The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audioderma.org. You're not going to. Hello and

this week of the five faculties, that's the theme,

and now on Friday, fifth faculty is wisdom. And an alternative translation of Panya that often translated as wisdom is discernment,

our faculty or capacity to be discerning in the moment to have insight about what is

useful and not useful to do what What is skillful, what is wholesome to do. And this very basic

distinction that guides what we engage in, what we do with our lived life as we live it,

is invaluable that we always have a guide, a support, a reference point for how to go forward.

And that's maybe fundamental to every purpose we have, the activities in which we engage in all fall back to a common denominator when we're doing Buddhist practice.

We see it with wisdom.

We see it with discernment.

And the simple discernment is we know to do those things that bring happiness, bring well-being, bring a feeling of ease or calm or peace or

and we avoid those things that does the opposite.

And so when we sit and meditate, we start getting a clear sense that certain things

we do are not really useful, not really beneficial for ourselves to spend a lot of time thinking, planning,

reviewing, fantasizing, is seen you know, this is not so useful. There's a discernment, a clear

knowing, a clear insight. It's obvious, oh, there's better things to do than be cut up in thoughts.

We can be mindful, we can be present for our lived experience, really be here with this. And part of the reason to be here, this is where the evidence exists for becoming discerning,

becoming wise. We see in our own experience that when we have the hindrances operating, it

doesn't serve us. When there is greed, strong desire for something, when there's ill will,

when we're stuck in fear or caught up in fear or torpor resistance when there's

a restlessness and regrets that we're just spinning out on.

...