The Relationship Between the Mental Factor of Determination (Adhimokṣa) and the Mental Factor of Wisdom (Prajñā)

The treatises say that determination (adhimokṣa) is the validation of an object\: knowing that the object is the object, believing that the object is the object, without error or doubt. For example, when the mind confronts a flower or the moon, it determines them to be a flower and the moon, without doubt, able to trust its own understanding and not easily swayed — this is determination. The word "determination" highlights the degree of understanding of the object, approaching the true reality of the object. But it is not yet the final, complete conviction, nor has the true reality of the object been realized. Therefore, there is also the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā) that follows; only when the mental factor of wisdom manifests can the object be realized, can conviction in the object be attained, can the states of the flower and the moon be completely known.

Determination corresponds to knowing that something is so, while wisdom corresponds to knowing why it is so: one is understanding, the other is realization. Determination is shallow wisdom, the foundation of wisdom; wisdom is the ultimate, final cognition. In the cultivation and realization of the Buddha-dharma, the mental factor of determination corresponds to understanding-awakening, while the mental factor of wisdom corresponds to realization-awakening. For understanding-awakening to become realization-awakening, it must pass through two stages — the mental factor of mindfulness and the mental factor of meditative concentration (samādhi) — firmly imprinting and holding the understood dharma in the mind, never forgetting it moment to moment, cultivating meditative concentration, with the mind fixed on this dharma in uninterrupted investigation, until finally the mind opens in conviction, great wisdom manifests, and realization-awakening is attained.

Determining the flower and the moon is a worldly matter and does not seem too difficult: as long as one possesses the concepts and knowledge of worldly phenomena, the six faculties are normal, and there are no obstructions, one will determine the flower and the moon, which also contains some relatively shallow understanding-wisdom. However, reaching the level of determination in the Buddha-dharma is not so easy: one must possess the relevant knowledge and concepts of the Buddha-dharma, and also cultivate the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment, reducing the obstructions of karmic hindrances, in order to attain determination. But there is still a considerable distance to go before realization, and certain causal conditions must be perfected before realization can proceed smoothly.