The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
14th March, 2022
Question : I’ve heard that wisdom or paññā will be something that will grow inside me without me trying to get anything or trying to achieve anything.
Than Ajahn : That’s a misperception because the Buddha said that wisdom comes in 3 stages. (1) The first stage is called ‘wisdom arising from learning: Sutamaya-paññā.’ Suta means listening to Dhamma talks, listening to the teachings of the Buddha. So you have to learn them. You cannot have your own wisdom arising from a foolish mind. A foolish mind will never have any wisdom arising by itself.
You need to get wisdom from a wise mind, like that of the Buddha. That’s why we have to study the Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha. Study the Four Noble Truths and the Three Characteristics of Existence, for instance. This is the first level or first stage of having wisdom: learning from others.
(2) Once you have learned from others, then you go to the next stage. The next stage is to maintain this knowledge that you have learned by constantly thinking about it, contemplating on it. Because if you don’t contemplate on it, you will forget. Right? It’s like when you go to school, when you first learned the lessons from the teachers in the class, the teachers will give you homework to do so that you won’t forget the lessons. So, this is the next level of having wisdom or knowledge: to contemplate the knowledge that you have learned. Once you have learned the Four Noble Truths, the Three Characteristics of Existence, the asubha, for instance, then you have to contemplate on them, so that you won’t forget the knowledge that you’ve learned.
(3) Then, you go to the third level. This is the level in which you apply this knowledge to get rid of your defilements. In order to apply the knowledge that you have learned from the Buddha, the knowledge that you have contemplated on, you need to have upekkhā. You have to have a strong mind, a mind that is content, not hungry. And in order to have upekkhā, you need to bhāvanā, you have to meditate to get into the fourth jhāna.
Once you have the fourth jhāna, and have upekkhā, when you apply the knowledge that you have been contemplating on, you can get rid of your dukkha or suffering. This is the third level of wisdom (bhāvanāmaya-paññā). Sometimes people interpret this bhāvanāmaya-paññā to be the knowledge that is arising from their meditation, but no—it is not. Because when you meditate, you don’t get any knowledge, you get equanimity. Then, with this equanimity, you use the knowledge that you have learned from the Buddha to apply it to get rid of your desires, your cravings.
“Dhamma in English, Nov 16, 2021.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
YouTube: Dhamma in English.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g
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