The reason the mundane jhānas cannot by themselves bring final liberation from suffering is because they are incapable of cutting off the causes of suffering. The Buddha teaches that the fundamental source of suffering, the driving power behind the cycle of rebirths, is the defilements (kilesa), principally the three unwholesome roots of greed, hatred, and delusion. Concentration of the absorptive level, no matter how deeply it might be developed, only leads to a suspension of the defilements, not to their radical elimination. As we saw earlier, concentration whether access or jhāna, abandons the hindrances solely by way of suppression (vikkhambanappahāna).1 Even at its deepest it cannot effect the more fundamental abandonment required for liberation, namely, the abandonment by eradication (samuccnedappahāna).2
Because it cannot dismantle the latent seeds of the defilements, bare mundane jhāna does not figure as a sufficient attainment in the Buddhist map of the liberating path.
Mundane jhāna suffers from two conspicuous defects. Firstly, if not persisted in, it can be lost. Through carelessness or complacency a yogin can again be overpowered by the force of the defilements, thereby falling away from jhāna and the rest of his spiritual training. Thus the Venerable Mahāko::hita describes the case of a monk who attains the four jhānas, and thinking to himself complacently “I have won the four jhānas”
… keeps company with monks, nuns, lay-disciples, men and women, rajahs, their ministers, course-setters or their disciples. Living in company, untrammelled, rude, given over to gossip, passion corrupts his heart; and with his heart corrupted by passion, he disavows the training and returns to the lower life.3
The second defect which besets the jhānas is that bare mundane jhāna, even when sustained, does not by itself terminate the cycle of rebirths. To the the contrary, it even perpetuates the round in its own way. For each fine material and immaterial jhāna attained, if held to with delight and clinging, brings about a rebirth in that particular plane of existence corresponding to its own kammic potency, which can then be followed
1. See above Ch. III, pp. 76-80.
2. Ibid.
3. GS. 3: p. 280. “So saJsa::ho viharati bhikkhūhi bhikkhunīhi upāsakehi upāsikāhi raññā rājamahāmattehi titthiyehi titthitiyasāvakehi, tassa saJsa::hassa vissa::hassa pakatassa bhassaJ anuyuttassa viharato rāgo cittaJ anuddhaJseti, so rāgānuddhaJsena cittena sikkhaJ paccakkhāya hīnāyāvattati.” AN. 3.393.
by a rebirth in some lower realm when the generative kamma of the jhāna is exhausted.
As the Buddha says:
Now, monks, a certain person here, aloof from sense-desires, aloof from evil conditions, enters upon the first musing [jhāna], which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained, born of seclusion, zestful and easeful, and abides therein. He enjoys its sweetness, longs for it and finds happiness therein. Established therein, given thereto, generally spending his time therein and not falling away therefrom, when he makes an end he is reborn in the company of devas of the Brahma-group. A kalpa, monks, is the life-span of the devas of the Brahma-group. Therein the ordinary man stays and spends his time according to the life-span of those devas; then he goes to purgatory or the womb of an animal, he goes to the peta-realm.1
The same pattern is repeated for each of the higher attainments. i.e., the remaining jhānas and the āruppas.2
What is required to achieve complete deliverance from the cycle of rebirths is the eradication of the unwholesome roots of greed, hatred, and delusion. Since the most basic of these roots is delusion (moha), also called ignorance (avijjā), the key to liberation lies in the eradication of ignorance by developing its direct opposite, namely wisdom (paññā). For this reason the Buddha places wisdom at the head of all the spiritual faculties. It appears among the groups of training factors as the basis for success consisting in inquiry (vīma.sā-iddhipāda), the faculty of wisdom (paññindriya), the power of wisdom (paññābala), the investigation of phenomena enlightenment factor (dhammavicaya sambojjha/ga), and right view (sammādi((hi) of the Noble Eightfold Path. The DhammasaKgaLi in its definition of the faculty of wisdom spells out a whole list of equivalent terms, which testifies to its importance and the unrivalled esteem in which it is held:
The wisdom which there is on that occasion is understanding, search, research, searching the truth, discernment, discrimination, differentiation, erudition, proficiency, subtlety, criticism, reflection, analysis, breadth, sagacity, leading, insight, intelligence, incitement, wisdom as faculty, wisdom as power, wisdom as a sword, wisdom as a height, wisdom as light, wisdom as glory, wisdom as splendour, wisdom as a precious stone, the absence of dullness, searching the Truth, right views, – this is the wisdom that there then is.3
1. GS. 2:130. “Idha bhikkhave ekacco puggalo vivicceva kāmehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaJ savicāraJ vivekajam pītisukhaJ pa:hamajjhānaJ upasampajja viharati. So tad assādeti taJ nikāmeti tena ca vittiJ āpajjati, tattha :hito tad-adhimutto tabbahulavihārī aparihīno kālaJ kurumāno BrahmakàyikānaJ devānaJ sahavyataJ uppajjati. BrahmakāyikānaJ bhikkhave devānaJ kappo āyuppamānaJ, tattha puthujjano yāvatāyukaJ :hatvā yāvatakaJ tesaJ devānaJ āyuppamānaJ taJ sabbaJ khepetvā nirayaJ pi gacchati tiracchānayoniJ pi gacchati pittivisayaJ pi gacchati.” AN. 2:126.
