The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1647 page)

(‘knowledge and insight’). Buddhist
knowledge
as an act of ‘seeing’.
Dassana
indicates ‘seeing or sight’. When combined with
ñ
a
it gives the special meaning, ‘insight arising from knowledge’. Thus the
Buddha
is described as one who ‘knows and sees’ (
tam aha
j
n
mi pass
mi
,
Majjhima Nik
ya
1. 329). The central truths of Buddhism are ‘seen’ (
Sa
yutta Nik
ya
229). Even nirv
na is ‘seen’ (
Majjhima Nik
ya
1. 511). According to the Nik
yas this ‘knowledge and insight’ is a result of mental concentration (
sam
dhi
), and it is said that there is a causal relation between the attainment of mental concentration and the emergence of this knowledge and insight (
D
gha Nik
ya