Gateway to Dharma
How does One Attain True Wisdom?
True Wisdom is the certainty of thorough understanding. It is attained through the undertaking of the Dharma Path. There is a major difference between being aware of the conceptual description of True Wisdom and the actual experience of having to implement the practice. Most people only consider the validity of True Wisdom after the subjective view they so dearly hold onto fails to prepare them for the eruption of life-threatening disaster or crisis of personal loss. As the conceit of their subjective view dissipates and the complacency about their particular belief-system erodes, they suddenly think, feel, see, and comport themselves quite differently, realising often for the first time how fragile the fabric of their previous rationalisation of life had been. As they ponder upon the choices they have to make, they begin to regard the previous priorities of their lives in quite a different light.
It is evident that the mindfulness of the existence of suffering around us, or for most people, the actual experiencing of suffering itself, is the key factor which influences their decision to embark upon the Dharma Path. But being on the Dharma Path requires a change in perception. As Albert Einstein observed: "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." It is most essential at this stage to take refuge in an experienced teacher of Dharma who can reflect back to us the exact state of being we are at, in spite of the self-generated obscuration we are experiencing due to the presence of our external artificial persona and our internal self-deceiving rationalisation. The presence of an experienced teacher of Dharma eliminates uncertainty on our path of progress, enabling each of us to be guided along one of the Preliminary Paths of Liberation in accordance to what is relevant to our intellectual capacities.