The Kalama Sutta

The Kalama Sutta is from the Theravada Tradition. It sets forth the principles that should be followed by a seeker of truth. The following is taken from this website:

QUOTE

THE PEOPLE of the small town Kalama complained that they were confused by contradictions they discovered in what they heard from various teachers who praised their own doctrines. They asked Buddha, who was staying in the town then, who to believe out of all who, like himself, passed through their town:

"Venerable Sir, some recluses and brahmins visited this town and praised only their own doctrines, but condemned and despised those of others. And it is common that they do so. Sir, who among them told the truth and who told falsehood?"

Buddha advised them, saying, "Kalama people, it is proper for you to doubt and to have perplexity [under such circumstances,] when [great] doubt has arisen in a doubtful matter."

He went on to instruct that it is wise to make a proper examination before committing. He said this was to be applied to his own teachings as well. The benefit is: not being too bound by unverifiable propositions, hopefully.

In Pali, Buddha's reply is recorded thus:

Ma anussavena.

Do not believe something just because it has been passed along and retold for many generations. [Simpler: Do not be led by what you are told.]

Ma paramparaya.

Do not believe something merely because it has become a traditional practice. [Do not be led by whatever has been handed down from past generations.]

Ma itikiraya.

Do not believe something simply because it is well-known everywhere. [Do not be led by hearsay or common opinion.]

Ma Pitakasampadanena.

Do not believe something just because it is cited in a text. [Do not be led by what the scriptures say]

Ma takkahetu.

Do not believe something solely on the grounds of logical reasoning. [Do not be led by mere logic.]

Ma nayahetu.

Do not believe something merely because it accords with your philosophy. [Do not be led by mere deduction or inference.]

Ma akaraparivitakkena.

Do not believe something because it appeals to "common sense". [Do not be led by considering only outward appearance.]

Ma ditthinijjhanakkhantiya.

Do not believe something just because you like the idea. [Do not be led by preconceived notions (and the theory reflected as an approval)]

Ma bhabbarupataya.

Do not believe something because the speaker seems trustworthy. [Do not be led by what seems acceptable; do not be led by what some seeming believable one says.]

Ma samano no garu ti.

Do not believe something thinking, "This is what our teacher says". [Do not be led by what your teacher tells you is so.]

Kalamas, when you yourselves directly know, "This is [these things are] unwholesome, this is blameworthy, this is condemned or censured by the wise, these things when accepted and practised lead to poverty and harm and suffering," then you should give them up.

Kalamas, when you yourselves directly know, "These things are wholesome, blameless, praised by the wise; when adopted and carried out they lead to well-being, prosperity and happiness," then you should accept and practise them."

UNQUOTE

In Wikipedia, the rules are summarized as follow:

QUOTE

Thus, the Buddha named ten specific sources which knowledge should not be immediately viewed as truthful without further investigation to avoid fallacies:

1. Oral history

2. Traditional

3. News sources

4. Scriptures or other official texts

5. Suppositional reasoning

6. Philosophical dogmatism

7. Common sense

8. One's own opinions

9. Experts

10. 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.

UNQUOTE

If I accept the Kalama Sutta because it appeals to my common sense, I break rule 7. Any Buddhist who accepts it breaks rules 4, 9 and 10. But if you are going to test everything, life is going to be very difficult.

In the blog, A Handful of Leaves, the bloggers explains that the teaching arises out of a certain context.

QUOTE

The first point to note for all students of Buddhism is that asking questions and not accepting a teaching merely on faith is a core Buddhist principles. The Kalama Sutta is but one of the many suttas where the Buddha talked about the important of asking questions.

Yet the 10 grounds for not accepting a teaching appeared only in the Kalama sutta. Why is this so? A possible explanation could be that the Kalamas were already very confused when they approached the Buddha for advice. Thus under these circumstances, the Buddha laid down these 10 “rules” to ask the Kalamas to cast away what other teachers have taught and instead focus on what they can independently verify. – In short the 10 guidelines should not be read as the Buddha telling us not to use logic, inference or teachers under any circumstances.

Next, it was not clear from the sutta who these religious teachers were and what were they teaching. However, the Nikayas make frequent mentions of the existence of other religious teachers who lived and taught during the Buddha’s time. Six of these teachers were particularly famous.

Some of these teachers taught that good and bad actions has no moral consequences (in another word, no law of Kamma), others taught that every act produces kamma and one needs to “burn off” all bad kamma through self mortification, others taught that all things are predestined, yet others taught that death is the end of a person (materialists who believed that there is no rebirth or Kamma).

So it is reasonable to assume that the Kalamas were confused by these various beliefs, in particular on rebirth and the law of Kamma. Going by traditions, scripture, logic, inference, teachers etc would indeed not be able to help the Kalamas decide which teaching was right.

UNQUOTE

Nice mitigation, but I still think that the Kalama Sutta is wrong. You have to start at one point of belief before you can proceed. If you doubt everything, it is impossible to know the truth. That is why mathematics have axioms. Now that definitely break one of the 10 rules.