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| - In the Pali Canon, paññā is defined in a variety of overlapping ways, frequently centering on concentrated insight into the three characteristics (impermanence, suffering, no-self) of all things and the Four Noble Truths. For instance, when elaborating upon the Five Spiritual Faculties (faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom), the Buddha describes paññā (here translated as "discernment") as follows:
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| abstract
| - In the Pali Canon, paññā is defined in a variety of overlapping ways, frequently centering on concentrated insight into the three characteristics (impermanence, suffering, no-self) of all things and the Four Noble Truths. For instance, when elaborating upon the Five Spiritual Faculties (faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom), the Buddha describes paññā (here translated as "discernment") as follows: "And what is the faculty of discernment? There is the case where a monk, a disciple of the noble ones, is discerning, endowed with discernment of arising & passing away — noble, penetrating, leading to the right ending of stress. He discerns, as it is actually present, [the Four Noble Truths]: 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.' This is called the faculty of discernment." Similarly, in discussing the Threefold Training of higher-virtue (adhi-sīla), higher-mind (adhi-citta) and higher-wisdom (or "heightened discernment," adhi-paññā), the Buddha describes paññā thusly: "And what is the training in heightened discernment? There is the case where a monk discerns as it actually is that 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.' This is called the training in heightened discernment." In a subsequent discourse regarding the Threefold Training, the Buddha indicates that higher wisdom entails the application of concentration and insight to end "fermentations" (or "mental intoxicants"; Pali: āsava), effectively achieving arahantship: "And what is the training in heightened discernment? There is the case where a monk, through the ending of the mental fermentations, enters & remains in the fermentation-free awareness-release & discernment-release, having known & made them manifest for himself right in the here & now. This is called the training in heightened discernment." In mapping the Threefold Training to the Noble Eightfold Path, paññā is traditionally associated with "right view" (sammā-diṭṭhi) and "right resolve" (sammā-saṅkappa) which the Buddha defined as: "And what, monks, is right view? Knowledge with regard to stress, knowledge with regard to the origination of stress, knowledge with regard to the stopping of stress, knowledge with regard to the way of practice leading to the stopping of stress: This, monks, is called right view. "And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve."
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