Prajna (Wisdom) — The Sixth Paramita

Prajna (Sanskrit) or pañña (Pali) is the sixth and culminating paramita, the direct insight into sunyata that transforms the preceding five perfections from mundane virtues into transcendent ones (lokottara). The Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamitahrdaya) compresses this into its essential formula: 'rūpaṁ śūnyatā, śūnyataiva rūpam' — all five skandhas are empty of svabhava. Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika establishes prajna's philosophical ground through the identity of pratityasamutpada and sunyata: what dependently arises lacks inherent existence, and this lack is not a deficiency but the very condition of arising. As the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita declares, prajna is the 'mother of all Buddhas' — without it, dana becomes mere philanthropy, sila becomes mere rule-following, and dhyana becomes mere absorption without liberating insight.