The Four Forms of Acumen

　　1. Attha-patisambhida: acumen with regard to meaning.

　　2. Dhamma-patisambhida: acumen with regard to mental qualities.

　　3. Nirutti-patisambhida: acumen with regard to linguistic conventions.

　　4. Patibhana-patisambhida: acumen with regard to expression.

　　1. Acumen with regard to meaning means knowing how to explain the Buddha”s shorter teachings in detail and how to draw out the gist of a detailed teaching so that listeners will have a correct understanding in line with the Buddha”s aims. Even if you have a lot to say, you get to the point; even if you have only a little to say, you don”t leave out anything important. Wrong words you can turn into right ones, and explanations that are correct but crude you can make more subtle without leaving anything out.

　　2. Acumen with regard to mental qualities means knowing how to distinguish the wise qualities from unwise ones, establishing the first as good, which ought to be followed, and the second as evil, which ought to be avoided. You know how to explain their various levels, classifying the unwise as common, intermediate, and subtle, and then know which wise qualities are suitable for countering each sort: Virtue does away with common defilements; concentration does away with intermediate defilements; and discernment, subtle defilements. This is knowledge about mental qualities. The next step is to develop virtue to do away with the more common forms of greed, hatred, and delusion; to develop concentration to do away with the hindrances; and discernment to do away with the fetters (sanyojana).

　　Acumen with regard to mental qualities thus means to distinguish the various types of qualities and then to put the wise qualities into practice until the supreme quality — nibbana — is realized. Simply knowing about the wise qualities, but not developing them, runs counter to the Buddha”s reasons for teaching about them in the first place.

　　3. Acumen with regard to linguistic conventions refers to the ability to know the inpidual with whom you are speaking (puggalaññuta), and how to speak with different types of people so as to be in keeping with their knowledge and background (parisaññuta). You know that you have to speak this way with that lay person, and that way with this; that this group of monks and novices has to be addressed in such and such a way, in line with their various backgrounds. You know how to make people understand in their own language — how to speak with farmers, merchants, and kings, varying your language so as to fit the person you are speaking to. This form of acumen, contrary to what people normally believe, doesn”t refer to the ability to speak the external language of birds or mice or what-have-you. Even if we could speak their language, what good would it do

　　 If anyone can actually speak these languages, good for them. The Buddha”s main interest, though, was probably in having us know how to speak with people in such a way that our words will meet their needs. Only those who have this ability qualify as having acquired this form of acumen.

　　4. Acumen with regard to expression refers to being quick-witted in discussing the Dhamma and its meaning, knowing how to put things in apt way so as to keep ahead of your listeners. This doesn”t mean being devious, though. It simply means using strategy so as to be of benefit: putting common matters in subtle terms, and subtle matters in common terms; speaking of matters close at hand as if they were far away, of far away matters as if they were close at hand, explaining a base statement in high terms or a high statement in base terms, making difficult matters easy, and obscure matters plain. You know the right word to cut off a long winded opponent, and how to put things — …

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