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Perfect Wisdom Talks

Prajñāpāramitā means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Transcendental Knowledge" in Mahāyāna. Prajñāpāramitā refers to a perfected way of seeing the nature of reality, as well as to a particular body of Mahāyāna scriptures (sūtras), known as the Prajñāpāramitā sutras, which includes such texts as the Heart Sutra and Diamond Sutra.
The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā "wisdom" (or "knowledge") with pāramitā, "excellence," "perfection," "noble character quality," or "that which has gone beyond," "gone to the other side," "transcending." Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and is generally associated with ideas such as emptiness (śūnyatā), 'lack of svabhāva' (essence), the illusory (māyā) nature of things, how all phenomena are characterized by "non-arising" (anutpāda, i.e. unborn) and the madhyamaka thought of Nāgārjuna. Its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva path.
According to Edward Conze, the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras are "a collection of about forty texts ... composed somewhere on the Indian subcontinent between approximately 100 BC and AD 600." Some Prajnāpāramitā sūtras are thought to be among the earliest Mahāyāna sūtras.
Title | Speaker | |
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Freedom from EverythingSerial: SR-00150 Sesshin Lecture, Day 5 Sesshin, Happiness, Demons, Precepts, Perfect Wisdom, Attachment, New Year, zen,... |
Jun 09 1971 City Center |
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Shosan CeremonySerial: SR-00213 Tassajara [Beginning of ceremony not recorded.] Sesshin, Shosan, Perfect Wisdom, Dragons, Breath, Death, Intuition, Lay, Bell,... |
Sep 1969 Tassajara |
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Lotus Sutra, Lecture No. II-5Serial: SR-00100 Fall, 1968 Lotus Sutra, Wisdom, Discrimination, Perfect Wisdom, Monks, Mahayana, Buddha Nature,... |
Oct 1968 Series 2, Talk 5 Tassajara |
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Lotus Sūtra No. I-1Serial: SR-00110 Lotus Sutra No. 1 Lotus Sutra, Monks, Perfect Wisdom, Meditation, Wisdom, Precepts, Constancy, Demons,... |
Feb 1968 Series 2, Talk 1 Tassajara |
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Lotus Sūtra No. I-3Serial: SR-00117 February 1968 Lotus Sutra, Wisdom, Dana, Perfect Wisdom, Intention, Monks, Sutra, Precepts,... |
Feb 1968 Series 1, Talk 3 Tassajara |