Prajñā

Prajñā (Pali paññā) is wisdom in the Buddhist sense: not learning or cleverness, but insight into the true nature of things, their impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and lack of self, or, in the Mahāyāna, their emptiness. It is the third of the three trainings, with ethics and meditation, and the last of the six perfections of the bodhisattva.

The Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā) sūtras make it the mother of all buddhas, and the Heart Sūtra condenses the teaching into a few lines. Madhyamaka commentators describe a progression: wisdom that comes from hearing, from reflection, and from meditation, until insight becomes direct.

Mahāyāna insists that wisdom must be joined with compassion: wisdom without compassion would rest in a private peace, compassion without wisdom would cling to beings as real. The pairing is compared to the two wings of a bird.