THE ANUD¢PAN¢
(4) PatibhÈna kavi
(The term
kavi
is derived from the root, ‘
kava
’ which means ‘to praise’; so a person who
praises things worthy of praises is called
kavi
meaning a ‘wise person’.)
(1) One who is capable of knowing a given matter by thinking it out for himself is called a
Cinta kavi, a wise man of original thinking. It is the province of such persons to sing
verses lauding those deserving praise. Thus Cinta kavi is one who composes poems
relying solely on his own thinking.
(2) One who puts into verse what one knows through hearing is called a Suta kavi.
(3) One who does not know through his original thinking or through learning from others
but interprets the meaning of a difficult point based upon the knowledge he already
possesses of similar problems is called an Attha kavi, a wise man who explains
meaning. He writes verses based on a given subject-matter.
(4) One who, without having recourse to thinking out himself or listening to others or
referring to what is already known, has the ability to penetrate at once the meaning of
a given subject is called a Patibhana kavi, a wise man of ready speech (like the
Venerable Vangisa Thera during the Buddha's time).
The Nature of Wisdom
Wisdom is a separate mental concomitant, one of the ultimate realities. In the
Dhammasa~gani, various names, such as
paÒÒindriya, paÒÒÈ, pajÈnanÈ
, etc. are given to
wisdom, because it is the characteristic of the Abhidhamma to give complete details of
everything that should be taught about each subject. The principal term for wisdom is
‘
paÒÒindriya
’ made up of ‘
paÒÒÈ
’ and ‘
indriya
’.
It is called PaÒÒÈ (Wisdom), because it is conducive to understanding in all aspects the
Four Truths or the Three Characteristics of impermanence (
anicca
), suffering (
dukkha
),
and non-self (
anatta
).
It is called faculty (
indriya
), (controlling or governing) because it can overcome
ignorance (
avijjÈ
) and delusion (
moha
) or because it dominates in understanding the real
nature.
PaÒÒÈ
(wisdom), has the characteristic of creating light. Just as darkness is
dispelled as soon as light appears in a dark room, even so, where ignorance blinds us, as
soon as wisdom appears, ignorance is dispelled enabling us to see clearly. Therefore, the
Buddha has said: ‚
PaÒÒÈ samÈ ÈbhÈ natthi
—— There is no light like wisdom‛.
Wisdom has the characteristic of perceiving things with discrimination. Just as a clever
physician discerns which food is suitable for his patient and which food is not, so when
wisdom arises it enables one to distinguish between what is meritorious and what is not.
Wisdom also has the characteristic of penetrating the real nature as it is. It may be
likened to an arrow which, shot by a clever archer, penetrates the target unerringly.
An important point to note with regard to this characteristic of wisdom: Genuine
wisdom is knowing a thing as it really is and such a knowledge is blameless. That
is why in the Abhidhammattha Sangaha, the mental concomitant of wisdom (
PaÒÒÈ
Cetasika
) is included in the ‘Beautiful’ (
SobhaÓa
) types of mental concomitants.
SulasÈ JÈtaka in Brief
Questions arise concerning wisdom with reference to the action of SulasÈ in the
SulasÈ JÈtaka of the Atthaka NipÈta. In BÈrÈÓasÊ, a prostitute by the name of SulasÈ
saved the life of robber Suttaka who was about to be executed. She made him her
husband and they lived together. Wanting to possess her jewellery, the robber
persuaded her to put on her jewelled ornaments which worth one lakh of money
and went up a mountain with him. On reaching the top of the mountain, he told her
to take off all her jewelleries and prepared to kill her. Then Sulasa thought to
herself: ‚He is sure to kill me, I must strike first and kill him by a ruse.‛ So she
begged him: ‚My dear, even though you are going to kill me, I lose no love for
you. Nearing my death, may I pay my respects to you from the four quarters, i.e.