That which we call Wisdom

Dear Friends,

   image from www.zenandtheartofbusiness.com

We had briefly digressed into the topic of 知 (”zhi”, awareness, realisation, wisdom, knowledge etc) in earlier posting. (refer to posting 3rd Major Qi Period : May 21~July 22, 2008).

Both 老子 (Lao zi) and 孔子 (Kong zi)  have touched on the essence of  知, as per earlier postings. To recap :

• As per 老子 :  “知不知, 上 ; 不知知, 病”.
• As per 孔子 :  “知之為知之, 不知為不知, 是知(智)也”.

孔子 further said of himself : 

• “吾十有五而志于学，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳顺，七十而从心所欲，不逾矩”
• (crudely interpreted, “I committed to learn at 15, independent/serving the society at 30, firm with my views at 40, realising my mission/capability/limit at 50, able to take criticism with a pinch of salt at 60, able to do things with ease of heart at 70 without bending rules). (Note: my translation cannot reflect fully the nuance in Chinese. Pls google for better translation).

Kong zi was a very humble person. So every of his words above meant more than face values.

• This reminds me of the Sanskrit word “Prajna”.   Prajna is variously interpreted as “wisdom, discernment, understanding” in English, but none of them really  fit.  Such is the difficulty/danger of translation.

Failing of finding the right word, lets try to use an analogy, say :

• Prajna is like free-flowing air and
• Wisdom/knowledge is like rock.

One can immediately see the clear difference between the two, i.e.

• Prajna transcends words, cultures, perception, 5 senses, space-time etc,
• Wisdom/knowledge (as with rocks) blocks us from understanding other things.

Active learning and acquiring of knowledge will not therefore necessarily benefit Prajna. In fact, many often fall into the “differentiation trap” of knowledge and wisdom, becoming further away from Prajna. (In this internet world flushed with junks (including xiaoyao2.wordpress.com), inevitably our Prajna level will have no hope whatsoever of drawing an upward ascending curve. Junk foods in, out comes a junk body and a weakened digestive system as time progresses).

This of course does not mean it is waste of time acquiring knowledge and wisdom. Only that it is counter-productive to cling to them. Less is More.

Our 5 senses, helpful as it is for our bodily survival on this Earth, have actually blocked our eyes just as the clouds have blocked the clear sky.

There are also many other “things” undetectable by our 5 senses or our proxy scientific equipments. Where we failed to detect does not mean these “things” do not exist. Or where we can detect with our 5 senses and equipments, these “things” are by default not what they really are. They appear the way to us because we interpreted them the way our mind perceived them to be.

In one sense, we are all blindmen touching a part of a big elephant, each thinking/claiming that part we have touched to be the elephant itself.

To an illiterate/blindman, Prajna might just be an instant occurence. To a learned man, Prajna might be millions of space-time miles away, the more he acquires knowledge/wisdom. (guessed you have noticed how your kids one day suddenly understood (”clicked”),  say on maths, 1 divided by 3=1/3). You can’t “teach” them, you can only guide them.

We walk through the street everyday, with countless people walking pass us. Yet there are few interactions out of these. Prajna is like these few interactions. As and when they are on the verge of occuring, most of the time we fail to take notice, because it is not the right space-time yet. This is called 缘份 (”yuan fen”) in Chinese. Why is there 缘份 ? That’s Karma.

Enjoy feeling your Prajna.

Extra Note :

Prajna is  written as 般若 (”Bo Re”) in Chinese (better in Hokkien pronunciation for Southern Chinese languages were prominent in those years), which is a direct phonetic translation. Great masters over the ages for more than 1,500 years have refrained from translating it into Chinese word.

Sorry for this long posting. Got carried away by words.

*****************************************************************************************************************