Wisdom in this case means seeing things as they are. Most of the time, the Buddha taught, our perceptions are clouded by our opinions and biases and the way were conditioned to understand reality by our cultures. Theravada scholar Wapola Rahula said that wisdom is seeing a thing in its true nature, without name and label. (What the Buddha Taught, page 49) Breaking through our delusional perceptions, seeing things as they are, is enlightenment, and this is the means of liberation from suffering. So to say that the Buddha was only interested in releasing us from suffering, and not interested in the nature of reality, is a bit like saying a doctor is only interested in curing our disease and is not interested in medicine. In the Atthinukhopariyaayo Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya 35), the Buddha said that the criterion for wisdom is not faith, rational speculation, views, or theories. The criterion is insight, free of delusion. In many other places, the Buddha also spoke about the nature of existence, and of reality, and how people could free themselves from delusion through practice of the Eightfold Path. Rather than say the Buddha was not interested in the nature of reality, it seems more accurate to conclude that he discouraged people from speculating, forming opinions, or accepting doctrines based on blind faith. Rather, through practice of the Path, through concentration and ethical conduct, one directly perceives the nature of reality. What about the poison arrow story? The monk demanded that the Buddha give him answers to his question, but receiving the answer isnt the same as perceiving the answer oneself. And believing in a doctrine explaining enlightenment is not the same thing as enlightenment. Instead, the Buddha said, we should practice disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, calming, direct knowledge, self-awakening, Unbinding. Merely believing in a doctrine is not the same thing as direct knowledge and self-awakening. What the Buddha discouraged in the Sabbasava Sutta and Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta was intellectual speculation and attachment to views, which get in the way of direct knowledge and self-awakening.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 11:12:37 +0000
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