Why doesn't Zen Buddhism teach a path to enlightenment like the historical Buddha did? They are of the opinion that we are "already enlightened," so there's no need to speed up the process of realizing or remembering that, as in Hindu teachings of lila ("divine play," awakening to itself). It seems the Buddha would have mentioned that if he agreed with the Brahmin priests and their Vedas; yet, he took an adversarial position and presented a superior vision of what "awakening" (bodhi) and "nirvana" (moksha, "liberation," vimutti, "freedom") are. Below are the remainder of the instructions for those not content to believe they are already awakened beings who sit shikantaza just to sit because that's what sitters (zazen practitioners) do.
If Buddhism is the marriage of wisdom and compassion, then the historical Buddha's path-of-practice is calm and insight. To gain calm, let go (no effort required). To gain insight, practice vipassana ("clear seeing") by the fourfold setting up of mindfulness (sati), a practice called satipatthana.
Insight into what? Mind-and-body to see three personally verifiable marks of existence
The historical Buddha Gautama
In Early Buddhism, the Pali term dhamma vicaya (Sanskrit धर्मविचय-) has been variously translated as "keen investigation of things" (Wisdom Quarterly), the "analysis of [various] qualities" [1], "discrimination of dhammas [phenomena]" [2, Note 1], "discrimination of states" [3], "investigation of [the] doctrine [the Dharma]," [4, Note 2], and "searching [for] the [ultimate] Truth" [5].
The meaning, which may seem tricky to translate, is clear and not ambivalent in context. In the two Four Foundations of Mindfulness sutras (MN 10, DN 22). It is the systematic investigation of physical-and-mental phenomena (dhamma, "things") -- "body and mind" in terms of their ultimate constituents, which are "form particles" (rupa kalapas) and "mind moments" (cittas).
Pa Auk student, American Shaila Catherine
It would be wonderful if scholars stop disputing and practiced instead. Why? Practitioners who read and follow the two sutras can see the meaning very easily; however, in real practice, it is far better to seek out a competent teacher who has known-and-seen these things. In that way, there is no speculation, interpretation, or arguing. The path is already known and handed down, not in books, but in meditation halls.
Meditation Master at Pa Auk
The scholar-monk and master practitioner Pa Auk Sayadaw (Ven. Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa) is all about the practical: How will one ever be able to "see" a particle (kalapa)? By purifying (visuddhi) the heart/mind, one is suddenly able to make use of all its powers. But particles move far too fast and live far too briefly to ever be discerned or analyzed by the mind's eye because the mind/heart has a speed limit due to the number of impulsions (javanas) in a mind-moment.
So here's the trick. Locate the "mind door," which is a green light near the physical heart. This door is a mirror of sorts reflecting everything in consciousness. It records. And the recording can be played back in slow-motion so as to see the life of the kalapa (form particle, which has three distinct phases that can be observed directly: arising, turning, passing). It does not stand even for a single moment, but rather passes through these three submoments.
How can anything composed of form (materiality, the mahabhuta or Four Great Elements, which are actually four qualities of matter, not matter itself, which come in pairs as outlined in Pa Auk Sayadaw's book Four Elements Meditation) be real if everything "form" is made up of is particulate matter, countless particles that are constantly arising, changing, and passing away -- always hurtling towards destruction? This is not a belief; for it to be effective, one must directly and literally know-and-see it happening all the time, everywhere, but particularly in this fathom-long body many call my "self." Most people can quickly comprehend that the body is, of course, not the "self." But nearly everyone gets stuck believing that the "self" must therefore be the mind (the watcher, the doer, the knower) or consciousness (awareness through the six senses, the interplay of cittas and cetasikas or mind-moments and mental concomitants, which is an impersonalprocess, not a thing in and of itself).
The "Four Elements"? At a Pa Auk Meditation Center, in Burma, California, Georgia, or elsewhere, discern in this very body: 1. The "earth element" as hardness, softness, roughness, smoothness, and heaviness, lightness; 2. the "water element" as flowing (saliva), cohesion (stickiness); 3. the "fire element" as heat, cold (relative temperature variations, including the burning chemical "digestive fire" of the stomach or coolness of the outbreath); 4. the "air element" as pushing, supporting (dhammawheel.com).
