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Perfection of Wisdom is a translation of the Sanskrit term prajñā pāramitā ( Hanzi. 般若波羅蜜多, Pinyin. bān ruò bo luó mì duo, Jp. hannya-haramita), which is one of the aspects of a bodhisattva's personality called the paramitas.
The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras or Prajñāparamitā Sutras are a genre of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures dealing with the subject of the Perfection of Wisdom. The term Prajñāparamitā alone never refers to a specific text, but always to the class of literature.
The earliest sutra in this class is the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra or "Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines", which was probably put in writing about 100 BCE. More material was gradually compiled over the next two centuries. As well as the sutra itself there is a summary in verse, the Ratnaguṇasaṁcaya Gāthā, which some believe to be slightly older as because it is not written in standard literary Sanskrit. 8,000-line is one of the earliest Mahayana sutras.
Between 100 and 300 this text was expanded into large versions in 10,000, 18,000, 25,000 and 100,000 lines, collectively known at the "Large Perfection of Wisdom". These differ mainly in the extent to which the many lists are either abbreviated or written out in full; the rest of the text is mostly unchanged between the different versions. Since the large versions proved to be unwieldy they were later summarized into shorter versions, produced from 300 to 500. The shorter versions include the Heart Sutra (Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya Sutra) and the Diamond Sutra (Prajñāpāramitā Vajracchedikā Sutra). These two are widely popular and have had a great influence on the development of Mahayana Buddhism. Tantric versions of the Prajnaparamita; literature were produced from 500 on.
The following is a quotation used with permission.
"At first sight, The Perfection of Wisdom is bewildering, full of paradox and apparent irrationality. Yet once one accepts that trying to unravel these texts without experiencing the intuitions behind them is not satisfactory, it becomes clear that paradox and irrationality are the only means of conveying to the reader those underlying intuitions that would otherwise be impossible to express. Edward ConzeEberhart (Edward) Julius Dietrich Conze ( 1904 1979) was born in London of mixed German, French, and Dutch ancestry. His father belonged to the German landed aristocracy, and his mother to what he himself would have called the 'plutocracy'. His background succinctly summarized what The Perfection of Wisdom is about, saying, 'The thousands of lines of the Prajñāparamitā can be summed up in the following two sentences:
1) One should become a bodhisattvaMaitreya, 2nd century, Gandhara. In Buddhist thought, a bodhisattva is a being that, while not yet fully enlightened, is actively striving toward that goal. Conventionally, the term is applied to hypothetical beings with a high degree of enlightenment and (or, BuddhaBuddha ( Sanskrit, Pali, others: literally Awakened One Enlightened One from the Sanskrit: "√budh", to awaken can refer to the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama or to anyone who has attained the same depth and quality of enlightenment. Buddhism-to-be), i.e. one who is content with nothing less than all-knowledge attained through the perfection of wisdom for the sake of all beings.
2) There is no such thing as a bodhisattva, or as all-knowledge, or as a 'being', or as the perfection of wisdom, or as an attainment. To accept both of these contradictory facts is to be perfect.'
The central idea of The Perfection of Wisdom is complete release from the world of existence. The Perfection of Wisdom goes beyond earlier Buddhist teaching that focused on the rise and fall of phenomena to state that there is no such rise and fall - because all phenomena are essentially void. The earlier perception had been that reality is composed of a multiplicity of things. The Perfection of Wisdom states that there is no multiplicity: all is one. Even existence ( samsaraFor the movie by this title, see Samsara (2001 . In Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism Sasra refers to the concept of reincarnation or rebirth in Indian philosophical traditions. Etymology Sasra is derived from sa√s, "to flow together," to go or pass th) and nirvanaThe following article is about the term Nirvana in the context of Buddhism. See Nirvana (disambiguation) for other meanings. In Buddhism, nirva (from the Sanskrit Pali: Nibbna Chinese: Nie4 Pan2 ), literally "extinction" or "extinguishing", is the culmina are essentially the same, and both are ultimately void. The view of The Perfection of Wisdom is that words and analysis have a practical application in that they are necessary for us to function in this world but, ultimately, nothing can be predicated about anything.
Within this context of voidness, The Perfection of Wisdom offers a way to enlightenmentBodhi ( Pali and Sanskrit. awakening''. enlightenment is a title given in Buddhism to the specific awakening experience attained by the Indian spiritual teacher Gautama Buddha and his disciples. It is sometimes described as complete and perfect sanity, or. It represents the formal introduction to Buddhist thought of a practical ideal - the ideal of a bodhisattva. Unlike an arhat or pratyekabuddha, beings who achieve enlightenment but cannot pass on the means of enlightenment to others, a bodhisattva should and does teach. A bodhisattva must practice the six perfections: giving, morality, patience, vigour, contemplation and wisdom. Wisdom is the most important of these because it dispels the darkness of sensory delusion and allows things to be seen as they really are."
--R.C. Jamieson : The Perfection of Wisdom (New York : Penguin Viking, 2000. BooksEnthsiast.com pp. 8-9)
For example Diamond sutra says:
Stars cannot be grasped. Things seen with faulty vision do not really exist. Lamps only burn as long as they have fuel. A mock show is a magical illusion; it is not as it seems. Dew drops evaporate quickly in the heat of the sun. Bubbles are short lived and have no real substance to them. Dreams are not real, even though they may seem so at the time. Lightning is short lived and quickly over. Clouds are always changing shape. By realising the transient nature of things it is easier to detach from them and to attain Nirvana.
NagarjunaNgrjuna (c. 150 250 CE) was an Indian philosopher, the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Buddhism, and arguably the most influential Indian Buddhist thinker after the Gautama Buddha himself. His writings were the basis for the formation of's philosophical explorations of sunyat may be derived in part from the Prajñāparamitā literature.