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Inspiration on Prajna, Paramita for the month of December:

In Sanskrit it is: prajna
In Tibetan it is: shes rab (shay rap)

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Full Knowing

It is not only the innate capacity but also the inclination of the mind to know. To know what? Everything.

Prajna is mind's ability to be aware; to know objects. On the Buddhist path, developing one's own prajna is not merely the memorization of data, but rather the process of complete integration of the dharma into one's life.
The development of prajna can be characterized in three phases: Hearing, Contemplating, and Meditating.

Hearing regards open and active acquiring of the teachings of the Buddha. It is good to keep a healthy curiosity and even skepticism, but it is equally important to have an open mind and heart (let alone ears!) when hearing or reading the dharma.

Contemplating the dharma is a participatory process. One engages the teachings one encounters with one's own critical thinking, logic, common sense, and examines the relationship between them and one's own personal experience. Contemplation of the teachings is like cracking through the hard shell of a nut to get to the meat inside.

Meditating on the dharma is the thorough integration of the teachings in all aspects of one's life. This is first accomplished during formal sitting sessions, and later expanded to all of one's experiences. This is the fruitional stage, like digesting and living from the energy contained in the food one has previously learned how to cook, bought, prepared, and eaten.
It is only through participating in these stages that one can fully and genuinely develop one's prajna, and the ability to supremely benefit oneself and others.

(To learn more about these, please read: The appropriate chapters in the Nalandabodhi study curriculum.).

Atisha (982 - 1054 CE Indian saint), uses several slogans in Mind Training (Tib. blo sbyong, lo jong ) for the paramita of prajna:

* Always abide by the three basic principles (1. keeping the vows of individual liberation and the bodhisattva vow, 2. refaining from outrageous action, and 3. developing patience).
* Change your attitude, but remain natural.
* Don't talk about injured limbs.
* Work with the greatest defilements first.
* Abandon any hope of fruition.
* Don't be so predictable.
* Don't malign others.
* Don't wait in ambush.
* Don't bring things to a painful point.
* Don't transfer the ox's load to the cow.
* Don't try to be the fastest.
* Don't act with a twist.
* Don't make gods into demons.
* Don't seek others' pain as the limbs of your own happiness.

Contradictions to the paramita of prajna:

* Not having respect for the shravakayana [Foundational Buddhism], and therefore rejecting it.
* Having abandoned one's own tradition, the mahayana, exerting oneself in the shravakayana.
* In the same way, studying non-Buddhism literature. [In the sense of abandoning the dharma.]
* Although exerting oneself in the mahayana, preferring shravaka and non-Buddhism literature.
* Not taking interest in the distinctive features of the mahayana.
* Not seeking the holy dharma due to pride, laziness, and so forth.
* Praising oneself and disparaging others.
* Relying on the words rather than the meaning.