"poisoned arrow" (from Buddhism)

[Todd]

Such as?

 

 

 

My position is that overall Buddha was a good doctor who said and did many helpful things. But once in a while he would have a brain fart. And he wasn't perfect.

 

What's your position?

 

The assumption that I made was the the buddha knew what he was doing when he used the analogy he did. It is an assumption, and I cannot defend it other than by showing a way that this might be true. I am not sure exactly what your assumption was, but I think it was something like the buddha didn't really know what he was talking about or doing when he used this analogy. There are probably reasons that you make this assumption, but it is an assumption.

 

Assumptions are not a good basis for knowing truth, and one would be better off not hanging one's hat on assumptions when there is a better option. At least consider alternate assumptions and see if they might offer more understandings.

 

I'm not invested either way. I like your narrative and I like mine too. I think they both have something to offer. Yours is a cautionary tale, also removing barriers to curiosity, and mine expresses appreciation for the subtle ways that an effective approach to truth can be evoked.

 

 

 

[goldisheavy]

The assumption that I made was the the buddha knew what he was doing when he used the analogy he did. It is an assumption, and I cannot defend it other than by showing a way that this might be true. I am not sure exactly what your assumption was, but I think it was something like the buddha didn't really know what he was talking about or doing when he used this analogy.

 

I think he knew something but found it not worth his precious time to explain. So instead of helping the guy learn to think better he just told him to swallow a bunch of Kool-aid. I think in general Buddha was a very condescending man.

 

There are probably reasons that you make this assumption, but it is an assumption.

 

Assumptions are not a good basis for knowing truth, and one would be better off not hanging one's hat on assumptions when there is a better option. At least consider alternate assumptions and see if they might offer more understandings.

 

I agree. Assumptions can be limiting. I mean, I do assume Buddha knew what he was talking about. I guess I could just drop that altogether. I was just assuming Buddha didn't want to bother explaining things and so he used such replies to avoid getting dragged into conversations he considered might potentially be endless.

 

I'm not invested either way. I like your narrative and I like mine too. I think they both have something to offer. Yours is a cautionary tale, also removing barriers to curiosity, and mine expresses appreciation for the subtle ways that an effective approach to truth can be evoked.

 

OK, I buy that.