Key Terms/Prajñāpāramitā
Basic Meaning
A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school.
Has the sense of
The term itself references a type of intelligence, discernment, or knowledge that embodies the insight which transcends the notions of the three spheres of agent, object, and action.
This can also refer to a female deity who is known in the Tibetan tradition as the Great Mother (yum chen mo).
See page 656: In Sanskrit, “perfection of wisdom” or “perfect wisdom”; a polysemous term, which appears in Päli accounts of the Buddha’s prior training as a bodhisattva (P. bodhisatta), but is widely used in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Prajñāpāramitā refers to a level of understanding beyond that of ordinary wisdom, especially referring to the the wisdom associated with, or required to achieve, buddhahood. The term receives a variety of interpretations, but it is often said to be the wisdom that does not conceive of an agent, an object, or an action as being ultimately real. The perfection of wisdom is also sometimes defined as the knowledge of emptiness (śūnyatā). As the wisdom associated with buddhahood, prajñāpāramitā is the sixth of the six perfections (pāramitā) that are practiced on the bodhisattva path.
Transcendent Knowledge, prajnaparamita. Intelligence that transcends conceptual thinking. 'Transcendent' literally means 'gone to the other shore' in the sense of having departed from 'this shore' of dualistic concepts. The Mahayana teachings on insight into emptiness, transcending the fixation of subject, object and action. Associated with the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma. Prajnaparamita, the Perfection of Insight. perfection of wisdom; transcendent wisdom, transcendent knowledge, "the intelligence of reaching the other share", transcending intelligence, knowledge, the perfection of wisdom, def. {'khor gsum mi rtog pas chos kyi rang bzhin ba rtogs pa ni} ultimate transcendent knowledge
