What happened to wisdom? The dictionary defines wisdom as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise. Venerable Rahula explains the importance of wisdom in his book as follows:“According to Buddhism for a human to be perfect there are two qualities they should develop equally: compassion (karuna) on one side, and wisdom (panna) on the other. What part of these activities comes under compassion (karuna) that venerable Rahula noted as an essential quality? It is that lack of wisdom and compassion at all levels that has created this selfish broken society.