Awareness embodies wisdom. But they are not the same thing.

Lama Surya Das puts it this way: Wisdom is everything. Awakened awareness realizes this.

In other words, awakened awareness is what allows wisdom to be embodied in a holistic way. Wisdom becomes being.

Another way of putting it is to say that wisdom is about growing up and awakened awareness is about waking up. Wisdom only happens over a long period of time, and it requires trials and failures and perseverance. Awakened awareness can happen in a moment, like a flash of insight. It can be gone one minute, and be present the next. For this reason, Lama Surya Das describes prajna wisdom as a sword and jnana awareness like a flash of lightning.

This is because awakened awareness is kind of like an alternate dimension; we may not be living in it, but it’s there all the time. And one little step through the wardrobe or through a wall at Platform 9 3/4 and you’re there.

Confucius said, “Unify your attention. Do not listen with your ears but with your mind; do not listen with your mind but with your essence.” This is  awareness embodying wisdom.

How can you embody the wisdom of being today? How can you unify your attention? Maybe it’s just about being present to what’s here, and being open to it.

This post is part of the Paramita Project, where I’m practicing one paramita each month. Read all my posts on the tenth and final paramita, jnana/awakened awareness, here.