The Buddha searched for a self that was not be found and went into very great detail to catalogue that process masquerading as a "self" (soul, atman, atta, ego, personality, true self, higher self), which is recorded in the very dense collection of sacred texts, the Abhidhamma, and Buddhaghosa's meditation manual The Path of Purification. See A Guide Through the Abhidhamma for a comprehensive introduction to the details. It will be impossible to ever believe there is, ultimately speaking, no self until one does a systematic search of mind, of which consciousness is but one component.
Wait, why would anyone in his, her, or their right mind ever want to find out that there's no self? Surely that would mean annihilation, oblivion, falling into the void, the vast emptiness, utter destruction, the loss of everything?!
One would want to because that is the entrance into the stream that leads inevitably to full awakening, enlightenment, and liberation from all suffering here and now in this very life. It is on account of not seeing this, not comprehending Dependent Origination, that we have all been lost and wandering, life after life, through this interminable and miserable (unfulfilling) samsara, seeking for pleasure now here, now there, existence after existence, state after state, world after world until there's nothing new that we have not already experienced many times over only to be disappointed and misled yet again.
This, of course, will be impossible...until the meditative absorptions (jhanas) purify and intensify the heart/mind to make that investigation, discrimination, analysis.
In the meantime, the practice of Four Elements Meditation and the application of discernment (by wise reflection or yoniso manasikara, which includes seeing things as they really are, including their repulsive aspect or patikula-manasikara that we normally work so hard to ignore) to body-mind phenomena in the application of right effort, so as to gain entry into the first absorption (jhana, the first "meditation") if "mindfulness of in-and-out breathing meditation" (which is the first practice in the setting up of the first of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness) has failed to bring one there.
ETYMOLOGY: According to Rupert Gethin, "Dhamma-vicaya means either the 'discrimination of dhammas' or the 'discernment of dhamma'; to discriminate dhammas is precisely to discern dhamma"[6].
But, again, this is the confusion of something very simple and straightforward. One does NOT study Dharma (capital D Dhamma) during mindfulness meditation. What one DOES do is analyze, discern, and discriminate the "things" (phenomena, dhammas) the sutra specifies:
2. feelings (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, whether corporeal or spiritual);
3. mind states (lustful or free of lust, angry or free of aversion, deluded or free of delusion, contracted or expansive, exalted or mundane, surpassable or unsurpassable, samādhi or not-samādhi [still and coherent or not], released or bound);
1. The first foundation is the body, and the body is usually known through parts of the body or more deeply by knowing the Four Great Elements in their tangible expressions as hard, soft, wet, dry, hot, cold, smooth or rough, heavy or light, and so on. (See Four Elements Meditation for details). More: dhamma vicaya (Wikipedia)
Yeah, I thought I made that pretty clear.
Rest assured, Bodhidharma has an excellent point to make. Striving, struggling, muscling, forcing, pushing, thirstily struggling is NOT the way. Let go of all that [waste]. Just be. Just observe the becoming that is going on all by itself. There is nothing to do or change for the heart/mind to come to the first absorption. It's just that we needed to stop caging ourselves in "trying" or "needing" it to be this way or that. It is far better to practice allowing and accepting, wakefulness and dispassionate mindfulness.
Wu wei (無為, 无为, wúwéi) is a concept from ancient pre-Buddhist Chinese philosophy that literally means "not-acting" or "non-doing," variously interpreted and translated as "noninterference," "action-lessness," "inaction," or "effortless action" [1, 2].
In Taoism, it denotes the nature of Tao, meaning that while Tao (the Way, Path, or flow of nature, acting in accordance with the natural course of things), is the source of all existence and the manifestation of all phenomena, its intrinsic formless essence is that it acts or moves in a silent, invisible, ineffable, often-unnoticed manner that may even seem motionless and effortless [3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
It's all a matter of seeing the Suchness!
Accordingly, Taoists (and subsequently Zen Buddhist practitioners) aspire to live their lives in alignment with such a harmonious state of free flowing and unforced activity. In a political context, it also refers to an ideal form or principle of spontaneous and non-aggressive form of governing [8]. More
Tathātā (Sanskrit तथाता, Pali tathatā) is a Buddhist term variously translated as "Suchness," "Thusness," "True Thusness," or "True Suchness," referring to the Ultimate Reality, the intrinsic and essential nature of all existence, free of dualistic thinking, conceptualization, subject–object distinctions [1].
