Worldly Prajna and Non-Worldly Prajna | The Six Paramitas

A third way to dichotomize prajna is based on its different levels. First, there is worldly prajna, which is wisdom applied to a relative world, where we deal with people and the environment in relation to the self. Within such a relative world, there is a subject (oneself, and there are objects (other people and things).

Second, there is the non-worldly prajna of liberation, in which one does not see people and things around oneself as objects. Since there is no subject and no object, this kind of prajna is absolute, not relative. There is no idea of ‘me’ versus an object out there. This non-worldly prajna of liberation also functions when one is alone, but the main point is that one does not treat people and things in the environment as objects. Does this mean that worldly prajna is bad, since it perceives subjects and objects? Not necessarily. As long as we apply the attitude of non-worldly prajna, that is to say not treating people and the environment as objects, we are still in the state of liberation.

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