What the Buddha didn't Teach
by buddhism.about.com
Once one of the Buddha's followers, a monk named Malunkyaputta, came to him and asked four questions that had been troubling him:
- Is the world eternal or not eternal?
- Is the world infinite of finite?
- Is the soul the same as the body or are they different?
- Does the Buddha exist after death or does he not exist?
The Buddha responded to these questions through an analogy with the purpose of showing Malunkyaputta that such speculative questions were ultimately unprofitable.
Poisoned Arrow
He asked Malunkyaputta to imagine a man who had been wounded by a poisoned arrow. His friends and relatives send for a surgeon but when the surgeon arrives, the wounded man says: 'I will not let the surgeon pull out this arrow until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble or a brahmin (priest), or a merchant or a worker...tall, short, or middle height...brown or golden-skinned...whether he lives in such a village or town or city...whether the bow that wounded me was a long bow or a cross bow...' and so on. The Buddha then explains that before all the wounded man's questions would have been answered he would have died.
The Buddha's point is that whilst we speculate on questions such as those above we are missing the main point of his teachings. These are encapsulated in the four noble truths: 'This is suffering', 'this is the origin of suffering', 'this is the cessation of suffering' and 'this is the way that leads to the cessation of suffering'.
He declares that to speculate on such questions is a distraction from what is essential to lead a good life - it does not lead 'to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana'.
The Surgeon
Elsewhere in Buddhist scriptures the same image of a poisoned arrow is used again and its significance explained. The arrow is craving and the poison is ignorance, which manifests itself through selfish desire, lust and ill-will. The surgeon is the Buddha, the surgeon's knife is wisdom and the 'probe' by which the wound is examined is mindfulness. The body itself can also be seen as an open wound that should be treated and cared for. This is why the Buddha advised his followers to avoid extremities and to look after their health. But the Buddha's important message was to work on our minds and to remove the 'poisons' (greed, hatred, delusion) therein.
The answer to such questions posed by Malunkyaputta are natural ones. But the Buddha advises us to put them to one side - at least for the time being - and devote ourselves to the main business. This is to acknowledge the suffering we experience, to see where it comes from and to work at freeing ourselves from it.
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