It is formless, uncreated, eternal, perfect, unchanging, indestructible, and is the true nature of all phenomena. It represents the genuine reality of existence, which transcends physical forms, physical senses, and intellectual comprehension, indicating a profound insight into the nature of things as they truly are [2, 3, 4].
Tathātā has a large number of synonyms found in different Buddhist schools, traditions, and scriptures, such as:
The MEDICINE BUDDHA: Buddhism's Forgotten Healer | Bhaisajyaguru
(Buddha's Wisdom) March 4th, 2026: #MedicineBuddha #Buddhism #BuddhistHealing
🔍 THE MEDICINE BUDDHA HEALS WITHOUT CURING — AND HERE'S WHY:
The Medicine Buddha (BhaisajyaGuru) is one of the most fascinating figures in Mahāyāna Buddhism: a blue-skinned buddha associated with healing, compassion, and the Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli (a beautiful blue Afghan gemstone).
But if Buddhism teaches impermanence, non-self (anattā), and detachment from the body, why does it include a buddha devoted to curing illness?
This video explores the history, philosophy, and psychological depth behind Bhaiṣajyaguru...and what Buddhist healing really means.
This is the story of how Buddhism's "doctor who prescribes enlightenment" challenges everything we think we know about healing, suffering, and what it means to be broken.
📿 DISCOVER:
Why Medicine Buddha's 12 vows made him Buddhism's most controversial figure
How 8th-century Buddhist monasteries became the world's first integrated healthcare systems
The blind Chinese Buddhist monk who taught healing despite losing his sight
Why Tibetan, Japanese, and Chinese Buddhists practice Medicine Buddha in completely different ways
What modern science reveals about meditation, stress, and the mind-body connection.
⏳ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 The blue-skinned god that shouldn't exist
02:32 The twelve vows that changed Buddhism
08:55 When temples became clinics
14:55 The disease behind the disease
21:22 Three Buddhas, one Truth
30:51 The cure that isn't
🙏 If this exploration of Buddhism's healing paradox opens eyes to a deeper truth, subscribe to Buddha's Wisdom for videos that bridge ancient Buddhist teachings with modern questions. Hit the bell icon to catch this journey into Buddhism's most fascinating mysteries.
📱 Join a community:
Instagram: / buddhaswizdom
Facebook: / buddhaswizdom
X: https://x.com/BuddhasWizdom
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ndnBU5...
TikTok: / buddhas.wisdom
☕ Support the channel:
https://buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom
"Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources" edited by C. Pierce Salguero amzn.to/4ct4ivS
"Tibetan Medicine in the Contemporary World" by Laurent Pordié amzn.to/4rQuAwU
Studies on placebo effect and meditation (Harvard Medical School, NIH research)
Research on mindfulness and pain management
Neuroscience studies on visualization practices
Related Academic Resources:
Journal of Buddhist-Christian Studies
Buddhist-Christian Studies journal articles on Medicine Buddha
Contemporary research on Buddhist medical ethics
Cross-cultural studies of Medicine Buddha practice
⚡ In a world obsessed with curing the body, Medicine Buddha asks a deeper question:
If there is no permanent self…who is being healed? [Ugh, the momentarily dependently arisen "self" (atman, atta)?]
DISCLAIMER: This video is for educational purposes. Medicine Buddha practice is a spiritual/meditative practice and should not replace professional medical care. Always consult qualified healthcare providers for medical conditions.
This is very easy to answer. In Japanese zen literally means "meditation" in the sense of "absorption" (Pali jhana, Sanskrit dhyana, Chinese chan or channa, Vietnamese thiền, Korean sŏn or seon, and Japanese zen). Absorptions are progressive states of stillness (samadhi), misleadingly translated as "concentration."
The connotation of this rendering is struggle, force, and effort, whereas "absorption" is the result of persistent balanced effort (sādhanā practice) but itself is effortless: It is not accomplished by "muscling" or "over-efforting" but rather by "letting go" and no longer "clinging" to things.
Through persistent, steady, calm practice these obstructions are replaced by the Five Factors of Absorption (jhana'anga. "limbs of absorption"), detached tranquility, dispassionate observation, and mindful looking on or objective witnessing or simply watching, at first accompanied by a sort of "bliss" (piti, rapture, uplift, joy, enthusiasm, zeal), "happiness" (sukha), and "contentment" (santosha).
