The Wise Brain Bulletin News and Tools for Happiness, Love, Effectiveness, and Wisdom Knowing and Living the Truth: The Perfection of Wisdom Rick Hanson, PhD article will explore perspectives from Buddhism, in Introduction particular, integrated with my own observations about The person of wisdom is universally respected. practical wisdom in everyday life. Whether it’s someone who’s wise about a particular subject – an experienced cook, a canny card player, a The Paramis Within the Buddhist tradition, wisdom (sometimes shrewd coach, a preschool teacher who’s seen it all, called “discernment”) is one of the ten “paramis” or a trout guide who knows his rivers like the back of perfections of a Bodhisattva, a highly awakened person his hand – or someone who has a deep wisdom about who postpones his or her ultimate enlightenment to life itself – a grandparent or rabbi or therapist you’ve bring all beings to liberation. known may come to mind – we value that person’s example and counsel. These ten characteristics of a Bodhisattva include: generosity (dana), virtue (sila), renunciation But what is wisdom, actually? And how to acquire more (nekkhamma), wisdom (pañña), energy/persistence of it? (viriya), patience/forbearance (khanti), truthfulness (sacca), determination (adhitthana), good will (metta), and While the world’s spiritual traditions have no monopoly equanimity (upekkha). on wisdom, it has been a great subject for them, so it’s worth seeing what they have to say about it. This Also in this issue: Hormones and Scent and the Brain Neurotransmitters pg. 10 pg. 12 Greetings In their most complete The Bulletin offers skillful means from brain science and contempla- expression, the paramis tive practice – helping you to work integrate with utter What is Wisdom? with your brain for the benefit of compassion and Wisdom in General yourself and others. skillfulness, and they are The dictionary describes wisdom as the quality of The Bulletin is offered freely, and untainted by any kind of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. you are welcome to share it with craving, self-centeredness, Synonyms for “wisdom” include: sagacity, sense, others. Past issues are archived at or positional views. common sense, astuteness, judiciousness, and prudence. www.WiseBrain.org. (Because the meaning of The opposite of wisdom is not stupidity, but “wisdom” – compared to foolishness. Many very bright people are not very wise, that of “discernment” and many people of average intelligence carry a deep – is broader in English wisdom. and closer to the sense in which this notion is used You might like to consider these questions for yourself: in Buddhist practice, that’s • What distinguishes wisdom from knowledge? From the word that will be used intelligence? in this article.) • What are you wise about in your own life? Rick Hanson, PhD and Rick Mendius, MD edit the Bulletin. We Developing the Best Wisdom in Buddhism welcome your contributions, and to subscribe, please contact Rick at in Yourself In Buddhism, wisdom is one of the three major pillars [email protected]. Of course, these qualities of practice, the other two being virtue (sila) and of enlightened people are meditative depth (samadhi). present to some degree in us all. Even without being – or even aspiring to Of these, wisdom is seen as most central, since it is be – a Bodhisattva, it is a wonderful thing both to wisdom which dispels ignorance. For it is ignorance, express these qualities as they already exist, and to not “sin” in a religious sense, which is regarded in cultivate them further in your mind and heart, in your Buddhism as the true root of all that is harmful or thoughts and words and deeds. You are perfecting evil. (Other terms used for this ignorance are delusion, – progressively, step by step, in the slog sometimes of confusion, and self-deception.) daily life – wholesome qualities and faculties for your own sake and that of others. For example, while concentration in meditation is seen as an essential skill, that alone will not carry a person Ways to Approach This Article to the farthest shore. One must also have insight – You can read this article within a Buddhist framework vipassana – and that’s what is ultimately transformative. or simply for its reflections on the deeply human and (Though, to be sure, deep concentration is a great everyday matter of seeking some semblance of wisdom facilitator of liberating insight.) – even perhaps to the point of profound understanding. Wisdom is vital because it peers through the veils of (A note on this text: Words such as “parami” or “sila” ignorance, confusion, and illusion into the heart of are from Pali, the language in which the earliest these three fundamental characteristics of existence: surviving discourses of the Buddha were written. • Everything formed of compounded elements Some of this text is adapted from the Access to Insight changes. Therefore, no