Dear Friends,
To finish Kamala’s talk, “The Five Spiritual Faculties’ relationship to Equanimity” with the fifth faculty of wisdom.
Kamaly says the calm and steady collected mind can “pierce through the illusion of solidity and permanence.”
She says, “When [the mind] pierces through the illusion of permanence, the deep understanding and wisdom of impermanence is known. Not theoretically, but experientially, on a really deep, pixelated level, moment to moment to moment.”
Wisdom can come in different forms. There’s wisdom that comes from reading and listening (sutamaya-panna). We might get that from listening to the talks on dharmaseed or reading books or articles. This type of wisdom isn’t to be dismissed. I’ve found that reading and listening to others has opened my mind to possibilities I might not otherwise have considered.
Sutamaya-panna: Kamala talks about impermance.
Another type of wisdom comes from reflection (cintamaya-panna) with one’s own intellect. We check something out to see if it makes logical sense.
Cintamaya-panna: We reflect on what Kamala has said. Sure, impermanence makes sense. Intellectually we probably “get” that at some level.
The highest level of wisdom in this categorization is what we discover to be true in our own experience (bhavanamaya-panna). We see this through our practice, in this high-resolution way that Kamala describes. We get to know it in an embodied way.
Bhavanamaya-panna: “Impermanence is like this.”
Kamala closes her talk by coming back to the analogy of the horses – balancing faith and wisdom, energy and concentration. I came across a document that Heather Sundberg put together that summarizes many of the points that Kamala raised. So if your preference for sutamaya-panna includes reading, you might enjoy this:
https://heathersundberg.com/articles_11_4165797029.docx
Reflection: How have you noticed wisdom developing from practice and wisdom informing your practice?
Feel free to share your reflections or comments below, or by email.
With warm wishes,
Andrea