MAHACHULALONGKORNRAJAVIDYALAYA UNIVERSITY
WANGNOI, AYUTTHAYA, THAILAND
13th JULY 20012
Faculty of Buddhism
International Bachelor of Arts Degree Progamme
TIPITAKA STUDIES
Teacher: Dr.JUTHAMAS VAREESANGTHIP
COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF
(KĀLĀMASUTTA)
Student: Ven. NGUYEN HOANG PHUC
(Bhik. SAMĀDHIPUÑÑO)
ID card: 5501201046
Kālāma Sutta[1]
1) Do not believe anything based on revelation.
2) Do not believe anything through
tradition handed down from the past.
3) Do not believe anything through hearsay.
4) Do not believe anything
because it accords with the holy scriptures.
5) Do not believe anything through logic.
6) Do not believe anything
because it is a point of view.
7) Do not believe anything through
having considered the reasons.
8) Do not believe anything
because one is convinced of some theory.
9) Do not believe anything through
the testimony of some reliable person.
10) Do not believe in anything thinking,
“This person is a great preacher”.
Some religions try to keep their followers. They were not allowed contact, listen to lectures and see the books of other religions.
"Go forth, O Bhikkhus, for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, benefit, and happiness of gods and men. Let not two go by one way: Preach, O Bhikkhus, the Dhamma, excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle, excellent in the end, both in the spirit and in the letter. Proclaim the Holy Life, altogether perfect and pure." [2]
Thus, the Buddha send his disciples to spread the message, out of compassion, love for others. Do not have a specific place, alone and without money, the that first missionaries wander from place to place to preach the Dhamma. These are the first words of the Buddha called His disciples missionary religion. It was a missionary religion with the noblest of aims, for it was not to win people for the power of the religion, nor for the glory of any being, but for the happiness and benefit of those that would receive the teachings. Throughout it's history, Buddhism spread not by conquest or colonization but peacefully through the teaching of its followers and the noble examples of their lives lived in peace and happiness.
The Kālāma Sutta is one of the most famous discourse of the Buddha, and this discourse is extremely important especially for those who want to follow the spiritual path, but do not know which way to go. The tribe Kālāma is one of many tribes in India during the Buddha’s time. Buddha advised the Kālāmas on how to find out truth and falsehood. It also reveals the freedom of thought allowed by the Buddha to His disciples on the way seeking for truth.
The Kālāmas, citizens of the town of Kesaputta, had been visited by religious teachers of divergent views, each of whom would propound his own doctrines and tear down the doctrines of his predecessors. This left the Kālāmas perplexed, and thus when "The Recluse Gotama," reputed to be an Awakened One, arrived in their township, they approached him in the hope that he might be able to dispel their confusion.
"There are some monks and brahmins, Venerable Sir, who visit Kesaputta. They expound and explain only their own doctrines; the doctrines of others they despise, revile, and pull to pieces. Some other monks and brahmins too, Venerable Sir, come to Kesaputta. They also expound and explain only their own doctrines; the doctrines of others they despise, revile, and pull to pieces. Venerable Sir, there is doubt, there is uncertainty in us concerning them. Which of these reverend monks and brahmins spoke the truth and which falsehood?"
The Buddha begins by assuring the Kālāmas that under such circumstances it is proper for them to doubt, an assurance which encourages free inquiry.
"It is proper for you, Kālāmas, to doubt, to be uncertain; uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful.
After listening to the Kālāmas’ dilemma, the Buddha’s first response was to lay down ten guidelines according to which a teaching should not be accepted.
"Come, Kālāmas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing, nor upon tradition, nor upon rumor, nor upon scripture, nor upon surmise, nor upon axiom, nor upon specious reasoning, nor upon bias towards a notion pondered over, nor upon another's seeming ability, nor upon the consideration 'The monk is our teacher'."
He advised the Kālāmas to abandon those things they know for themselves to be bad and to undertake those things they know for themselves to be good.
"When you yourselves know: 'These things are bad, blamable, censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill,' abandon them".
“When you yourselves know: 'These things are good, blameless, praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,' enter on and abide in them".
Buddha always advised us to ask yourself conscience to discern good and evil. If this observation leads to the conclusion, we need to discuss with reliable and knowledgeable, but eventually we all have to conclude it to be able to develop insight. No one can do it for us.
The Buddha’s discourse to the Kālāmas expresses a correct mental attitude of a seeker of truth in the jungle of views. He asked the Kālāmas to see for themselves:
- What is unwholesome, censured by the wise and to reject them.
- What was wholesome, praised by the wise and to accept them.
The Buddha encouraged them to think freely and not to be led by anyone, any authority even that of time-honoured Scriptures or traditions. The Buddha went even further. He asked His disciples to examine Himself, the Tathāgata, in order to have confidence in the true value of Teacher.
“Just as the quality of gold is determined by heating, rubbing on a stone by a wise smith, even so, my word has to be accepted after examination and not out of respect for Me”.
The Buddha said that His teaching is a Come-And-See thing (Ehipassiko), which invites you to come and see, but not to come and believe. Faith in the Buddha's teaching is never regarded as an end in itself nor as a sufficient guarantee of liberation, but only as the starting point for an evolving process of inner transformation that comes to fulfillment in personal insight.
In conclusion, the Kālāma Sutta never forbids us to believe in anything; it merely implores us to believe with independent intelligence and wisdom. It never forbids us to listen to anything; it merely asks us to listen without letting our intelligence and wisdom become enslaved. Furthermore, it helps us to be able to think, consider, investigate, and decide with great subtlety and precision, so that we can find golden needles in haystacks as huge as mountains.
These are my thoughts about the Kālāma Sutta.
May all of us be well and happy!
With Mettā.
Ven. Nguyen Hoang Phuc
(เหงียน ห่วาง ฟลุ๊ค)
Bhik. Samādhipuñño
(พระ พระ สมาธิปุญฺโณ)
[1] (Aṅguttara Nikāya Vol. 1, 188, P.T.S. Ed.)
[2] The Buddha and His Teaching, Ven. Nārada Mahāthera (Vinaya, Mahāvagga, p.19)
0 nhận xét