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Which is more important, wisdom or method, in Mahāyāna Buddhism?

edited March 2010 in Buddhism Basics
Which is more important, wisdom or method, in Mahāyāna Buddhism? :)

Comments

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2010
    I would define wisdom as seeing a better possibility. What would method be?
  • edited March 2010
    Does not "method" here imply the means, or path of practice taken, to attain "wisdom"? In that case, neither can be said to be more important than the other. The method is the means to wisdom; the method in conjunction with wisdom (right view) leads to freedom.

    It is a causal chain. Wisdom is not something you read, but the result of practicing the path rightly. In that regard, method is more important than wisdom initially, up through stream-entry. After that, applying that wisdom correctly is more important to reach the goal.

    The paradoxical nature of this very question just made me laugh out loud, seriously. :)
  • edited March 2010
    i have no idea what is meant by method exactly but what is most important in mahayana is the enlightenment of all beings facilitated by love facilitated by wisdom facilitated by a giant donkey that carries all the infinity of chains of turtles on its back.. it seems you cannot separate the two or the three or whatever we're talking about, they're all interconnected, you can't separate ANYTHINg!!!
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2010
    "you can't separate ANYTHINg" only in a conventional sense. Like you can separate whites and yolks to make an angel food cake. Or marangues. But strictly speaking they are not separated.
  • edited March 2010
    I'm with Pietro, at least the parts of what he's saying that I understand. ;) I'm no Zen Master that's for sure.

    The further along the path you get, the more you'll come to realize the many-sidedness of the teachings and that they really are more connected than we know. We think they are separate concepts, but they're all just one concept that is fragmented for our benefit; we can't understand the totality of the truth any more than the concept of the solar system, and the universe, would've made any sense to someone in the 6th century where there was no way to prove any of it. We still have to mostly just accept what we're told as to that; anyone understand fully the General Theory of Relativity, not just conceptually but as if you could see it?

    The truth is like that. It takes a lot of mental evolution. We each have to change in a very specific and conditioned way, just like the human species evolved physically, intellectually and socially over the course of who knows how long. But we have to do this for ourselves, as individuals rather than an entire species, and that's the hard part.

    Method and personal effort must be where we start. The effort carries us forward, practicing the path rightly sets up conditions for the mental evolution that we call the acquisition of wisdom. Don't ever let anyone tell you that enlightenment is hard, difficult, may take you until you're old or perhaps not until another life. That is utter wrong view. Enlightenment is nothing more than the result of conditions, and we can find the way to set those up through Buddhism, with our personal effort and dedication toward the goal, and to letting go of everything we think we know, leading the way forward.

    If anyone should say to you that it is unlikely you will become enlightened, it is more likely that they will not. There is great hope for all of us, and only the non-self we cling to, and this same non-self within others, would try and keep us down. :)
  • NiosNios Veteran
    edited March 2010
    I'd agree with Stephen and Pietro.
  • FoibleFullFoibleFull Canada Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Our teacher, a monk from Tibet, says that wisdom and method are like the wings of a bird ... both are needed if the bird is going to be able to fly.
  • edited March 2010
    Without wisdom, method doesnt get you very far. They are the two wings of the bird but if you dont have the proper wisdom that allows you to apply method properly you may be inadvertently causing harm.
  • ansannaansanna Veteran
    edited March 2010
    without wisdom , method cannot achieve much; without method , wisdom cannot be actualized
  • edited March 2010
    thank you all for the wonderful replies. it seemed like a paradoxical question. the bird analogy really seemed to touch me. thank you all.
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