The Buddha's Mistakes

[Saijun]

Re: The Buddha's Mistakes

i finally read this post. although i didnt read all of the post by everyone and only the first one by Jundo it reminded me of something i read.
its a quote by the buddha which i really like.

" Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. "


Gassho, Dojin.

Hello friends,

Actually, that part of the Kalama Sutta reads:

Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, 'The monk is our teacher.' Kalamas, when you yourselves know: 'These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,' enter on and abide in them.

This entire practice is counter-intuitive; if someone came up to me and told me that I could be happy by stopping my continual grasping at happiness, that wouldn't agree with my own common sense. It still doesn't, but I know from experience that it works, so I "enter and abide in [it]"

I see this passage as more of a context to put your faith; trust the wise until you know for yourself.

Just my two cents. Feel free to disregard it if it doesn't agree with your common sense

Much Metta,

Perry

[Jundo]

Re: The Buddha's Mistakes

This entire practice is counter-intuitive; if someone came up to me and told me that I could be happy by stopping my continual grasping at happiness, that wouldn't agree with my own common sense. It still doesn't, but I know from experience that it works, so I "enter and abide in [it]"

Thank you, Perry. Finding by stopping the search, having by letting go. It is counter-intuitive at first.

But the "proof in the pudding" is soon obvious, and the Buddha's genius instantly revealed.

I have sat this past week with my original statement that "the Buddha made mistakes", and I am going to stick with that view. I even think that it is important and vital in really attaining the heart of this path ... the meaning of "Right View" and the "Viewless View" and "killing the Buddha". I do not think it good, realistic ... even healthy ... to consider that the man had to be right on everything, know all the right answers, that he was never caught in an insolvable dilemma, never fumbled the ball, never made a left turn when he should have gone right.

THAT would diminish and insult the man's amazing discoveries on being alive in a seemingly imperfect, unsatisfactory world (namely, that there is no "left" or "right" thus ultimately no mistake that can be made ... yet we live in a world of "left and right", and sometimes we are going to go left when we should have gone right ... so be diligent, mindful, and do as you can to head in the right direction in your life ... but if life's fickle forces blow your feet to the left when you wanted to go right, just be there ... and do what you can, if you can, to get back on the good path.) A man who never made mistakes ... who always went right when he meant to go right, never being where he did not wish to be or making a mistake he did not intend to make ... is not as useful or insightful a teacher, and has been reduced to a fairy tale or statue dipped in gold.

Oh sure, when we leave this little world of "right and left" it will not be an issue ... and we can all be Buddha's in that Pure Land where the paths are clearly marked. But the real value of the Buddha's Teachings in this world are for life on the mountain filled with many paths ... some of which lead off a cliff, some of which lead to a pleasant and mutually beneficial journey ... all of which are a constant arriving home with each step.

Thus, although it is true that the Buddha left his family "before he was The Buddha" ... he still, after becoming "The Buddha", encouraged thousands of men for centuries to take the tonsure and leave their wife, children, mothers and fathers behind ... some of whom would be left well taken care of (and might do better with dad out of the picture), but so many of whom were abandoned to fend for themselves. I believe that that was a mistake in the Teachings which created de facto widows and orphans, and not necessary to this practice. I do not believe it necessary to say that he saw some higher principle in doing so that we cannot see. He made plenty of exceptions to membership in the monastery ... such as woman and people the King needed for military service ... because he believed it destabilizing ... and he could have made a rule to prevent the creation of orphans and widows left to starve. I believe that the Buddha made some other mistakes too ... because he was a man of his times, did not have all the answers on every subject in the encyclopedia.

And that is why this Path is so Precious ... because it helps us go right when we go right, and go right and get back right when we go wrong ... beyond left, right, right, wrong..

Gassho, Jundo

[Rich]

Re: The Buddha's Mistakes

And that is why this Path is so Precious ... because it helps us go right when we go right, and go right and get back right when we go wrong ... beyond left, right, right, wrong..

Gassho, Jundo

You got that right
/Rich