Wisdom
"Wisdom" (prajñā / paññā), sometimes translated as "discernment" at its preparatory role, provides the sense of direction with its conceptual understanding of reality. It is designed to awaken the faculty of penetrative understanding to see things as they really are. At a later stage, when the mind has been refined by training in moral discipline and concentration, and with the gradual arising of right knowledge, it will arrive at a superior right view and right intention.
Read more about this topic: Noble Eightfold Path
Famous quotes containing the word wisdom:
“If thou fill thy brain with Boston and New York, with fashion and covetousness, and wilt stimulate thy jaded senses with wine and French coffee, thou shalt find no radiance of wisdom in the lonely waste of the pinewoods.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I do not remember anything which Confucius has said directly respecting man’s “origin, purpose, and destiny.” He was more practical than that. He is full of wisdom applied to human relations,—to the private life,—the family,—government, etc. It is remarkable that, according to his own account, the sum and substance of his teaching is, as you know, to do as you would be done by.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
““And wisdom is a butterfly
And not a gloomy bird of prey....””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)