Understanding as knowledge about meaning (Buddhism)

The knowledge referred to is that of the result or "fruit" of a root condition or cause. In particular, it includes knowledge which arises on reviewing the meaning of: things produced by conditions or causes; nibbana; the sense or meaning of what is spoken; results (of kamma); action or functional consciousness. Examples of knowledge of meaning are: knowledge of suffering; knowledge about the cessation of suffering; knowledge about the result of a condition or root cause; knowledge about what has come to be, arisen, been born; knowledge about ageing and death; knowledge about the cessation of ageing and death; knowledge about the cessation of compound things or formations; knowledge of the meaning of the dhamma and the scriptures; knowledge about the result of 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.