371 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
371 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
HONESTY AND EXPEDIENCY
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World Scripture
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HONESTY AND EXPEDIENCY
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This section deals with the virtues of honesty and expediency. Expediency is
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not always compatible with honesty, and the tension between these two values
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creates misunderstandings for the encounter of diverse cultures and religions.
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The first group of passages deals with honesty as truth-telling; see also
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related passages on Lying and Deceit, pp. 486-88. The question, What is truth?
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does not have a simple answer. Truth-telling can sometimes mean to report the
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facts of a situation, as in the correspondence theory of truth, but most
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religious truth deals with ideas and realities beyond the level of fact. Hence
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a second meaning of truth-telling is to be true to the principles and doctrines
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of religion, and to teach them truly. It is an attribute of truthful words
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that they be beneficial and instructive, not just factually true. That is
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probably the sense of truth meant by these passages.
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The second group of passages deal with honesty as promise-keeping. In the
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Abrahamic faiths, promises have often been sealed by oaths, sworn in the name
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of God. But as Jesus' admonition illustrates, oaths can be abused and sworn
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falsely, particularly when the person does not truly believe in the God to whom
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he swears. All religions elevate promise-keeping as a central virtue of human
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relations.
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The last group of passages are on the topic of expediency. Blunt honesty may
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sometimes conflict with what is most helpful for a person; for example, in time
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of war it may be necessary to lie to an enemy in order to preserve a life. In
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leading people to recognize the truth of religion, expediency may also be
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required, for the truth is sometimes hidden in a package that is outwardly
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unseemly. Thus when Paul preached the gospel among Jews, he observed the
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Jewish dietary laws--even though he himself was free from those laws--in order
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not to cause offense. The Buddhist doctrine of Expedient Devices, or Skill in
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Means, as expressed in passages from the Lotus Sutra, attempts to reconcile the
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various schools of Buddhism by showing that Buddha preached various doctrines
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according to people's temperaments and inclinations. In Nagarjuna this is the
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doctrine of the two truths: relative truth and absolute truth. It is first
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necessary to grasp the relative truth of worldly phenomena before one can
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comprehend the absolute truth which is beyond appearances. But once the
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aspirant has realized the deeper teaching--the absolute truth--and gone beyond
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to realize enlightenment, the various outward forms of the teaching become
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insignificant.
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The seal of God is truth.
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1.Judaism. Talmud, Shabbat 55
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Keep your conscience clear.
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2.Christianity. 1 Peter 3.16
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One should utter the truth.
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3.Buddhism. Dhammapada 224
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Let your conduct be marked by truthfulness in word, deed, and thought.
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4.Hinduism. Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11.1
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Be honest like Heaven in conducting your affairs.
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5.Taoism. Tract of the Quiet Way
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May the true-spoken word triumph over the false-spoken word which destroys the
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holy order.
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6.Zoroastrianism. Yasna 60.5
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Putting away falsehood, let everyone speak the truth with his neighbor, for we
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are members one of another.
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7.Christianity. Ephesians 4.25
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Ephesians 4.25: Cf. Psalm 24.3-6, p. 203; Psalm 101.7, p. 422.
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Straightforwardness and honesty in the activities of one's body, speech, and
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mind lead to an auspicious path.
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8.Jainism. Tattvarthasutra 6.23
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He who utters gentle, instructive, true words, who by his speech gives offense
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to none--him I call a brahmana.
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9.Buddhism. Dhammapada 406
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Master Tseng said, "Every day I examine myself... In intercourse with my
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friends, have I always been true to my word?"
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10.Confucianism. Analects 1.3
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One should speak the truth and speak it pleasingly; should not speak the truth
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in an unpleasant manner nor should one speak untruth because it is pleasing;
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this is the eternal law.
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11.Hinduism. Laws of Manu 4.138
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If a lie runs for twenty years, it takes truth one day to catch up with it.
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The truth got to market, but it was unsold; lying costs very little to buy.
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12.African Traditional Religions. Yoruba Proverbs (Nigeria)
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O ye who believe! stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even as
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against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it concerns rich
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or poor: for God can best protect both. Follow not the lusts of your hearts
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lest you swerve, and if you distort justice or decline to do justice, verily
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God is well-acquainted with all that you do.
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13.Islam. Qur'an 4.135
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Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
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look and take note!
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Search her squares to see
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if you can find a man,
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one who does justice
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and seeks truth;
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that I may pardon her....
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O Lord, do not thy eyes look for truth?
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14.Judaism and Christianity. Jeremiah 5.1-3
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Analects 1.3: Cf. Yoruba Proverb, p. 237. Dhammapada 406: Cf. Qur'an 16.125,
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p. 867. Yoruba Proverbs: Cf. Yoruba Proverbs, pp. 237, 422f. Qur'an 4.135:
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Islam does not value expediency or the competing goods of loyalty to family and
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kindred as highly as it values honesty. Compare Analects 13.18, below.
