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The five kinds of wisdom of the 真言宗 Shingon School. Of the six elements 六大 earth, water, fire, air (or wind), ether (or space) 曇空, and consciousness (or mind 識 ), the first five form the phenomenal world, or Garbhadhātu, the womb of all things 胎藏界, the sixth is the conscious, or perceptive, or wisdom world, the Vajradhātu 金剛界, sometimes called the Diamond realm. The two realms are not originally apart, but one, and there is no consciousness without the other five elements. The sixth element, vijñāna, is further subdivided into five called the 五智 Five Wisdoms:

(1) 法界體性智 (sa) dharmadhātu-prakṛti-jñāna, derived from the (sa) amala-vijñāna, or pure 識; it is the wisdom of the embodied nature of the (sa) dharmadhātu, defined as the six elements, and is associated with Vairocana 大日, in the centre, who abides in this (sa) samādhi; it also corresponds to the ether 空 element.

(2) 大圓鏡智 (sa) adarśana-jñāna, the great round mirror wisdom, derived from the (sa) ālaya-(sa) vijñāna, reflecting all things; corresponds to earth, and is associated with Akṣobhya and the east.

(3) 平等性智 (sa) samatā-jñāna, derived from (sa) mano-vijñāna, wisdom in regard to all things equally and universally; corresponds to fire, and is associated with Ratnasaṃbhava and the south.

(4) 妙觀察智 (sa) pratyavekṣaṇa-jñāna, derived from 意識, wisdom of profound insight, or discrimination, for exposition and doubt-destruction; corresponds to water, and is associated with Amitābha and the west.

(5) 成所作智 (sa) kṛtyānuṣṭhāna-jñāna, derived from the five senses, the wisdom of perfecting the double work of self-welfare and the welfare of others; corresponds to air 風 and is associated with Amoghasiddhi and the north. These five Dhyāni-Buddhas are the 五智如來. The five kinds of wisdom are the four belonging to every Buddha, of the exoteric cult, to which the esoteric cult adds the first, pure, all-refecting, universal, all-discerning, and all-perfecting.