"Zen" with a capital Z is a different story, for it may refer to the entire history and set of practices in the Japanese Mahayana Chan School originating in China, having spread to Korea and other parts of Asia and now the world.
Perplexing discussions of "emptiness" (shunyata) and "suchness" (tathātā) are more easily understood in the older texts of the Theravada.
The Wheel of the Dharma (8 spokes)
Thera-vada is the "Teaching of the Elders," who are the enlightened direct disciples of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, the "Sage of the Sakas" or the Indo-Scythians of ancient Gandhara, one of the Angas.
Of course, as much as one Buddhist school might influence or explicate another, Zen (Chan) is part of the Mahayana movement, a later "reformed" rather than a back-to-basics "orthodox" movement like Theravada. Zen is so thoroughly blended and saturated with Taoism (and to a lesser extent Chinese Confucianism and Japanese Shinto) that most of what is pondered and assumed to be "Buddhist" is strictly Taoist in nature. All the fun of Zen is more related to Lao Tzu (and later Hinduism, Tantra, and Vajrayana) than the historical Buddha's Teachings. One need only listen to Alan Watts to realize that.
What are those "things"? They are everything other than the only compact (noncomposite) item, the sole unconditioned element, which is called nirvana (Pali nibbana).
Nirvana, as our habitual logic might compel us to conclude, is notnothingness. Rather, it is the end of:
For anyone who's convinced that the Buddha never had anything to say about nirvana, there is this lovely description describing the indescribable, almost capturing the ineffable, or seeming to put words to that which is really beyond words.
These words are said as a corrective for everyone making the massive mistake of concluding that nirvana has to mean "annihilation, nothingness, non-existence, or the void," a pernicious wrong view.
Could anyone ever draw what can't be imagined?
THE BUDDHA: “There is, O meditators, an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed. Were there not, O meditators, this unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed. But since, O meditators, there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, and unformed, there is an escape from the born, originated, created, formed.”
Anyone not yet convinced that the Deathless is not Eternal Life (but perhaps closer to the Ancient Greek term mistranslated as such, aion, as spoken of by the wise Gnostics) and the Unconditioned is just not like the conditioned (all those composite things utterly dependent on causes and conditions), the Buddha said more:
“Truly, there is a realm, where there is neither solid, nor fluid, neither heat, nor motion, neither this world, nor any other world, neither sun nor moon. This I call neither arising, nor passing away, neither standing still, nor being born, nor dying. There is neither foothold, nor development, nor any basis. This is the end of suffering" (Ud. VIII. 1 - The Immutable).
Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Savatthi in Jeta's Grove at Anathapindika's monastery.
On that occasion he was instructing, rousing, inspiring, and gladdening the meditators with a Dhamma talk connected with NIRVANA, and those meditators, being receptive and attentive and gathering their whole mind, were intent on listening to teaching. Then, on realizing the significance, the Buddha delivered this inspired utterance:
What would such a timeless place be like?
"Meditators, there is that base where there is no earth, no water, no fire, no air [the Four Elements]; no base consisting of the infinity of space, no base consisting of the infinity of consciousness, no base consisting of nothingness, no base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception [the Four Immaterial Absorptions]; neither this world nor another world nor both; neither sun nor moon. Here, meditators, I declare, there is no coming, no going, no staying, no ceasing, no rising. Not fixed, not movable, it has no support. Just this is the end of suffering" (Udana 8.1).
This counterintuitive Teaching is for the wise.
What could this sutra mean? It is clearly stating that there is something beyond the beyond -- beyond the "universe" that is the 31 Planes of Existence, which is divided into three spheres (lokas): our sensual sphere, the heavenly fine-material sphere, and the incomprehensible immaterial sphere. They are increasingly subtle until they peter out into an even more sublime situation where there is not even that which was already incomprehensible. It does not matter that it is incomprehensible BECAUSE it is experienceable, personally verifiable, a truth attainable here and now, not in another rebirth (in heaven or otherwise), not in an afterlife, but here and now in this very life. So nirvana should be embraced as practical, excellent, and worthy of knowing-and-seeing directly, and not dismissed as theoretical or unknowable. Let's look at the original Pali canon wording:
Paṭhama-nibbāna-suttaṃ
1. Evaṃ me sutaṃ: ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṃ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme. Tena kakho pana samayena bhagavā bhikkū nibbānapaṭisaṃyuttāya dhammiyā kathāya sandasseti samādapeti samuttejeti sampahaṃseti. Te ca bikkū aṭṭhi katvā [1] manasi katvāsabbaṃ cetaso [2] samannāharatvā ohitasotā dhammaṃ suṇanti.