2. GS. 1:245-46. AN. 1:267-68.
3. Psy. Ethics, p. 18. “KatamaJ tasmiJ samaye paññidriyaJ hoti? Yā tasmiJ samaye paññā pajānanā vicayo pavicayo sallakkhaLā upalakkhaLā paccūpalakkhaLā pandiccaJ kosallaJ nepuLLaJ vebhabyā cintā upaparikkhā bhūri medhā parināyikā vipassanā sampajaññaJ patodo pañña paññindriyaJ paññābalaJ
An analytical exposition of wisdom found in the Visuddhimagga1 discusses wisdom under six headings: [1] the definition of wisdom; [2] the sense in which it is called wisdom; [3] its characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause; [4] its classification; [5] method of development; and [6] its benefits. A brief consideration of these principles should help bring the nature of wisdom to light.
[1] Wisdom, according to Buddhaghosa, is defined as insight knowledge associated with wholesome states of consciousness.2
[2] Wisdom (paññā) is so called in the sense that it is an act of understanding (pajānana). It is a mode of knowing (jānana) distinct from and superior to the modes of perceiving (sañjānana) and cognizing (vijānana). What distinguishes wisdom from these other forms of cognition is its ability to comprehend the characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and selflessness and thereby to bring about the manifestation of the supramundane path.3
[3] Wisdom has the specific characteristic of penetrating the true nature of phenomena.4 Each phenomenon possesses its own particular characteristic as well as the general characteristics common to all phenomena. The particular and general characteristics together make up the “true nature” (sabhāva) of phenomena. Wisdom is the penetration of this nature through direct, unmediated cognition. Its function is “to abolish the darkness of delusion which conceals the individual essences of states” and its manifestation is “non-delusion.” Since the Buddha says that one whose mind is concentrated knows and sees things as they are, the proximate cause of wisdom is concentration.5
[4] The wisdom instrumental in attaining liberation is divided into two principal types:
insight-knowledge (vipassanā-ñā5a) and the knowledge pertaining to the supramundane paths (magga-ñā5a). The first is the direct penetration of the three characteristics of conditioned phenomena – impermanence (aniccatā), suffering (dukkhatā), and selfless-ness (anattatā). It takes as its objective sphere the groups of mental phenomena constituting individual existence, i.e. the five aggregates (pañcakkhandhā) of material form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.6 Because insight-knowledge takes the world (loka) of conditioned formations (sa/khāra) as its object it is regarded as a mundane (lokiya) form of wisdom. Insight-knowledge does not itself
paññāsattaJ paññāpasādo paññā āloko paññāobhāso paññāpajjoto paññāratanaJ amoho dhammavicayo sammādi::hi – idaJ tasmiJ samaye paññindriyaJ hoti.” Dhs., pp. 19-20.
1. PP., pp. 479-89. Vism., pp. 369-75.
2. PP., p. 479. “KusalacittasampayuttaJ vipassanāññānaJ paññā.” Vism., p. 369.
3. PP., p. 480. Vism., p. 369.
4. PP., p. 481. “Dhammasabhāvapa:ivedhalakkhaLā paññā.” Vism., p. 370.
5. PP., p. 481. “DhammānaJ sabhāvapa:icchādaka-mohāndhakāra-viddhaJsanarasā; asammohapaccu-pa::hānā; samāhito yathābhūtaJ jānāti passatī ti [AN. 5:3] vacanato pana samādhi tassa pada::hānaJ.”
Vism., p. 370.
6. In Pāli: Rūpakkhandha, vedanākkhandha, saññākkhandha, sa/khārakkhandha, viññā5akkhandha.
directly eradicate the defilements. It serves to prepare the way for the second type of wisdom, the wisdom of the supramundane paths, which emerges when insight has been brought to its climax. The wisdom of the path, occurring in the four distinct stages of the supramundane Noble Eightfold Path (to be discussed below), simultaneously realizes nibbāna, fathoms the Four Noble Truths, and cuts off the defilements. This wisdom is called “supramundane” (lokuttara) because it rises up (uttarati) from the world (loka) of the five aggregates to realize the state transcendent to the world, nibbāna.
[5] The Buddhist yogin, striving for deliverance, begins the development of wisdom by first securely establishing its roots – purified moral discipline and concentration. He then learns and masters the basic material upon which wisdom is to work – the aggregates, elements, sense bases, dependent arising, the Four Noble Truths, etc. He commences the actual practice of wisdom by cultivating insight into the impermanence, suffering, and selflessness of the five aggregates. When this insight reaches its apex it issues in supramundane wisdom, the right view factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. The wisdom of the path turns from conditioned formations to the unconditioned nibbāna, destroying thereby the latent defilements at their root.
[6] The removal of the defilements, the experiencing of nibbāna, and the achievement of the states of holiness culminating in arahatship – these, according to Buddhaghosa, are the benefits in developing wisdom.1