Tuesday, May 01, 2007

From the Kalama Sutta

Now, look you Kalamas, do not be led by reports, or tradition, or hearsay. Be not led by the authority of religious texts, nor by mere logic or inference, nor by considering appearances, nor by the delight in speculative opinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea; "this is our teacher'. But, O Kalamas, when you know for youselves that certain things are unwholesome (akusala), and wrong, and bad, then give them up ... And when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome (kusala) and good, then accept them and abide by them.


- The Buddha, From the Kalama Sutta

2 comments:

Trinifar said...

At first I thought this was a post about olives. ;-) Then I looked closer....

Great to see some good Buddhist text on a blog -- that's not a common experience of mine. Also nice that it feeds quite nicely into the religion/atheism/naturalism/... converstation of late. I really love the second sentence.

And its 2500 years old give or take. Talk about ancient wisdom!

Paul Sunstone said...

Thank you, Trinifar! Like you, I am impressed at how true, relevant and fresh Buddhism is even after 2500 years.