2. Atha kho bhagavā etamattaṃ viditvā tāyaṃ velāyaṃ imaṃ udānaṃ udānesi: - "Atti bhikkave, tadāyatanaṃ, yattha neva paṭhavi, na āpo, na tejo, na vāyo, na ākāsānañcāyatanaṃ, na viññānañcāyatanaṃ, na ākiñcaññāyatanaṃ, na nevasaññānāsaññāyatanaṃ, nāyaṃ loko, na paraloko, na ubho candimasuriyā. Tatrāpāhaṃ bhikkhave, neva āgatiṃ vadāmi, na gatiṃ, na ṭhitiṃ, na cutiṃ, na upapattiṃ. Appatiṭṭhaṃ appavattaṃ anārammaṇamevetaṃ. Esevanto dukkhassā"ti.
Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly edited by Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly
(The Theory of Samsara) Premiered Nov. 27, 2025: 🧘♂️ Why do we all so easily fall into "spiritual delusion"?
Why do we chase psychedelic highs, promises of supernatural powers, or “special” experiences instead of understanding the ordinary, unchanging nature of consciousness [and related phenomena] itself?
This video dives more deeply into the mechanics of self-deception on the spiritual path —
How craving fuels suffering,
Why Western culture’s addictions make it worse,
Why meditators so often mistake mental fabrications for awakening.
Let's explore the Buddha’s actual teaching:
Craving is the root of suffering
Consciousness is ordinary, not something to be manufactured
Awakening can’t be given to us by a teacher
Psychedelic trips are NOT enlightenment
Pride, jealousy, and other delusions and fabricated identities destroy the Path
True realization begins with a stable, uncontrived mind.
Whether we practice Zen (jhana), Mahamudra ("great seal"), Vipassana(insight meditation), or Dzogchen (choiceless awareness), the message is the same:
Stop looking for the extraordinary.
Instead, recognize the nature of mind as it is:
SUCHNESS, ordinary mind — nothing to adopt, nothing to abandon.
If we want to avoid spiritual self-sabotage and cultivate a genuine path toward awakening, this is for us.
Check out ultimatemeaning.org for more information.
It's a question we (metaphysical thinkers, philosophers, and intellectuals) love. We would probably all want to know. That someone may have been the foolish monk Ven. Malunkyaputta. Here's how the Buddha answered to subdue his delusion, ignorant confusion, and pernicious wrong views.
Metaphysical questions
Malunkyaputta, do not trouble yourself with such Qs
Once when presented with a problem of metaphysics (questions that go "beyond physics") by the Buddhist monk Malunkyaputta, the Buddha calmly responded with the Parable of the Poisoned Arrow.
On that occasion, Ven. Malunkyaputta had been meditating when he got distracted and started pondering. The hindrance of skeptical doubts arose in his mind, realizing that he had never gotten the answer to all of the usual "spiritual" questions seekers were usually in search of. All of those unanswered (some might even say unanswerable, the imponderable questions that plague Homo sapiens or "thinking human").
Is the physical world finite or infinite?
Did the universe have an origin, and will it end?
Who created this Universe?
Is the soul the same as the body or different?
What becomes of a fully enlightened person after death?
And so on ad nauseum. There is really no end to possible metaphysical speculations.
There is even a Buddhist text that summarizes all of the view prevalent at the time of the Buddha, which is called the Brahmajāla Sutta or "The Net of All-Embracing Views."
"Views" (ditthi) generally refers to wrong views (miccha-ditthi) unless otherwise qualified with samma- ("right-") views. They are as dangerous as a thicket one will get caught up in; it is far better to set them aside, awaken, and with an enlightened mind try to recall what they were when they used to make sense because they will not make sense -- and will not arise -- to the awakened (enlightened) mind/heart.
Ven. Malunkyaputta did not stop there. He threatened the Buddha that he would quit the monastic life and disrobe if he did not get answers to these things.
