Understanding as knowledge about law (Buddhism)

Law (dhamma or dharma) implies condition or "root cause", that which in some way leads to a particular result. The knowledge referred to is thus that of the result or "fruit" of a condition or cause. In this context, five specific things are understood as law: the cause of a result; the Noble Path; what is spoken; what is profitable or moral; what is unprofitable or immoral. The understanding referred to is that which arises on reviewing that law, distinctions about dhamma which arise on reflection. Examples of knowledge of law are: knowledge about the origin of suffering; knowledge about the path leading to cessation of suffering; knowledge about a condition or root cause; knowledge about the source of what has come to be, arisen, been born; knowledge about the origin of ageing and death; knowledge about the path leading to cessation of ageing and death; knowledge about the path leading to cessation of compound things or formations; knowledge of the dhamma and the scriptures; knowledge about moral or profitable states.

On the Path of Purification of Hinayana Buddhism, panna (understanding) is considered as of one kind (monad), of two kinds (dyads), of three kinds (triads) or of four kinds (tetrads). There are five dyads, four triads and two tetrads. All have the characteristic of penetrating the individual essences or true nature of states (monad). In the second tetrad, this is one of the four kinds of understanding as concerned with meaning, law, language and perspicuity. The four kinds of understanding are together referred to as the four discriminations or analyses.