Note 37 — INDEX.

Prajñâ, bodhi, buddhi, vidyâ and jñâ or jñâna are all synonymous and in many cases interchangeable. But they allow a finer discrimination. Speaking in a general way, prajñâ is reason, bodhi wisdom or intelligence, buddhi enlightenment, vidyâ ideality or knowledge, and jñâ or jñâna intellect. Of these five terms, prajñâ and bodhi are essentially Buddhistic and have acquired technical meaning, In this work both prajñâ and bodhi are mostly translated by intelligence, for their extent of meaning closely overlaps each other. But this is rather vague, and wherever I thought the term intelligence alone to be misleading, I either left the originals untranslated, or inserted them in parentheses. To be more exact, prajñâ in many cases can safely be rendered by faith, not a belief in revealed truths, but a sort of immediate knowledge gained by intuitive intelligence. Prajñâ corresponds in some respects to wisdom, meaning the foundation of all reasonings and experiences. It may also be considered an equivalent for Greek sophia. Bodhi, on the other hand, has a decidedly religious and moral significance. Besides being prajñâ itself, it is also love (karunâ): for, according to Buddhism, these two, prajñâ and karunâ, constitute the essence of Bodhi. May Bodhi be considered in some respects synonymous with the divine wisdom as understood by Christian dogmatists? But there is something in the Buddhist notion of Bodhi that cannot properly be expressed by wisdom or intelligence. This seems to be due to the difference of philosophical interpretation by Buddhists and Christians of the conception of God. It will become clearer as we proceed farther. (return)