The following explanation is taken from a Dharma talk, given by Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda, in 2007.

There is a word in Tibetan, yeshe chölwa, which is frequently translated in the West as “crazy wisdom”, referring to the more fluid, organic upayayana school of Buddhist Dharma taught by such teachers as Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati and the Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

A closer examination of this Tibetan phrase reveals a meaning that we prefer to translate as “feral wisdom”. The word yeshe is a compound word, which means “primordial knowing” (ye means “primordial”, she means “knowing”). And the word chölwa literally means “gone wild”.

So the Feral Wisdom tradition is one in which the practitioner acquires a primordial wisdom, feral and fluid in its nature, more alive and awake, and subsequently, able to overpower the phenomenal world in our own enlightened way.

We’re not talking about a kind of knowledge in which someone “teaches” you something, or you read something in a book or on a website. Knowledge is manufactured by scholars, by scientists and books. Wisdom is inherent.

The idea of this inherent wisdom and what we call “enlightenment” are really two sides of the same idea. We do not “become” enlightened, we awaken to or realise enlightenment. It’s already our nature. We call this the buddhadhuta or Buddha-nature. Others call it the Christ Consciousness. Being a Buddha or Christ is not so much being a great scholar who knows all about everything. Being enlightened, is actually being able to tune our mind into that state of being which already exists, which is already liberated.

This liberated nature of our mind is simply obscurred with layer upon layer of delusion, opinion, attachment and fear.

The Feral Wisdom Tradition affirms that we have unlimited potential. We are eternally awake—primordially awake, cognitively open and insightful.

This Feral Wisdom gives rise to a desire to express itself, and we call that purest expression of feral wisdom, compassion.

This Feral Wisdom is indeed considered “crazy” by some, for it sees things through an entirely different lens. It views the teachings of the Buddha and the Christ as being one and the same. It doesn’t concern itself with whether the stories, legends and narratives told in various so-called scriptures are accurate, historical or even true. It uses every experience, every breath and the space between the breaths to integrate the two forms of wisdom (jnana — the type of primordial wakefulness we call “yeshe” in Tibetan) and prajna – the more intellectual wisdom we acquire through constant examination of each experience.

Put another way, Feral Wisdom is experiential, while prajna is acquired through the process of contemplation and mindfulness. So yeshe/jnana gives rise to compassion and prajna gives rise to mindfulness.

In the words of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, “Jnana is your inheritance. Prajna is a sympathetic inheritance which you work toward.” So both are inherently ours — that is part of our nature. But one is discovered through the process of examination and mindfulness, while the feral wisdom itself is simply realised or awakened by our daily practice… by emptying the mind, and sitting in the Primordial Silence of Sunyatananda (the bliss of Emptiness).

This Feral Wisdom can be found in many spiritual traditions to varying degrees, because it is our inherent nature. The objective of the Contemplative Order of Compassion is to develop and realise it more fully, finding its potential in the various traditions which inform and inspire our particular path, and then to celebrate and express that Feral Wisdom — which is, as we stated, true Bodhicitta (Heart of Compassion).