Monday, March 24, 2025

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it - Buddha

 A simplified, paraphrased and popular Buddha's quote:

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it" - Buddha

Original Source: Kalama Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya (AN 3.65) , part of the Pali Canon (Theravada Buddhist scriptures) (translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi).

"Come, Kalamas. Do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by hearsay, by a collection of scriptures, by logical reasoning, by inferential reasoning, by reasoned cogitation, by acceptance of a view after pondering it, by the seeming competence of a speaker, or because you think, 'The ascetic is our teacher.' But when you know for yourselves: 'These things are wholesome; these things are blameless; these things are praised by the wise; these things, if undertaken and practiced, lead to welfare and happiness,' then you should engage in them."

https://suttacentral.net/an3.65/en/sujato?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

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