The History of Buddhist Thought c24.42

c24.42

So far, it will be seen, he has practised all the stages that lead to arhatship. But now he turns away from the stages of disciple and pratyekabuddha. He has reached *prajñā* (*paññā*), which in the older teaching meant the full knowledge of the arhat. The term is still retained, but now it has the additional meaning which the Mahāyānists put into it—the knowledge of the truth of things as they understood it. In this sense, as the Perfection practised at this stage, it is usually called the Perfection of Wisdom.