compounded thing is site, to which great acknowledgement is offered. In permanent. Not a thought, not a life, not the Hawaiian particular, I’ve quoted extensively [with minor edits] islands, not the Earth itself. from Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation of A Treatise on the Paramis by Acariya Dhammapala.) • Everything is connected to and interdependent with Wise Brain Bulletin (1, 4) • 3/28/07 • page 2 everything else. Therefore, nothing has an inherent, perfections. absolute self-identity. Not an electron, not a tendril of foam on the sea, not a redwood tree, not your body or mind or “I.” Six Aspects of Wisdom Introduction • Everybody suffers. As you read through these aspects of wisdom, you might like to consider how they manifest in your own In Buddhism, the measure of true wisdom is its life – and whether you’d be served by focusing on one practical effectiveness, not its abstract or theoretical or more of them to develop in particular. correctness. Since the overriding aim is the end of suffering, the essence of wisdom is knowing what leads Consciousness, Awareness, “Wit” to happiness for oneself and others, and what does Someone who is unconscious cannot possibly be wise. not . knowing what’s wholesome and what isn’t . The root of the word, “wise,” is “wit.” Not wit as in knowing which tunnels have the cheese and which do Robin Williams or Oscar Wilde, but wit as in “having not. your wits about you,” or “he lost his wits.” Wisdom sees that clinging leads to suffering every Penetration, Illumination time. Which tunnels never have the real cheese? The Wisdom has the characteristic of penetrating the real specific ones with clinging in them. nature (of phenomena), like the penetration of an arrow shot by a skillful archer; its function is to illuminate the objective To say this a little differently, wisdom means a deep field, like a lamp; its manifestation is non-confusion, like understanding of the Four Noble Truths: the fact of a guide in a forest . Greed, hatred, and delusion create suffering, the cause of suffering, the cause of the end blindness, while wisdom restores sight. Just as light cannot of suffering, and the way that both embodies and leads coexist with darkness, wisdom cannot coexist with delusion. to the end of that cause. Acariya Dhammapala The utter penetration into those four truths is Seeing Context, Connections, and Causes the sphere of nibbana (nirvana); enlightenment is Wisdom means seeing the big picture. It is the the perfection of wisdom. That is why wisdom is antithesis of tunnel vision, narrow mindedness, missing considered perhaps the most fundamental of the ten the forest for the trees. Wisdom is relational. It connects the Train Your Brain dots, sees the patterns, recognizes the deer in the brush from a flicker This course teaches practical, down-to-earth ways to activate the brain states that of white in shadow. promote: Steady Awareness, Wholesome Feelings, Good Intentions, Caring Heart, and Wise Action. It is taught in a 24-month cycle which you can enter at any time. Talks and materials from past class sessions are archived at www.WiseBrain.org. Wisdom understands what the Buddha called dependent The class meets on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, 7 – 9:15 pm, at the Unitarian origination, a pithy term for the Universalist church in Terra Linda (San Rafael), at 240 Channing Way. The atmo- sphere is warm, informal, and focused. The suggested donation for each month of simple fact that everything that is, is the program is $40 (and less is gratefully accepted). To register, contact Guisela part of one whole web of existence. Luster at [email protected] or simply arrive fifteen minutes early. More than anything, wisdom sees Upcoming dates and topics: • 4/10/07 – Your precious life: Being on your own side, releasing feelings of what hurts and what helps. To quote shame and guilt, establishing fundamental priorities Padmasambhava, the great Tibetan • 5/8/07 – Refilling your cupboard: Improving your body’s molecular balance sage: Your view must be as vast as the sheet of assets and liabilities sky, but your conduct must be as finely • 6/12/07 – Concentration: The neurology of stable attention, and how to activate it sifted as barley flour. Wise Brain Bulletin (1, 4) • 3/28/07 • page 3 San Rafael Meditation Group loss, without being affected by them. Open to beginners and experienced practitioners, Acariya Dhammapala we meet on Wednesday evenings at the A Sante day spa in downtown San Rafael. Meditation Wisdom is the chief cause for the practice of the other is available from 6:45, with formal instruction paramis. For example, only the person of wisdom can at 7:00, ending at 7:30, with a dharma talk and discussion ending at 8:30. It is co-led by Rick patiently [one of the paramis] tolerate the wrongs of others, Hanson and Manny Mansbach, and for more not the dull-witted person.