The Difference between Knowledge and Wisdom

The word knowledge, in Tibetan, is “kundzop”,

which literally translates as “outfit”. It is what’s 

knowable about existence, how things work,

what we are looking at, anything that can be

perceived through the senses. It includes what 

we are able to do; skills that we have, how we

raise out kids in a good way, stuff like that.

The word wisdom in Tibetan is “dondam”,

which roughly translates as “absolute truth”.

As my teacher, Chogyam Trungpa explained 

the difference, he said: “Relative truth, 

(kundzop), says a lot and means very little.

Absolute truth, (dondam) says nothing at all.”

I have an example to illustrate the difference.

Al Pacino and Marlon Brando are/were two

actors very skilled in their craft, working on 

the Godfather movie together. Their kundzop

of acting was very sophisticated. Brando 

gave a word of advice to Pacino that illustrates

dondam. He said: “Just because the Director

says ‘Action!', it doesn’t mean you have to do

anything.”