{"id":6871,"date":"2021-03-16T11:03:22","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T10:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/?p=6871"},"modified":"2021-03-16T11:03:22","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T10:03:22","slug":"the-teachings-of-the-buddha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/the-teachings-of-the-buddha\/","title":{"rendered":"The Teachings of the Buddha"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Lumbini: Photo Yeshe Dorje.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A double-edged question.
\n<\/strong>
\nThe local ruler, called Abhaya, went to Nataputta, a monk who belonged to a community hostile to the Buddha.\u00a0 Nataputta said to Abhaya: ‘If you were to defeat Gautama, whom they call the Buddha, in public debate, your reputation would be hugely enhanced,’\u00a0 Abhaya said: ‘How can I defeat Gautama in debate?\u00a0 His power is too great, and his ability is too vast.’<\/p>\n

Nataputta said:\u00a0 ‘Go to Gautama, and ask him this question:\u00a0 “Would an enlightened person ever utter words which were disagreeable and unpleasant to others?”\u00a0 \u00a0If he replies that an enlightened person would speak in such a way, say to him:\u00a0 “Then there is no difference between an enlightened\u00a0 person and an ordinary person;\u00a0 ordinary people frequently utter words which are disagreeable and unpleasant to others.”\u00a0 But if he replies that an enlightened person would never speak in such a way, say to him:\u00a0 “Then you cannot be enlightened; you said that our cousin and enemy Devadutta will suffer for an aeon, and your words made him angry.”‘<\/p>\n

Nataputta continued: ‘Thus, when you ask this double-edged question, Gautama will be unable either to spew it out or to swallow it.\u00a0 It will be as if a piece of barbed iron were stuck in his throat.<\/p>\n

Abhaya agreed to this plan; and he immediately went to the Buddha.\u00a0 He invited him for a meal the following day, with the intention of asking the question afterwards.<\/p>\n

Abhayarajakumara Sutta:\u00a0 Majjhima Nikaya <\/em>1.393-395
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The Buddha’s principles for speech.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Buddha came to Abhaya’s palace the following day; and the prince served the Buddha himself, giving him the finest food.\u00a0 Then after the meal Abhaya asked the Buddha; ‘Would an enlightened person ever utter words which were disagreeable and unpleasant to others?’\u00a0 The Buddha said, ‘Is not this question double-edged?’\u00a0 Abhaya exclaimed:\u00a0 ‘Nataputta and his community are already defeated.’\u00a0 The Buddha asked: ‘Why do you say that?’\u00a0 Abhaya told the Buddha that Nataputta had urged him to ask that question, in order to defeat him in debate.<\/p>\n

A little boy was lying beside Abhaya, with his head on the ruler’s knee.\u00a0 The Buddha said:\u00a0 ‘If that little boy had a stone stuck in his throat, what would you do?’\u00a0 Abhaya replied: ‘Out of compassion for the boy, I should put my finger down his throat and pull the stone out – even if I drew blood.’<\/p>\n

The Buddha said: ‘I never utter falsehood.\u00a0 If I know something to be true, but nobody would benefit from hearing it, and some would be hurt, I do not utter it.\u00a0 If I know something to be true, and some would benefit from hearing it, and others would be hurt, I wait for the right time to utter it.\u00a0 If I know something to be true, but nobody would benefit from hearing it, though some would find it pleasant, I do not utter it.\u00a0 If I know something to be true, and some would benefit from hearing it, and some would find it pleasant, I utter it.’<\/p>\n

Abhayarajakumara Sutta:\u00a0 Majjhima Nikaya\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>1.393 – 395<\/span><\/p>\n

From <\/em>366 Readings\u00a0From Buddhism:\u00a0 Jaico Publishing House.\u00a0 Mumbai<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A double-edged question. The local ruler, called Abhaya, went to Nataputta, a monk who belonged to a community hostile to the Buddha.\u00a0 Nataputta said to Abhaya: ‘If you were to defeat Gautama, whom they call the Buddha, in public debate, your reputation would be hugely enhanced,’\u00a0 Abhaya said: ‘How can I defeat Gautama in debate?\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2234,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[162,163],"tags":[545],"class_list":["post-6871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-features","tag-abhayarajakumara-sutta"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Teachings of the Buddha - Many Roads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/the-teachings-of-the-buddha\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"108\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-teachings-of-the-buddha\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-teachings-of-the-buddha\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"108\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b702436744d367c3b4e6ca9f727819fc\"},\"headline\":\"The Teachings of the Buddha\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-16T10:03:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-teachings-of-the-buddha\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":539,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-teachings-of-the-buddha\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/files\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/Buddha-1-229x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Abhayarajakumara Sutta\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\",\"Features\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-teachings-of-the-buddha\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-teachings-of-the-buddha\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-teachings-of-the-buddha\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Teachings of the Buddha - 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The local ruler, called Abhaya, went to Nataputta, a monk who belonged to a community hostile to the Buddha.\u00a0 Nataputta said to Abhaya: ‘If you were to defeat Gautama, whom they call the Buddha, in public debate, your reputation would be hugely enhanced,’\u00a0 Abhaya said: ‘How can I defeat Gautama in debate?\u00a0…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}