There are two kinds of wisdom – worldly wisdom and transcendental wisdom.
And there are two types of worldly wisdom: One is the erudite and expressive type, who stand out from the crowd with foresight, knowledge, and understanding. The other is the principled type, those who know what a right thing is and what a wrong thing is.
Armed with the first type of worldly wisdom only, one is wise but deranged, destined to fall into the three lower levels of existence. Armed with both types of worldly wisdom, one is wiser and upright, may stay in the human realm or even go to the heavens. Because when one’s virtues exceed one’s skills, one becomes a noble character; otherwise, one is just little man.
There are two types of transcendental wisdom too. One is able to distinguish the Buddha’s true teachings (such as the Four Noble Truths and Six Paramitas) and practice them accordingly. The other type is those who have attained freedom from ignorance through realizing one’s true nature of mind.
With only the first type of transcendental wisdom, one remains a work in gradual progress. Once both types of wisdom are acquired, one realizes the foremost level of transcendental wisdom, which is called Sudden Awakening. Because once you get the fundamental, you get the rest as well. But if what you get is only the secondary, you don’t necessarily get the fundamental.
Nowadays people only have the first type of worldly wisdom, but already they are boasting that they have acquired Complete Awakening – how absurd!
by Grand Master Lian Chi (蓮池大師), the Eighth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism
世智當悟 – 錄自明末蓮池大師《竹窗隨筆》(初筆)
智有二: 有世間智，有出世間智。世智又二: 一者博學宏辭，長技遠略，但以多知多解而勝乎人者是也。二者明善惡、別邪正，行其所當行而止其所當止者是也。僅得其初，是謂狂智，當墮三塗。兼得其後，是謂正智，報在人天。何以故? 德勝才謂之君子，才勝德謂之小人也。出世間智亦二: 一者善能分別如來正法，四諦、六度等，依而奉行者是也。二者破無明惑，如實了了見自本心者是也。僅得其初，是出世間智也，名為漸入。兼得其後，是出世間上上智也，乃名頓超。何以故? 但得本，不愁末。得末者，未必得本也。今有乍得世智初分，便謂大徹大悟者，何謬昧之甚!
Buddha Mind 