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When man appears before the Throne of Judgment, the first question he is asked
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is not, "Have you believed in God," or "Have you prayed and performed ritual
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acts," but "Have you dealt honorably, faithfully in all your dealings with your
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fellowman?"
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15.Judaism. Talmud, Shabbat 31a
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If you plot and connive to deceive men, you may fool them for a while, and
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profit thereby, but you will without fail be visited by divine punishment. To
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be utterly honest may have the appearance of inflexibility and self-
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righteousness, but in the end, such a person will receive the blessings of sun
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and moon. Follow honesty without fail.
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16.Shinto. Oracle of Amaterasu at the Kotai Shrine
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Tzu-chang asked about getting on with people. The Master said, "Be loyal and
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true to your every word, serious and careful in all you do, and you will get on
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well enough even though you find yourself among barbarians. But if you are
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disloyal and untrustworthy in your speech, frivolous and careless in your acts,
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even though you are among your own neighbors, how can you hope to get on well?"
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17.Confucianism. Analects 15.5
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When a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a
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pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds
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from his mouth.
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18.Judaism and Christianity. Numbers 30.2
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Fulfil the covenant of God once you have pledged it, and do not break any oaths
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once they have been sworn to. You have set up God as a Guarantee for
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yourselves; God knows everything you are doing.
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Do not be like a woman who unravels her yarn after its strands are firmly spun.
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Nor take your oaths in order to snatch at advantages over one another, to make
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one party more numerous than the other. For God will test you by this.
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19.Islam. Qur'an 16.91-92
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You have heard that it was said to the men of old, "You shall not swear
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falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn." But I say to you,
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do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the
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earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the
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great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white
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or black. Let what you say be simply "Yes" or "No"; anything more than this
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comes from evil.
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20.Christianity. Matthew 5.33-37
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Shabbat 31a: Cf. Psalm 24.3-6, p. 203; Micah 6.6-8, p. 742; Amos 5.23-24, p.
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255. Compare Matthew 25.31-45, p. 840. Analects 15.5: Cf. Mirhir Yasht 10.2,
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p. 68. Matthew 5.33-37: Jesus said this because oaths sworn on God or the
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Temple were frequently broken and even used to deceive.
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You may modify a statement in the interests of peace.
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21.Judaism. Talmud, Yebamot 65b
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It is always proper to speak the truth. It is better again to speak what is
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beneficial than to speak what is true. I hold that this is truth which is
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fraught with the greatest benefit to all creatures.
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22.Hinduism. Mahabharata, Shanti Parva 329.13
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Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw pearls before swine, lest they
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trample them under foot and turn to attack you.
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23.Christianity. Matthew 7.6
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Do not share this holy truth with anyone who lacks self-control and devotion,
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lacks the desire to learn, or scoffs at Me.
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24.Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 18.67
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The Duke of She addressed Confucius saying, "In my country there was a man
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called Upright Kung. His father appropriated a sheep, and Kung bore witness
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against him." Confucius said, "In my country the upright men are of quite
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another sort. A father will screen his son, and a son his father-- which
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incidentally does involve a sort of uprightness."
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25.Confucianism. Analects 13.18
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For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I
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might win the more. To the Jews I became a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those
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under the law I became as one under the law--though not being myself under the
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law--that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became
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as one outside the law--not being without law toward God but under the law of
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Christ--that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I become weak, that
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I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all
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means save some.
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26.Christianity. 1 Corinthians 9.19-22
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The teaching of the Dharma by the various Buddhas is based on the two truths;
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namely, the relative [worldly] truth and the absolute [supreme] truth.
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Those who do not know the distinction between the two truths cannot understand
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the profound nature of the Buddha's teaching.
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Mahabharata, Shantiparva 329.13: Cf. Mahabharata, Shantiparva 37.11-14, p. 406.
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Matthew 7.6: A precious truth, a gift of God, should not be given to those who
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would treat it with contempt. Teaching should be given in stages, and to those
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who are open to receive it. Cf. Chuang Tzu 14, p. 620. 1 Corinthians 9.19-22:
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Cf. Doctrine of the Mean 14, p. 615; Lotus Sutra 4, pp. 444f.
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Without relying on everyday common practices [relative truths], the absolute
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truth cannot be expressed. Without approaching the absolute truth, Nirvana
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cannot be attained.
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A wrongly conceived Sunyata can ruin a slow-witted person. It is like a badly
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seized snake or a wrongly executed incantation.
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The Wise One once resolved not to teach about the Dharma, thinking that the
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slow-witted might wrongly conceive it.
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27.Buddhism. Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamaka Karika 24.8-12
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Mulamadhyamaka Karika 24.8-12: Cf. the Parable of the Raft, Majjhima Nikaya
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i.134-35, pp. 694f.; Bhagavad Gita 2.42-46, pp. 698f.; Diamond Sutra 21, p. 692.
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On a certain occasion the venerable Nanda, brother of the Buddha, the son of
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the Buddha's aunt, thus addressed a number of monks, "Without zest I follow the
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Brahma-life. I will give up training and go back to the low."
