The essence of wisdom is intelligence that perfectly discerns the nature of all phenomena. Its function is to clear away the gloom of the two kinds of obscuration. Although true wisdom is inherent to Buddhahood, its cause—or “surrogate” wisdom—can be cultivated with discriminating intelligence. How this is done is described by Nagarjuna as follows:

To make transcendent wisdom grow,
Listen and reflect, and once you have these two,
Meditation will arise from them;
Thence unsurpassable accomplishment will be gained.

There are thus three kinds of wisdom.

(a) The wisdom of listening
This involves mastering the words and meanings of all branches of knowledge. When we speak of “wisdom” here—whether the secular knowledge of language and logic, arts and medicine, or the spiritual wisdom that concerns a knowledge of the Excellent Words (the Buddha’s teachings) and the treatises that elucidate their meaning—it is a case of the cause being named after the result.n We should therefore study extensively so as to not be ignorant in any of these disciplines.

(b) The wisdom of reflecting
What we have listened to is not to be simply accepted with blind faith. We must use such means as the evidence of scriptural quotations, reasoning based on the evidence of things, and irrefutable proof to thoroughly examine the expedient and ultimate teachings, and the implied and indirect teachings, and thus elicit and reflect on their intended meaning, so that we come to a definite conclusion about them.

(c) The wisdom of meditating
Reflection leads to certainty, and the knowledge we have gained has now to be correctly applied to our own minds. In particular, we should make an experience of what we have learned about the view by meditating on it, for the view is not merely a verbal or intellectual exercise to be left as such, but something to be truly realized as the unmistaken vision of the way things truly are.

A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom
Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje
Padmakara Translatino Group
Shambhala Publishing

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