What does "wisdom" mean in Buddhism?

 　
    There is a big difference between the "wisdom in worldly usage” and the "wisdom in Buddhism”. Most of the “wisdom in worldly usage” refers to “intelligence”. However, from the perspective of Buddhism, intelligent people are not necessarily wise. In ancient China, there was a master Huineng. Although he was illiterate, he had a deep understanding of Buddhism and was even selected as the inheritor of Zen Buddhism; that is to say, although Huineng was not intelligent by the standards of the world, he possessed the wisdom of Buddhism. The scope of "intelligence" is the secular things in the world, and "wisdom" represents a thorough understanding of the universe and life, and its scope is beyond the world. And only through the wisdom of Buddhism can it be possible to fully and fundamentally solve all problems in life.
　
    The word "wisdom" mentioned in Buddhism is a translation of the ancient Indian Sanskrit "prajna". To be precise, "wisdom" is the ability to understand the truth. It can also be said that "wisdom" is the product of understanding the truth. Thus, does a person have "wisdom" first and then realize the truth, or first realize the truth and then get "wisdom"? Putting aside such debates as "chicken and egg", we should know that Buddhism does provide theories and methods for "how to obtain wisdom", and the path to become a Buddha is a process of pursuing wisdom.
　
    Broadly speaking, "wisdom" in Buddhism refers to all the required abilities for the process of enlightening Reality (real appearance); as the practice of Buddhism deepens, the wisdom of the practitioner will gradually increase, and this wisdom can help practitioners judge "what is the correct Dharma theory and behavior", so that practitioners do not go down the wrong path.
　
    In Buddhism, there is a theory of "three wisdoms": the wisdom obtained by the practitioners of Sravaka and pratyekabuddha is called "all wisdom", which is the understanding of "non-self"; the wisdom that the practitioners of Bodhisattva path obtain is called “source wisdom”. “Source wisdom” is the understanding of the source of things in the world; and the wisdom obtained by the Buddha is the "all source wisdom" possessing both Shravaka and  pratyekabuddha’s “all wisdom” and the Bodhisattva's "source wisdom", which is called "all source wisdom". The Buddha completely understood all things in the universe and life without any doubts.
　
    How to get "wisdom"? Buddhism has a theory of "precepts, concentration and wisdom": “precepts” is “keeping precepts”, “concentration” is “meditation”, and “wisdom” is “getting wisdom”; practitioners can obtain "meditation" by "keeping the precepts", and through "meditation" can obtain "wisdom"; so, if you want to gain wisdom, you must first practice precepts and meditation. There is also the so-called "hearing, thinking and practicing": "hearing" means "listening to the Buddhist Dharma", "thinking" means "contemplating the Buddhist Dharma", and "practicing" means "practicing the Buddhist Dharma"; in order to obtain the Buddha's perfect wisdom, one must first listen to the Dharma, after hearing or reading the Dharma, he should think about the content of the Dharma. After thinking about the Dharma, he must actually start to practice according to the content, and then he will gain wisdom.
　
    The wisdom mentioned in the Dharma will increase little by little with the deepening of practice. Therefore, we can begin to try to apply the understanding of Dharma now to our daily life. For example, when our greed is too strong or when we are going to lose our temper, we can use the wisdom of "non-self" to deal with it; even if we haven't fully realized "non-self", just contemplating "self don't exist" will still have a partial effect.
　
    Applying the wisdom of Dharma to our lives can make us feel more at ease, free from worries, calm, stable, and free from attachment. If we can obtain the "all source wisdom" of the Buddha, we will never be confused about the truth of the universe and life, and we will be able to enter the state of the Buddha.
　







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