What happened to wisdom?

Over a half a century ago, when late Venerable Professor Kotagama Wachissara Thero taught us Buddha Dhamma at Ananda, he explained that the Noble Eightfold Path is meant to develop three qualities: wisdom (panna), ethical conduct (sila), and mental harmony (samadhi).

- BY GEEWANANDA GUNAWARDANA, PH.D.

Venerable Professor Kotagama Wachissara Thero

Venerable Walpola Rahula thero wrote the same in his must-read book, What the Buddha Taught (1959), where he elaborates what is meant by each in simpler terms. In recent times, we hear Buddhists talk about generosity (dana), conduct (sila), and mindfulness (bhawana) instead. What happened to wisdom? Regardless of the religion, it should be a real concern for all Sri Lankans, as lack of wisdom means only one thing, and we all have fallen victim.

The dictionary defines wisdom as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise. According to Buddhist teaching, Right Understanding (samma ditthi), and Right Thought (samma sankappa) count as wisdom; even though direct translations of Pali words have limitations, there is concordance with the dictionary definition. Venerable Rahula explains the importance of wisdom in his book as follows:

“According to Buddhism for a human to be perfect there are two qualities they should develop equally: compassion (karuna) on one side, and wisdom (panna) on the other. Here compassion represents love, charity, kindness, tolerance and such noble qualities on the emotional side, or qualities of the heart, while wisdom would stand for the intellectual side or the qualities of the mind. If one develops only the emotional, neglecting the intellectual, one may become a goodhearted fool, while to develop only the intellectual side neglecting the emotional may turn one into a hardhearted intellect without feeling for others...”

An honest look at the prevailing socio, economic, and religious degradation of the country shows that we have followed the two extremes, turning our society into a bunch of selfish fools. It hurts, but can we explain the current situation in any other way? If we had acted wiselyas a nation, would we have ended up in this state?