The Kesamutti Sutta states:

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 blameable; 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 whose knowledge should not be immediately viewed as truthful without further investigation to avoid fallacies:

Oral history

Tradition

News sources

Scriptures or other official texts

Suppositional reasoning

Philosophical dogmatism

Common sense

One’s own opinions

Experts

Authorities or one’s own teacher

Instead, the Buddha says, only when one personally knows that a certain teaching is skillful, blameless, praiseworthy, and conducive to happiness, and that it is praised by the wise, should one then accept it as true and practice it.

(Wikipedia)

  • StrangeMed@lemmy.worldM
    1·
    3 days ago

    This statement is often misunderstood, and it doesn’t mean that you should follow what a teacher or the scriptures say. Instead, it means that you should ALSO verify everything by yourself and put into practice the teachings before calling someone fake or true. This can take a lot of time, especially for the most complex ideas and concepts, but that’s what sets Buddhism far from other religions: you have to practice; reading texts or hoping only in an external help isn’t enough for “reaching nirvana and ceasing suffering”.

  • Mastema@infosec.pub
    3·
    4 days ago

    Yes! Look directly into one’s own experience at whatever is causing suffering in this moment and do not flinch away or be distracted until that suffering is seen through. This seeing-through usually comes in the form of a realization or knowing that goes much deeper than any mental knowing.

    Thank you for posting this!