Kalama Sutta
Encyclopedia
The Kālāma Sutta is a discourse of the Buddha
contained in the Aṅguttara Nikaya
of the Tipiṭaka
. It is often cited by those of the Theravada
and Mahayana
traditions alike as the Buddha
's "charter of free inquiry
."
The Kālāma Sutta is also used for advocating prudence by the use of sound logical reasoning
arguments and the dialectic principles
for inquiries in the practice that relates to the discipline of seeking truth, wisdom and knowledge whether it is religious or not. In short, the Kālāma Sutta is opposed to blind faith, dogmatism and belief spawned from specious reasoning
.
or misery
:
Thus, the Buddha named ten specific sources which knowledge should not be immediately viewed as truthful without further investigation to avoid fallacies
:
Instead, the Buddha says, only when one personally knows that a certain teaching is skill
ful, blame
less, praise
worthy, and conducive to happiness
, and that it is praised by the wise, should one then accept it as true and practice it. Thus, as stated by Ven. Soma Thera, the Kalama Sutta is just that; the Buddha's charter of free inquiry:
However, as stated by Bhikkhu Bodhi
, this teaching is not intended as an endorsement for either radical skepticism
or as for the creation of unreasonable personal truth
:
Vaguely reminiscent of Pascal's Wager
, the Buddha says that whether or not there are consequences to one's actions or not (kamma
), whether there is an afterlife or not (rebirth
), a happy, morally correct life in the here and now is what is most important and is assurance in itself:
On these four solaces, Ven. Soma Thera wrote:
Sutra
Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...
contained in the Aṅguttara Nikaya
Anguttara Nikaya
The Anguttara Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism...
of the Tipiṭaka
Tripiṭaka
' is a traditional term used by various Buddhist sects to describe their various canons of scriptures. As the name suggests, a traditionally contains three "baskets" of teachings: a , a and an .-The three categories:Tripitaka is the three main categories of texts that make up the...
. It is often cited by those of the Theravada
Theravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
and Mahayana
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
traditions alike as the Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
's "charter of free inquiry
Inquiry
An inquiry is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of inquiry and a treatment of the ways that each type of inquiry achieves its aim.-Deduction:...
."
The Kālāma Sutta is also used for advocating prudence by the use of sound logical reasoning
Soundness
In mathematical logic, a logical system has the soundness property if and only if its inference rules prove only formulas that are valid with respect to its semantics. In most cases, this comes down to its rules having the property of preserving truth, but this is not the case in general. The word...
arguments and the dialectic principles
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
for inquiries in the practice that relates to the discipline of seeking truth, wisdom and knowledge whether it is religious or not. In short, the Kālāma Sutta is opposed to blind faith, dogmatism and belief spawned from specious reasoning
Fallacy
In logic and rhetoric, a fallacy is usually an incorrect argumentation in reasoning resulting in a misconception or presumption. By accident or design, fallacies may exploit emotional triggers in the listener or interlocutor , or take advantage of social relationships between people...
.
Premise
The sutta starts off by describing how the Buddha passes through the village of Kesaputta and is greeted by its inhabitants, a clan called the Kalamas. They ask for his advice: they say that many wandering holy men and ascetics pass through, expounding their teachings and criticizing the teachings of others. So whose teachings should they follow? He delivers in response a sermon that serves as an entry point to the Buddhadhamma for those unconvinced by mere spectacular revelation.Discerning Religious Teachings
The Buddha proceeds to list the criteria by which any sensible person can decide which teachings to accept as true. Do not believe religious teachings, he tells the Kalamas, just because they are claimed to be true, or even through the application of various methods or techniques. Direct knowledge grounded in one's own experience can be called upon. He advises that the words of the wise should be heeded and taken into account. Not, in other words, passive acceptance but, rather, constant questioning and personal testing to identify those truths which you are able to demonstrate to yourself actually reduce your own stressStress (biology)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
or misery
Dukkha
Dukkha is a Pali term roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, discontent, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, sorrow, affliction, social alienation, anxiety,...
:
- Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing,
- nor upon tradition,
- nor upon rumor,
- nor upon what is in a scripture,
- nor upon surmise,
- nor upon an axiom,
- nor upon specious reasoning,
- nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over,
- nor upon another's seeming ability,
- nor upon the consideration, "The monk is our teacher."
- Kalamas, when you yourselves know: "These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness," enter on and abide in them.'
Thus, the Buddha named ten specific sources which knowledge should not be immediately viewed as truthful without further investigation to avoid fallacies
Fallacy
In logic and rhetoric, a fallacy is usually an incorrect argumentation in reasoning resulting in a misconception or presumption. By accident or design, fallacies may exploit emotional triggers in the listener or interlocutor , or take advantage of social relationships between people...
:
- Oral historyArgumentum ad populumIn logic, an argumentum ad populum is a fallacious argument that concludes a proposition to be true because many or most people believe it; which alleges: "If many believe so, it is so."...
- TraditionalAppeal to traditionAppeal to tradition is a common fallacy in which a thesis is deemed correct on the basis that it correlates with some past or present tradition...
- News sourcesAnecdotal evidenceThe expression anecdotal evidence refers to evidence from anecdotes. Because of the small sample, there is a larger chance that it may be true but unreliable due to cherry-picked or otherwise unrepresentative of typical cases....
