[Buddha-l] A vocabulary question for Stephen and Lance (oranyoneelse)

[L.S. Cousins]

Stephen writes:
>In part reply to Richard's question, "praj~naa" is tricky to 
>translate so that all its nuances are covered, but the way it is 
>defined in mainstream abhidharmic / shastric literature seems to 
>cover a different semantic field to the English "wisdom".   As I 
>believe Richard himself once mentioned, as one of the factors 
>involved in all object-related mental activities, everybody has 
>praj~naa but not everybody has wisdom.

I think you need to make clearer what you think is the semantic field 
of the English 'wisdom'.

>I am not sure about the Pali usage, though here again I suspect some 
>kind of incisive insight or understanding is involved.

For the Pali tradition paññaa is only found in some skilful states of 
mind. So it is definitely not the case that everybody has it. In this 
respect the Pali tradition has resisted the tendency towards a more 
intellectual interpretation.

Lance Cousins