As you know I’ve been giving a series of Dharma talks on the six paramitas. The six paramitas are:

• Generosity

• Ethical behavior/Virtue

• Patience

• Effort

• Concentration/Meditation

• Wisdom

Last week I talked about the paramita of “concentration” this week I’d like to talk about the paramita of “prajna or wisdom.” Paramita is usually translated as “perfection” but a literal translation is “to carry across.” Because it is believed that practicing and actualizing these will carry us across the vast ocean of suffering - to the other side - which is enlightenment.

This week I’d like to talk about cultivating the ultimate perfection: prajna or wisdom. Cultivating all of the other paramitas leads us to this final perfection - the perfection of wisdom. In Lama Surya Das’ new book “Buddha Is As Buddha Does” he says that Shantideva said that prajna or wisdom extends throughout all of the paramitas and, in doing so, makes them transcendental and not just ordinary virtures.

In explaining what Buddhism means by the term “wisdom,” Martine Batchelor said about wisdom: “Wisdom here does not mean intellectual or experiential knowledge or understanding - but rather a wisdom that helps you change radically your habits and perceptions, as you discover the constantly changing, interconnected nature of the whole of existence.” So when we refer to “wisdom” we are not talking about intellectual knowledge.

Wisdom in the Buddhist context refers to two types of insight: conventional wisdom and ultimate wisdom:

Conventional wisdom relates to understanding the conventional world, or the world as we know it. Traditionally it refers to understanding the way in which karma functions; to understand which actions bring us happiness and which bring us suffering. Conventional wisdom covers all understanding of the world as it functions, such the suffering caused by old age, sickness and death. It also recognizes that everything in this phenomenal world is impermanent. Nothing lasts. In addition we desire things we can’t have, or we desire things we once had, but lost. We also must endure people or situations that we find unpleasant. Or we are separated from loved ones or things we find pleasurable. We might mistakenly think that the cause of our suffering is related to these external conditions, however the Buddha taught that real cause is the clinging and grasping of our own mind. We cling and grasp at things that we think are pleasurable and we rejects that which we think is unpleasurable. So, conventional wisdom is recognizing that the nature of our suffering is not external but caused by our own mind.

Ultimate wisdom (jñana in Sanskrit) refers to a direct realization which is non-dualistic, and contradicts the way in which we ordinarily perceive the world. The experience of ultimate truth or emptiness is beyond duality.

It is important to remember that emptiness here does not refer to nothingness or some kind of nihilistic view. Emptiness refers to the fact that ultimately, our day-to-day experience of reality is wrong, and is ‘empty’ of many qualities that we normally assign to it.

Describing this non-dual experience in words is not really possible, as language is based on duality and contrasts. Trying to explain this experience - which contradicts our normal perception - is a bit like explaining colors to someone who is born blind. However, it can be directly realized through meditation. This is why such emphasis is placed upon meditation practice.

We also must recognize that our fundamental nature is not only good but in fact enlightened - this is what we call Buddha-nature. Without Buddha-nature we would not be able to realize this ultimate wisdom.

So, what can we do to help actualize this ultimate wisdom you might ask? Whenever you experience mental or physical pain or discomfort - you can analyze your body and mind in terms of the five skandhas. Ask yourself - “If this body of mine is real and substantial - why would I allow it to hurt?” Or “If this mind of mine is real - why would I allow myself to feel pain?” By analyzing how we perceive our bodies and minds and we can begin to see that it is empty of inherent existence. If they are empty - then we experience pain - not because our body or mind are existent - but rather due to various causes and conditions arise. This realization of emptiness is critical to cultivating wisdom. The next step is meditating on emptiness.

So how do you meditate on emptiness? One way is to start by identifying the habitual views you have about people and things and then recognize how limiting and badly informed these views are and how they lead inevitably to suffering and dissatisfaction .

Realize that:

• I am not isolated from my surroundings and other living beings.

• I “create” the world with my own concepts and ideas.

• The world is like an illusion: how I see the world depends on my own ideas/projections.

• This world is “my” film, “my” projection, I run the show, so I can change my experience of the

• I can change the world, if I start with my own mind.

• I can change, as “I” is only a concept, impermanent and dependent on causes and conditions, just like all phenomena (even emptiness itself).

• Although you may understand this intellectually, you won’t perceive the world that way until you directly realize emptiness!

And once you realize emptiness, hopefully you will also see yourself as empty of inherent existence. Sogyal Rinpoche said, “It is important to remember always that the principle of egolessness does not mean that there was an ego in the first place, and the Buddhists did away with it. On the contrary, it means there was never any ego at all to begin with. To realize that is called ‘egolessness’.”

And this of course leads us to compassion. Atisha said “The supreme goal of the teachings is the emptiness whose nature is compassion.”

And to conclude - His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, “Recently I am emphasizing that due to the modern economy, and also due to information and education, the world is now heavily interdependent, interconnected. Under such circumstances, the concept of ‘we’ and ‘they’ is gone: harming your neighbor is actually harming yourself. If you do negative things towards your neighbor, that is actually creating your own suffering. And helping them, showing concern about others’ welfare – actually these are the major factors of your own happiness. If you want a community full of joy, full of friendship, you should create that possibility. If you remain negative, and meantime want more smiles and friendship from your neighbors, that’s illogical. If you want a more friendly neighbor, you must create the atmosphere. They they will respond.”

So, you see emptiness is not “nothingness.” Emptiness is full of potential - potential for you to change from your habitual patterns that keep you stuck in suffering as you discover the vast web of interconnectedness of the all phenomena.