- Scriptures or other official texts
- Suppositional reasoningReification (fallacy)Reification is a fallacy of ambiguity, when an abstraction is treated as if it were a concrete, real event, or physical entity. In other words, it is the error of treating as a "real thing" something which is not a real thing, but merely an idea...
- Philosophical dogmatismSemmelweis reflexThe Semmelweis reflex or "Semmelweis effect" is a metaphor for the reflex-like tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms, beliefs or paradigms...
- Common sense
- One's own opinionsMind projection fallacyMind projection fallacy, as coined by physicist and bayesian philosopher E.T. Jaynes, occurs when one takes for sure that the way he sees the world reflects the way the world really is, going as far as assuming the real existence of imagined objects....
- ExpertsAppeal to accomplishmentAppeal to accomplishment is a genetic fallacy wherein Person A challenges a thesis put forward by Person B which criticizes Person C a because Person B has not accomplished similar feats or accomplished as many feats as Person C or Person A....
- Authorities or one's own teacherArgument from authorityArgument from authority is a special type of inductive argument which often takes the form of a statistical syllogism....
Instead, the Buddha says, only when one personally knows that a certain teaching is skill
Skill
A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills...
ful, blame
Blame
Blame is the act of censuring, holding responsible, making negative statements about an individual or group that their action or actions are socially or morally irresponsible, the opposite of praise. When someone is morally responsible for doing something wrong their action is blameworthy...
less, praise
Praise
Praise is the act of making positive statements about a person, object or idea, either in public or privately. Praise is typically, but not exclusively, earned relative to achievement and accomplishment...
worthy, and conducive to happiness
Happiness
Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....
, and that it is praised by the wise, should one then accept it as true and practice it. Thus, as stated by Ven. Soma Thera, the Kalama Sutta is just that; the Buddha's charter of free inquiry:
However, as stated by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Bhikkhu Bodhi
Bhikkhu Bodhi , born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York/New Jersey area...
, this teaching is not intended as an endorsement for either radical skepticism
Radical skepticism
Radical skepticism or radical scepticism is the philosophical position that knowledge is most likely impossible. Radical skeptics hold that doubt exists as to the veracity of every belief and that certainty is therefore never justified...
or as for the creation of unreasonable personal truth
Egocentrism
Egocentrism is a personality trait which has the characteristic of regarding oneself and one's own opinions or interests as most important or valid...
:
The Buddha's Assurances
The first and main part of the Kalama Sutta is often quoted, but an equally important section of the Kalama Sutta follows on from this. This section (17) features the Buddha's four assurances, or solaces.Vaguely reminiscent of Pascal's Wager
Pascal's Wager
Pascal's Wager, also known as Pascal's Gambit, is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher, mathematician, and physicist Blaise Pascal that even if the existence of God could not be determined through reason, a rational person should wager as though God exists, because one living life...
, the Buddha says that whether or not there are consequences to one's actions or not (kamma
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
), whether there is an afterlife or not (rebirth
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
), a happy, morally correct life in the here and now is what is most important and is assurance in itself:
- "The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, and such a purified mind, is one by whom four solaces are found here and now.
- "'Suppose there is a hereafter and there is a fruit, result, of deeds done well or ill. Then it is possible that at the dissolution of the body after death, I shall arise in the heavenly world, which is possessed of the state of bliss.' This is the first solace found by him.
- "'Suppose there is no hereafter and there is no fruit, no result, of deeds done well or ill. Yet in this world, here and now, free from hatred, free from malice, safe and sound, and happy, I keep myself.' This is the second solace found by him.
- "'Suppose evil (results) befall an evil-doer. I, however, think of doing evil to no one. Then, how can ill (results) affect me who do no evil deed?' This is the third solace found by him.
- "'Suppose evil (results) do not befall an evil-doer. Then I see myself purified in any case.' This is the fourth solace found by him.
- "The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, and such a purified mind, is one by whom, here and now, these four solaces are found." - Kalama Sutta, translated by Soma Thera
On these four solaces, Ven. Soma Thera wrote:
External links
- अङ्गुत्तरनिकाय तिकनिपातपाळि महावग्गो केसमुत्तिसुत्तं Pali text
- English translation of the Kalama Sutra
- The wisdom of Kalama Sutta
- Kalama Sutta: The Buddha's Charter of Free Inquiry — from Access to InsightAccess to InsightAccess to Insight is a popular Theravada Buddhist website providing access to a huge collection of translated texts from the Tipitaka, as well as contemporary materials published by the Buddhist Publication Society and many teachers from the Thai Forest Tradition.Access to Insight began in 1993 as...
- Kalama Sutta: To the Kalamas — from Access to InsightAccess to InsightAccess to Insight is a popular Theravada Buddhist website providing access to a huge collection of translated texts from the Tipitaka, as well as contemporary materials published by the Buddhist Publication Society and many teachers from the Thai Forest Tradition.Access to Insight began in 1993 as...
- Knowledge and Truth in Early Buddhism Dharmachari Nagapriya from Western Buddhist Review
- Help! The Kalama Sutta, Help! by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu.