Welcome to Class Six in this Paramitas series. This is the big one!
“Paramita”, as we’ve discussed, means perfection or transcendent.
We’ve talked about Perfect Generosity, Perfect Patience, Discipline, Effort and Meditation. Each time, we’ve talked about how there are two versions of these qualities - normal, conventional, call it relative Generosity for example and then perfect, transcendent, absolute, enlightened versions of Generosity.
Relative Generosity is sharing your food, giving to charity, etc. but with a mindset that reinforces your ego, your identity, your sense of self. That’s fine and good to do, but it’s not the paramita of generosity. Transcendent Generosity is giving without expecting anything in return. Giving knowing that giver and receiver are the same. Giving in a way that cuts through or dissolves or recognizes the immateriality of our individualness.
The Wisdom that we are talking about here, Perfect Wisdom, Transcendent Wisdom, is the same. There are all kinds of examples of relative wisdom - the Golden Rule for example. They range from cliche to deeply moving and helpful. But they are not Transcendent Wisdom, because they can all be used to reinforce the illusion that we exist, reinforce duality, reinforce separateness, and therefore reinforce suffering.
The key that unlocks this door is the word “Emptiness”. In Sanskrit, it’s the word ‘shunyata’. In Tibetan it’s རྟག་ཆད་དང་བྲལ་བ་, tak ché dang dralwa, which translates as: ‘free from permanence and non-existence'.
How do we understand emptiness? Well, that’s a lifelong journey. Happily, thanks to the Buddha and the unbroken lineage of thousands of years of meditators, we have hundreds of meditation practices to help.
Personally, the crispest and most pithy is a chant done throughout the Buddhist world called “The Sutra on the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge” aka “The Prajna (Wisdom) Paramita”
[excerpt]
Shariputra - “How should a son or daughter practice the Wisdom Paramita?”
Avalokiteshvara - “Seeing in this way - form is emptiness, emptiness also is form… [keep reading]”
OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA!
There are a million other practices, and frankly all aspects of our practices have emptiness deeply woven in. If they don’t, or if they do and we forget them, we are just using all this spiritual stuff to build up a mistaken view in ourselves.
From a philosophical point of view, an intellectual view, there are also a thousand things to read, including Shantideva, Patrul Rinpoche and the scores of commentaries on their incredible works.
Let me relate a story of Shantideva:
Shantideva
Shantideva was a scholar in the eighth century from the monastic university Nalanda, one of the most celebrated centers of learning in ancient India. According to legend, Shantideva was greatly inspired by the celestial bodhisattva Manjushri, from whom he secretly received teachings and great insights. Yet as far as the other monks could tell, there was nothing special about Shantideva. In fact, he seemed to do nothing but eat and sleep. In an attempt to embarrass him, the monks forced Shantideva's hand by convincing him to publicly expound on the scriptures. To the amazement of all in attendance that day, Shantideva delivered the original and moving verses of the Bodhicharyavatara. When he reached verse thirty-four of the ninth chapter, he began to rise into the sky, until he at last disappeared. Following this, Shantideva became a great teacher.
Here are those verses:
The text, which you all should read although it’s tough going, continues on for many hundreds of verses. It’s not clear how those additional verses were transcribed from Shantideva in the sky.
Nagarjuna and Madhyamaka: The Middle Way
But the other name I want to reference in this context and the other term I want to use in this discussion is Narajuna and Madhamaka.
“Madhyamaka means “The Middle Way”. It offers conceptual tools to analyze all possible elements of existence, allowing the practitioner to elicit through reasoning and contemplation the type of view that the Sūtras express more authoritatively (being considered word of the Buddha) but less explicitly (not offering corroborative arguments).”
Here’s a quote from “The Root Verses on the Middle Way”
“The cessation of ignorance occurs through right understanding. Through the cessation of this and that, this and that will not come about. The entire mass of suffering thereby completely ceases.[77]” - Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā ("Root Verses on the Middle Way")
Guided Meditation on Transcendent Wisdom
Ok. Whew. That's all heady stuff. I want to wrap up by bringing us back around to where we started. The way we practice Transcendent Wisdom is to experience, understand and live from a realization of emptiness, co-emergence of samsara and nirvana, and a deep interconnectedness between all things. So let’s practice transcendent wisdom now as best we can.
[guided and or silent meditation]
Notes
The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā "wisdom" (or "knowledge") with pāramitā "perfection" or "transcendent". Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and is generally associated with ideas such as emptiness (śūnyatā), 'lack of svabhāva' (essence), the illusory (māyā) nature of things, how all phenomena are characterized by "non-arising" (anutpāda, i.e. unborn) and the madhyamaka thought of Nāgārjuna.[2][3] Its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva path.
Patrul Rinpoche
The great nineteenth-century master Patrul Rinpoche, author of The Words of My Perfect Teacher and revered by all Tibetan Buddhists, was known for his wandering ascetic lifestyle, eschewing fame, generous offerings, and all but the most meager possessions. However, wherever he went throughout his peripatetic life, he carried with him a copy of Shantideva's Bodhicharyavatara, which we know now as The Way of the Bodhisattva or A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Renowned for his encyclopedic knowledge and ability to transmit the wisdom of Prajnaparamita and Dzogchen, Patrul Rinpoche spent his life constantly teaching this text, encouraging students to read it and study it over and over again-hundreds of times.
The Ninth Chapter — Wisdom
The ninth chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara, on wisdom, is considered one of the most profound and requires deep study and practice to truly understand. In this work, His Holiness the Dalai Lama focuses on this chapter and its application. Here, His Holiness goes deep into the subjects of the methods needed to cultivate wisdom, what identitylessness means, and how the notion of true existence is refuted.