Q11. Whom Did the Buddha Teach Us to Believe?
~ By Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ~
If you are asked this, answer with the Buddha’s advice from the Kālāma Sutta: believe one’s own clear seeing. What is meant by ‘seeing clearly?’ It means knowing directly without needing to rely on logical reasoning, deduction, speculation, hypothetical thinking, or assumption. We should see as clearly as we see a physical object right in front us, that acting upon a certain object in a certain way produces a certain result. This is the meaning of ‘seeing clearly.’ There’s no need to rely on reasoning, assumption, or supposition. In Buddhism, we are taught not to believe anyone, nor to believe anything, without seeing clearly for ourselves reality.
The following questions illustrate what is meant here. Why are we warned not to believe the Tipiṭaka (the Buddhist Canon)? Not to believe a teacher? Not to believe what is widely reported or rumored? Not to believe what has been thought out by reasoning? Not to believe what has been arrived at by means of logic? These examples are a help towards right understanding, because all blind credulity is foolishness. Suppose we open the Tipiṭaka, read a certain passage, and then believe it without thinking, without testing it, and without critical examination. That would be foolish belief in the Tipiṭaka, which the Buddha forbade. Believing what a teacher says without having used our own eyes and ears, without thinking critically, and without having seen for ourselves that what he says is really so, this is what is meant here by ‘merely believing a teacher.’ It is the same with believing any report or rumor that happens to arise. ‘Believing in what has been arrived at by way of logic’ means that, having learnt how to reason correctly and being experienced in reasoning, we deduce a certain proposition must be logically so. That is still not good enough. Don’t put trust in any such sort of reasoning.
Here, be careful and don’t listen carelessly, thinking that this discourse forbids us to read the Tipiṭaka. Nor does it forbid us to consult a teacher, to listen to reports and rumors, or to use logical reasoning. Rather, it means that although we may have read, listened, and heard, we shouldn’t simply accept what is offered in these ways unless we have first thought it over, considered it carefully, fathomed it out, examined it fully, and seen clearly for ourselves that something really is so.
For instance, the Buddha taught that greed, anger, and delusion are causes that give rise to suffering. If we ourselves aren’t yet acquainted with greed, anger, and delusion, there’s no way that we can believe this, there’s no need to believe it, and to believe it would, in such a case, be foolish. When we know in ourselves what greed is like, what anger is like, and what delusion is like, and that whenever they arise in mind, they produce suffering as if they were fires burning us, then we can believe on the basis of our own experience.
Concerning what the Buddha taught, even what appears in the Tipiṭaka, whatever we have read or heard, we must investigate until we see clearly the facts being taught. If, still, we don’t see it clearly and must fall back on reasoning, leave it for a while. We only need to believe and practice what we see clearly through our own experience. Gradually, we shall come to believe and see more and more clearly. There’s nothing to fear. This is a well-known teaching of the Buddha.
If a foreigner asks you about this Kālāma Sutta, do explain it properly. If you explain it wrongly, you will misrepresent the Buddha’s teaching. Not simply believing the Tipiṭaka, nor believing a teacher, nor believing reports and rumors, nor believing reasoning and logic – these have a hidden meaning. We must discover it. To believe straight away is foolishness. The Buddha forbade such foolishness firmly and definitely. He warned against believing prematurely, even his own words. Only after testing and coming to see clearly may we believe a teaching.
To believe straight away is foolishness; to believe after seeing clearly is good sense. This is the Buddhist policy on belief: not believing foolishly, not relying only on other people, or on texts, conjecture, reasoning, or whatever the majority believes, but rather believing what we see clearly for ourselves. This is how it is in Buddhism. We Buddhists make it our policy.
(From “Buddha-Dhamma for Inquiring Minds”)
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Buddha-Dhamma for Students (title of original translation) was composed of two talks given by Ajahn Buddhadāsa in January 1966 to students at Thammasat University, Bangkok. It was translated from the Thai by Rod Bucknell, and revised in 2018 by Santikaro Upasaka. To read/download as free ebook (pdf).
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Photo: Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives E-30