Just asking
Are there any here who are familiar with any particular Buddhist text/scripture? Which one? What have you gained from reading it?
70-79
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LesDawsonsPiano · 70-79
While I'm posting a few bits of Dharma, you can't get very far on any Buddhist Forum without finding the Kalama Sutta quoted. I suppose that's because many, fleeing from the perceived dogmatism of Christianity, welcome and wish to broadcast what is taken to be virtually a freethinker's charter.
But it is not quite that, given the words "commended by the wise" found within it - words that beg the question "who are the wise". Or even, "what is wisdom". I've often pondered this and at this point in my journey, I see "wisdom" as simply integral to, and inherent within, Reality-as-is. It can never be "ours". It follows that any "wisdom" we might "have" is simply having a greater alignment with Reality. Signs of such "alignment"? I really can't do better than speak of the "fruits of the spirit" as found in the writings of St Paul:-
"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"
Myself, looking around, looking back through history, such "fruits" can be found in those of many Faiths and Traditions, and sometimes, even in those of none. Such is Reality.
Anyway, the Sutta (part of the Theravada Canon of Scripture):-
Do not be satisfied with hearsay or with tradition or with legendary lore or with what has come down in scriptures or with conjecture or with logical inference or with weighing the evidence or with liking for a view after pondering over it or with someone else's ability or with the thought "The monk is our teacher." When you know in yourselves: "These things are wholesome, blameless, commended by the wise, and being adopted and put into effect they lead to welfare and happiness," then you should practice and abide in them....
But it is not quite that, given the words "commended by the wise" found within it - words that beg the question "who are the wise". Or even, "what is wisdom". I've often pondered this and at this point in my journey, I see "wisdom" as simply integral to, and inherent within, Reality-as-is. It can never be "ours". It follows that any "wisdom" we might "have" is simply having a greater alignment with Reality. Signs of such "alignment"? I really can't do better than speak of the "fruits of the spirit" as found in the writings of St Paul:-
"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"
Myself, looking around, looking back through history, such "fruits" can be found in those of many Faiths and Traditions, and sometimes, even in those of none. Such is Reality.
Anyway, the Sutta (part of the Theravada Canon of Scripture):-
Do not be satisfied with hearsay or with tradition or with legendary lore or with what has come down in scriptures or with conjecture or with logical inference or with weighing the evidence or with liking for a view after pondering over it or with someone else's ability or with the thought "The monk is our teacher." When you know in yourselves: "These things are wholesome, blameless, commended by the wise, and being adopted and put into effect they lead to welfare and happiness," then you should practice and abide in them....