Zen & Buddhism

Intuitive Wisdom

Trusting the direct knowing that arises from deep practice and presence.

Prajna is intuitive wisdom that sees directly into the nature of reality. It's not intellectual understanding but intimate knowing born from meditation. Like recognizing your own face - immediate, certain, beyond doubt.

Written about in

• What Zen says about doubt

  Prajna is described as knowing born of meditation rather than reasoning — immediate, like recognising your own face. This is where honesty is owed: the tradition promises certainty on the far side of doubt, but offers no test that separates real prajna from a confident mood, except years of sitting and a teacher willing to contradict you.