What Is Dry Insight?

Dry Wisdom. The character "dry" (乾) here means arid, without water. Dry wisdom refers to wisdom that lacks the moistening nourishment of the water of samādhi (定水)—it is parched, desiccated wisdom. Such wisdom has no practical function, just as soil without water cannot become mud; lacking the cohesive quality of mud, it cannot be used to plaster walls, pave the ground, or serve in construction. Similarly, dry wisdom—this wisdom that leaves one's mouth dry and lips parched from speaking—is not actually drawn from within one's own depth of realization; it is not experiential wisdom attained through direct realization. Rather, it is merely learned through intellect, deduced, or analytically derived. This belongs to the category of mere verbalization; it is not genuine wisdom. This represents the very initial stage of spiritual practice. If one remains fixed at this stage, mistaking it for the ultimate attainment, then one stagnates and cannot enter the mountain of true treasure.