Kalamasutta

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
DarkDream
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:25 am

Re: Kalamasutta

Post by DarkDream »

Rui Sousa wrote: This is extremely useful when we have no idea where to go, everything is unknown to all of us, and a few are leading the way into knowledge. Since we are all following the lead scouts (the scientists) we don't really have an option but to accept what they tells us, and turn back when told "Sorry, this is a dead end, we were wrong, but please trust us again as we go that way.". Just a bunch of blind men going around until someone hits something, like Fleming leaving is window opened and discovering that fungus kill bacteria ...
See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_ ... _discovery
That is a very interesting view. It just so happens that these "bunch of blind men going around" have put man on the moon, invented life saving vaccines and medicine, allow us to travel by planes over vast distances and allow us to express such views by typing a message on a computer and have it transmitted close to the speed of light to be read by millions of other people.

Funny thing is that I have seen people who hold such opinions (rui, please don't take this as a personal attack I am referring to people I have personally known) and end up getting rushed to the hospital seem to have no qualms about science and are more than eager to follow the "lead scouts" in this case doctors on what is wrong with them.

--DarkDream
nathan
Posts: 692
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 3:11 am

Re: Kalamasutta

Post by nathan »

I never underestimate the potential for misperception owing to the conceits of the present age or of my own. We have missed the most favorable time for correct interpretation by 2500 years. These are our conditions. I accept that and bear it in mind in my studies. I appreciate any light on interpretive history. Thanks all, for the Op, etc..
But whoever walking, standing, sitting, or lying down overcomes thought, delighting in the stilling of thought: he's capable, a monk like this, of touching superlative self-awakening. § 110. {Iti 4.11; Iti 115}
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Rui Sousa
Posts: 366
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2009 4:01 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: Kalamasutta

Post by Rui Sousa »

DarkDream wrote: That is a very interesting view. It just so happens that these "bunch of blind men going around" have put man on the moon, invented life saving vaccines and medicine, allow us to travel by planes over vast distances and allow us to express such views by typing a message on a computer and have it transmitted close to the speed of light to be read by millions of other people.

Funny thing is that I have seen people who hold such opinions (rui, please don't take this as a personal attack I am referring to people I have personally known) and end up getting rushed to the hospital seem to have no qualms about science and are more than eager to follow the "lead scouts" in this case doctors on what is wrong with them.
:) no attack sensed on this side.

I am not being dismissive of what science has given us, penicillin has saved my live a couple of times during childhood, and I make a living from the use of technology. It wouldn't make sense to me to stay away from the benefits science give us, like going back to pre industrial ways of living. I am an experimental horticulture and use weather forecast to decide when to put seeds on the ground, my water is heated by solar panels, and other commodities I have the good fortune to be able to access.

You might know people that are dismissive of science and say that no good comes from progress, I know such people as well, but I am not one of them :)

One thing is the fruit of science, another thing is the method of science. I was simply comparing the scientific method and the Buddhist path. One could also compare the fruit of science with the fruit of the Dhamma, but that would leads off topic I guess.
With Metta
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