An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “How Buddhists Think”
The fourth “Noble Truth” taught by the Buddha was “The Eight-fold Path.” In our Mahayana tradition, this is condensed into “Knowledge” and “Wisdom.” Knowledge is not facts we can know and collect. Rather, it is the awareness of all cause-and-effect relationships and their function as the building blocks of cyclic existence, or samsara.
The Buddha had omniscience. When looking at a sentient being, he could see all the cause-and-effect relationships that brought that being to the present moment. If he were here now looking at you, he could discern all the generosity, all the accumulated virtuous actions that make it possible for you to hear these teachings. He could also see all the obstacles that have prevented you from being a Buddha. He would have a panoramic view of all your accumulated non-virtue and egocentric fixation, knowing not only the facts of your life, but also understanding how the causes and effects were interdependently related. This is knowledge in the Buddha’s view, and it is the only really valuable knowledge.
The Buddha also had complete wisdom. Contrary to ordinary understanding, this wisdom is not related to any accumulation of facts. It is the natural awakened state, the awareness of the primordial empty Nature. It is the awareness of emptiness, the understanding of “Suchness.”
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved
