The Nature of Wisdom

The word wisdom here, means transcendent insight knowledge endowed with virtue. There are many different types of wisdom. It would not be beneficial to explain all as this would cause confusion rather than clarity. Therefore, only the relevant wisdom of transcendent insight knowledge endowed with wisdom will be considered here.

The word wisdom means knowing clearly or penetrating in various special ways [experiencing directly] which is deeper than ordinary knowing based on Perception (memory) and Consciousness (knowing ). It is knowing precisely and deeply inside. Perception, Consciousness and Wisdom all have the same characteristic of knowing, but Perception is merely knowing an object, for example, knowing that it is green or yellow, without knowing the characteristics of impermanence, suffering and non-self.  Consciousness is able to know that the object is green or yellow and also realize the characteristics of impermanence, suffering and non-self, but is still not like ly to progress sufficiently to reach the Noble Path. However, Wisdom clearly perceives the green or yellow of objects, realizes the characteristics of conditioned phenomena, and is also able to penetrate to the Noble Path (Ariyamagga).   

The words Perception (memory), Consciousness (knowing) and Wisdom define different levels of knowledge. It is like three people with different levels of knowledge regarding money. One is a baby with no knowledge of spending money. Another is a villager with some knowledge, but not much. The last is a financial officer. When these three see a coin, the baby would only know that it is beautiful and round, but would not know that it is used for buying and selling goods. The villager would know that the coin is beautiful and is used for buying and selling goods, but would not know whether it is a real or fake. But, a financial officer would know all this and would also know the country and town where the coin was made and the metals composing the coin. Perception, Consciousness and Wisdom are like these three people. Perception is like the baby who merely sees the characteristics of the object. Consciousness knows more than Perception, like the villager who also knows that the coin is used for buying and selling goods. Wisdom knows even more than Consciousness, like the financial officer who knows the coin’s metallic content and its place of origin. Wisdom or thorough knowledge brings one to achieving the Path (Magga) and higher attainments.

In brief, the word Wisdom means Insight Wisdom or transcendent states of mind that develop with virtue. They know that all conditione phenomena have the Three Characteristics of impermanence, suffering and non-self, and also know the unconditioned state of Nirvana and the Four Noble Truths. This is called insight knowledge which is endowed with virtue.