THE ESSENCE OF WISDOM
Caller: Master, you often advise that to increase our wisdom, we need to perform recitation. However, wisdom is such a broad concept. When people of different levels of cultivation hear you say, “You need to recite the Buddhist scriptures to increase your wisdom”, they may grasp the meaning of wisdom differently. Please enlighten us on the different levels of wisdom and is it true that the elevation of one’s wisdom is an incremental progress?
Master Jun Hong Lu: As a matter of fact, there are worldly wisdom, Buddha’s wisdom and the wisdom of Bodhisattvas. Conceptually, wisdom can be roughly summed up as an attribute that exceeds one’s normal ability to cope with society. Doing what it takes to survive in society is not wisdom.
Let me give you an example. What is the rough concept of being human? When we are hungry, we eat, right? But we need to see what we feed ourselves on. Do we go for nutritious or junk food? If, for instance, I say that you are a person with wisdom, the question is, which level of wisdom are you in? A student level of wisdom merely means you are good at your studies. But what about us? The kind of wisdom that can help us break free from the six realms of rebirth is completely different.
The Chinese character (“智”) (zhi) means to ‘progress forward’ while the character (“慧”) (hui) is ‘to understand when to retreat and to guard oneself’. Therefore, a person with wisdom, is someone who is competent in advancing and retreating; one who is able to hold his ground as well as charge forward – a person whose heart is in perfect harmony.
A person who achieves a perfect harmony of the heart has the capability to move forward as well as retreat. For a family to sustain itself, when the husband loses his temper, the wife must be patient. Similarly, when the wife is angry, the husband must be tolerant. One is humble and the other modest. Sometimes, they remind one another, at other times, they take on a different role. All these call forth wisdom.
This type of wisdom relies on your ability to continuously improve upon your initial views. For example, your initial opinion has caused you to fail in a certain task. When you upgrade your thoughts and you go, “I should not do this next time”, in this instance, wisdom is gained. Unfortunately, many people stubbornly insist on their ways, as characterised by the Chinese proverb, ‘A fool is he who, upon striking the wall, knows not to turn and heed the call’.
They go, “I suffered but I am still going to do the same”; “I can never control my bad temper, so I will look for a woman who will submit to me”, so on and so forth. In the end not a single woman can stay in a relationship with him for a prolonged period. Only by transforming yourself can you gain wisdom, do you understand?
Caller: I understand. Thank you, Master.
Source: Shuohua20161028 13:54, Master Jun Hong Lu’s call-in radio program