences.

And through this knowledge and vision,

His mind is freed from corruption through sensory desires,

From the corruption of becoming,

From the corruption of ignorance.

And knowledge arises in him.

This is liberation.

And he knows birth is over.

The holy way is completed.

What was to be done is done.

There is nothing more to do.

So that's the complete enlightenment.

That is the knowledge that arises in someone who reaches this state.

The eightfold path,

One part of it,

Also teaches about wisdom.

The first two parts of this eightfold path are actually about wisdom.

The panya path is right view and right thought.

So they are the first two.

It's often also mentioned,

Okay,

Why is it like that?

Actually,

Wisdom should be after.

First,

You have sila.

You have to write speech,

Write deed,

Write livelihood,

These three spokes of the eightfold path.

Then you have concentration,

Right effort,

Right mindfulness,

Right concentration as the meditation part.

And then the seventh is right view and right thought.

But no,

It's mentioned exactly the opposite.

Right view and right thoughts are the first ones in this wheel of the eightfold path.

Because again,

Wisdom leads you,

Wisdom guides.

If wisdom is in the mind,

All the other factors will follow.

So only if wisdom is there,

We go the correct way.

Without wisdom,

Whatever effort you make,

It will not go into the correct direction because without wisdom,

You don't understand the path.

And then it can go in the wrong direction.

So in the Samyutta Nikaya,

The Buddha says,

Real knowledge,

Obikos,

Precedes the appearance of beneficial things,

Followed by shame,

Theory,

And reluctance to act wrongly,

Ottapa.

The sage who has come to real knowledge has the right view.

So right view is first.

Whoever has right view is born with right thought,

Right thinking follows,

Right speech,

Right action,

Right livelihood,

Right effort,

Right mindfulness,

And right concentration.

So it is said there in the Samyutta Nikaya that before the eightfold path can start,

This wheel of the eightfold path can turn.

You have to have right understanding,

Right view,

And right thought.

Then wisdom is also a part of the five spiritual powers,

You could call it the five indriyasas,

It's powers that arise on our spiritual path.

These are energy,

Concentration,

Wisdom,

Faith,

And mindfulness.

These are the five powers.

So again,

There you have wisdom as well.

And we have to be aware here when these powers arise,

They have to be balanced.

That is a very important thing.

If wisdom and faith are not balanced,

Then hindrances arise.

Also,

If energy and concentration are not balanced,

Hindrances will arrive.

And the fifth power,

Satyam,

Mindfulness,

Will always show us if they are in balance or not.

Because if wisdom is not enough and faith is too much,

We have too much trust and faith,

We just put all the effort into practice to reach enlightenment,

But we don't know the correct way to practice,

Then this leads to confusion and it leads to go the wrong way.

So there must be balance.

On the other hand,

If wisdom is too much and faith is not enough,

That would be then wisdom changing to knowledge.

Then usually these are people who always want to know everything before they ever practice,

I want to know why it is like that,

How come it is like this?

Then you are kind of,

There's a story of a guy who was shot by an poisoned arrow and then his friends came and they wanted to help him and wanted to pull out the poisonous arrow,

But he said,

No,

First I need to know what poison it was,

Who shot this arrow,

What wood is the arrow made of?

And he wanted all these questions to be answered before the poisoned arrow was removed and he would die.

So sometimes too much questioning and too much wanting to know without practicing will be leading to death before you ever realized anything.

So that is the other extreme.

So they must be in balance,

Having enough trust to do it,

But also always reflecting on it,

Having the wisdom to reflect and trying to gain the understanding.

Then you can practice the way very easily into the right direction.

Then of course there's also energy and concentration.

Too much energy leads to restlessness,

It goes to hindrance,

Restlessness.

Too much of the concentration,

Not enough energy leads to tiredness,

To sloth and torpor,

So you are not really clear and cannot practice.

So there's again hindrance.

So hindrances arise if these powers are not in balance.

So we always have to know they all work together in a way.

But I will speak more about these powers,

The injuries and the hindrances later on in our Dhamma talks.

But just so much to get a bit more insight into wisdom and why is it so important and why is it one of the first of the Paramas we have to really practice.

So I hope this gave you a little insight into it.

You can always ask questions.

Next Sunday there will be also a question and answer session.

Even if you don't want to ask questions directly at the session you can also write them to me and I give the answers on next Sunday.

So for today I say again thank you for listening and have a nice Sunday and stay healthy and happy and hope to see you again soon.

Bye.