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F ORUM TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 555
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Rather, we are adviced to think through thoroughly and the canon. The major issue is how to decide when
try them out; then based on our personal experience, conflicting interpretations are encountered. This is
investigation, practice, and realization we can have not easy to resolve unless one is a Buddhist scholar
proper beliefs, even though we are still considered and experienced practitioner, or one has a teacher
ignorant or unenlightened practitioners. or friend with such qualities. Nevertheless, as a
rule of thumb, one should decide by following this
Namgyal: We are considered ignorant and hierarchy of scriptural authority: (1) explicit in the
unenlightened, not about everything, but in the matter canon, (2) implicit in the canon, (3) explained in the
of cultivating causes for lasting and genuine peace as commentaries, (4) any other interpretations, e.g. views
well as for avoiding causes for miseries and suffering. of the elders found in the commentaries (Theravāda), or
And we shall remain so if we do not make efforts to get of the sub-commentaries, later teachers, scholars, etc. In
rid of those obscuring conditions. The way to get rid of other words, (1) is the foremost yardstick; if that is still
our ignorance and confusion is to gain understanding of unclear then proceed to (2), etc.
the respective causes and conditions and, then, employ
them to experience the outcome ourselves. Being Min Wei: According to the Buddha, a claim to knowledge
content with just sharing the company of others who cannot be based solely on one’s strength of faith in
profess or experience the teachings, or by repeating the any authority or otherwise. It is for this reason that
words of others to that effect is not enough. We must the Buddha adviced in the Kālāma Sutta not to rely on
try out the teachings ourselves and find the truth about revelation, tradition, sacred scriptures, or the respect
them experientially. So is the case about developing for a teacher.
insights into the nature of things. We must make
efforts to verify the truth of the related teachings by According to Buddhism, right knowledge is the
committing them to examination and practice. knowledge of Noble Truths. It is knowledge which
brings about a radical transformation of the person.
There may be numerous other varieties of human
Scriptures have always been the source of truth
knowledge that cannot, from the Buddhist perspective,
for many religions. But again in the Kālāma Sutta,
be referred to as right knowledge because those forms
we are told not to rely on scriptural authority as
of knowledge do not lead to self-transformation and
a source of knowledge. Yet we learn the Dharma
liberation. The noble truths taught in Buddhism are
from the scriptures. So how should we regard our
invariably connected with cultivation of wholesome
Buddhist canonical scriptures, as well as their many
qualities and liberation of the mind.
commentaries and sub-commentaries in our quest
for the truth?
Namgyal: Here I’m reminded of the so-called four
reliances, usually rendered in the following:
Aggacitta: The Buddha’s discourses have always to be
understood contextually. As I have already pointed out Rely not on the person, but on the teaching;
above, the people he was addressing were not Buddhists
Rely not on the words, but on the meaning;
and since they were already perplexed by diverse
teachings, he used an empirical approach to clear their
Rely not on the provisional meaning, but on the
doubts and concluded by teaching them the four Divine
definitive meaning;
Abidings (brahmavihāra) leading to the four assurances
of what might happen after death. Incidentally, they all Rely not on the intellectual understanding, but on the
became Buddhists at the end of the discourse. experiential understanding.

This rendition, when taken literally, can create
However, Buddhists who have taken refuge in
confusion. It may sound like suggesting that we cannot
the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha should have no
rely on the Buddha, the Sangha, and the scriptures. Only
qualms about relying on the scriptures, particularly