THE FOUR TYPES OF WISDOM
Master Jun Hong Lu:
1. The Wisdom of Perfect Conduct
Your eyes see this world of forms, ears hear sounds, nose smells the fragrance, the tongue tastes and there’s sensation in the body when it is being touched. When these senses coincide with ignorance, you will then act according to what your affinities dictate.
In cultivating ‘The Wisdom of Perfect Conduct’, it doesn’t mean that you turn a blind eye or to deliberately ignore the world around you. Instead, in dealing with whatever you encounter, you think and act based on your wisdom.
Note: When you examine and realise that all phenomena go through the four states of formation, existence, destruction and emptiness you have ‘The Wisdom of Perfect Conduct’.
The four types of wisdom that Bodhisattva teaches us enlighten us to the reality that all things are equal in this world.
2. The Wisdom of Profound Insight
The Wisdom of Profound Insight is the wisdom you apply before your line of thought is formed.
With your skillful wisdom, the true wisdom, you observe and see right through the root of all matters and the advancing of affinities in this world. You can only obtain this wisdom when you carefully observe everything in this world.
Like what I have mentioned earlier, when you examine and realise that all phenomena go through the four states of formation, existence, destruction and emptiness you have ‘The Wisdom of Perfect Conduct’. When you apply ‘The Wisdom of Profound Insight’, you can observe, analyse and compare the phenomena in this world and the concepts you form are not imaginary, illusory nor built on assumptions.
3. The Wisdom of Universal Equality
Due to our attachment to our notion of self, we are not able to appreciate others. With this ego, we develop either a kind of arrogance or inferiority complex. At other times, you may desire to gain control, ‘save-face’ or take great pride in yourself, etc.
It is not possible to transform these falsehoods into wisdom; it is through eliminating these absurd graspings that one gains ‘The Wisdom of Universal Equality’.
4. The Perfect Mirror-Like Wisdom
‘The Perfect Mirror-Like Wisdom’ is attained when the earlier seven consciousness are purified and the eighth consciousness begins to go into a state of meditative concentration.
The first few types of wisdom mentioned earlier are exceptional as they encompass generosity, morality, patient endurance, diligence, meditative concentration, skillfulness which constantly purify the seeds in the seventh and eighth consciousness.
The wisdom in the eighth consciousness (‘The Perfect Mirror-Like Wisdom’) has unlimited potential that is able to eliminate those unwholesome thoughts accordingly, and bring forth the magnificent, infinite wisdom that can be put to skilful use.
The first step towards attaining ‘The Perfect Mirror-Like Wisdom’ is: To do away with the attachment to one’s view, purify the mind that does not dwell on the worldly appearances, sound, smell, taste, touch, and phenomena. This is when your sense of discrimination is purified.
Gradually, you will gain ‘The Wisdom of Universal Equality’, ‘The Wisdom of Profound Insight’, ‘The Wisdom of Perfect Conduct’, you are able to guide your own behaviour and transform those human emotions through the application of wisdom.
In fact, these four kinds of wisdom taught by the Bodhisattva are inherent in us. Unfortunately, we do not put them to good use or practice. Hence, as they gradually dissipate, we fall into a state of confusion.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms (Radio Program), 23 November 2017