The Buddha gave him a powerful parable, asked him if the Buddha had ever promised to answer such questions in exchange for him becoming a monastic disciple, and thereby encouraged him to pursue the Path to the end of all suffering at which time he could see for himself independent of any teacher or teaching. This was that parable:
When one is shot with an arrow smeared with poison, that wounded person's family may summon a doctor to have the poison removed and provide an antidote [9].
But what if the wounded person refuses to let a doctor do anything until such time as certain important questions are answered? What if the wounded person demands first to know:
Who shot me with this arrow?
What is that person's caste and job?
WHY did that person shoot this arrow?
What kind of feather was used in its tail?
What kind of wood was used in its shaft?
What kind of poison was smeared on its tip?
What was the method the poison was procured?
One who demands first to have answers to all of that would surely die long before such questions were answered.
So, too, Malunkyaputta, a meditator will die long before getting such [fruitless metaphysical] questions answered.
It is no different for one who follows the Middle Way, which teaches only those things necessary to realize enlightenment (direct knowing-and-seeing for oneself).
Things not helpful and not necessary (but harmful and misleading), the Buddha (the Tathagata or Wayfarer, the Supremely Awakened One) does not teach.
It is because those types of questions are not helpful in one's quest for enlightenment that they have been left undeclared. More (Nontheistic religion)
More, more? Enough has been said, but for those persistent thinkers who question
I have more questions, Sir. - Ask them.
NOTE: It is not because they can't be answered. They can (but any answer will be misleading, confusing, entering a thicket of views). It is not because a Supremely Awakened Buddha does not know; such an extraordinary being does know. But it is precisely because those questions are not useful (but a detriment) that the great Teacher -- concerned with the welfare and wellbeing of students -- sets aside such things and leaves them undeclared.
A disciple, a student, also sets them aside and pursues this path-of-practice to its culmination: awakening in this very life. Then one may ask all such questions.
One may even answer them for others on their quest who ask such loaded questions, but to do so will be a disservice to them which the Awakened One has avoided, set aside, and left undeclared.
It would be like asking the question, "Have you stopped beating your wife? Yes or no!" What is the right answer? There isn't one. There's an explanation but not an answer.
A more ancient example that still makes sense is the question, "When this fire goes out, which way does it go: up, down, sideways?" It doesn't "go" somewhere, for it ceases when its causes-and-conditions cease because, really, it never had an independent existence (an existence independent of those very causes and condition: fuel, wick, heat, oxygen, and process-of-combustion...
In exactly the same way, when we ask about the "soul" (the "self," atta, atman, ego, personality, being, consciousness), "Where does it go after death? To annihilation? To eternal life? Which is it?!" The question is wrong, so any answer will be misleading and mistaken. But there is an answer:
The Buddha formulated that answer in accordance with ultimate truth: Dependent Origination. "When this is, that comes to be; when this is not [present], that does not come to be." Or it may also be phrased more poetically as, "Not having been, they come to be; once having been, they cease." What? Those things. Which things? All composite things (nirvana being the only compact, a.k.a. non-composite, thing and so not a "thing," no-thing yet not "nothing") but most importantly the Five Aggregates clung to as self.
That is why the Heart Sutra says, "Form (the first aggregate or heap) is emptiness, and emptiness is form." A better modern translation would be to say, "Form is impersonal [not self], and the impersonal is form." Then the exact same thing is then said of the remaining four aggregates: feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness(es), the khandha or skandhas in Sanskrit.
The Buddha also went into greater detail when he answered, "What things?" with "the ALL that is burning."
How could this possibly be true? There are many who have followed the Middle Way, who have avoided four foolish (and detrimental) questions and pursued four wise (and beneficial) questions. What are they?
Was I in the past?
What was I in the past?
Will I be in the future?
What will I be in the future?
The fool ponders such thing fruitlessly, full of wrong view, caught in a thicket of views. However, the wise pursue four other questions which the Buddha has suggested, commended, and advocated:
What is dukkha (disappointment, suffering, pain)?
What is its cause?
What is its solution?
What is the way to its solution?
These, indeed, are of great benefit. They are known as the Catu-Ariya-Sacca, the Four Ennobling (Enlightening) Truths, the fourth being this very Ennobling Eightfold Path declared by the Buddha.
All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.
In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.
Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."
Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.
Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.
.jpg)
%20greco%20buddhist%20art,%20wiki.jpeg)