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Someone informed the Buddha... who summoned Nanda and said to him, "How is it,
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Nanda, that you have no zest for the Brahma-life, that you cannot endure it,
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that you will give up the training and return to the low?"
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"Sir, when I left my home, a Shakyan girl, the fairest in the land, with hair
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half combed, looked back at me and said this, 'May you soon come back again,
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young master.' I am always thinking of her, and hence I have no zest for the
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Brahma-life, I cannot endure the Brahma-life, I will give up training and
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return to the low."
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Then the Exalted One took Nanda by the arm, and together they vanished from the
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Jeta Grove and appeared among the devas of the Thirty-Three. There, as many as
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five hundred "dove-footed" nymphs had come to minister to Sakka, lord of the
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devas. The Exalted one said to Nanda, "Nanda, do you see those five hundred
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dove-footed nymphs?"
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"Yes, sir."
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"What do you think, Nanda? Which are the more lovely, more worth looking at,
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more charming, the Shakyan girl, the loveliest in the land, or these five
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hundred dove-footed nymphs?"
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"O, sir, just as if she were a mutilated monkey with ears and nose cut off,
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even so, sir, the Shakyan girl, the loveliest in the land, if set beside these
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five hundred nymphs is not worth a fraction of them and cannot be compared with
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them. Why, these five hundred nymphs are far more lovely, far more worth
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looking at, far more charming!" Then the Exalted One, taking Nanda by the arm,
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vanished from the devas of the Thirty-three and reappeared in Jeta Grove.
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The monks heard the rumor, "They say that Nanda, brother of the Buddha, leads
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the Brahma-life for the sake of the nymphs. They say the Exalted One has
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assured him of getting five hundred dove-footed nymphs." Thereupon the monks
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who were comrades of Nanda called him "hireling" and "menial."...
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Now the venerable Nanda, being thus worried, humiliated, and despised since he
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was called a hireling and a menial by his comrades, living alone, remote,
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energetic, ardent, making the self strong, in no time attained in this very
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world, himself realizing it by full comprehension, that for which the clansman
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rightly goes forth from home to homelessness, even that unsurpassed goal of the
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Brahma-life, and so abided. He realized, "Ended is birth, lived is the life,
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done is what was to be done; there is no more of being here." The venerable
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Nanda had become one of the arahants....
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At the end of that night the venerable Nanda came to the Exalted One, and on
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coming to him saluted him and stood at one side and said, "Sir, as to the
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Exalted One's standing surety for me for the getting five hundred dove-footed
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nymphs, I release the Exalted One, sir, from that promise."
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"I also, Nanda, grasping your thought with my own, have seen that this is so...
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Since, Nanda, by not grasping, your heart is released from the cankers, I too
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am released from my promise."
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28.Buddhism. Udana 21-24, Nanda Sutta
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Udana 21-24: This is a good example of the Buddha's skill in means, to lead
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Nanda by means of a small desire to realization of higher truth. For another
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example, see the Tevigga Sutta, p. 187. On the use of seemingly evil beings to
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realize a high purpose, see Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti 6, p. 384.
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"Suppose, for instance, a good physician, who is wise and perspicacious,
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conversant with the medical art, and skillful in healing all sorts of diseases.
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He has many sons, say ten, twenty, even up to a hundred. Because of some
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matter he goes abroad to a distant country. After his departure his sons drink
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his other poisonous medicines, which send them into a delirium and they lie
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rolling on the ground. At this moment their father comes back to his home. Of
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the sons who drank the poison, some have lost their senses, others are
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sensible.... The father, seeing his sons in such distress, in accordance with
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his prescriptions, seeks for good herbs altogether perfect in color, scent, and
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fine flavor, and then pounds, sifts, and mixes them and gives them to his sons
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to take, saying thus, 'This excellent medicine with color, scent, and fine
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flavor all perfect, do you take, and it will at once rid you of your distress
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so that you will have no more suffering.' Those amongst the sons who are
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sensible, seeing this excellent medicine with color and scent both good, take
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it immediately and are wholly delivered from their illness. The others, who
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have lost their senses, seeing their father come, though they are also
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delighted, salute him, and ask him to heal their illness, yet when he offers
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them the medicine, they are unwilling to take it. Wherefore? Because the
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poison has entered deeply, they have lost their senses, and even in regard to
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this medicine of excellent color and scent they say that it is not good. The
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father reflects thus, 'Alas for these sons, afflicted by this poison, and their
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minds all unbalanced! Though they are glad to see me and implore to be healed,
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yet they are unwilling to take such excellent medicine as this. Now I must
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arrange an expedient plan so that they will take this medicine.' "Then he says
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to them: 'Know, all of you, that I am now worn out with old age and that the
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time of my death has now arrived. This excellent medicine I now leave here.
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You may take it and have no fear of not being better.' After thus admonishing
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them, he departs again for another country and sends a messenger back to inform
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them, 'Your father is dead.' And now, when these sons hear that their father is
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dead, their minds are greatly distressed and they thus reflect, 'If our father
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were alive he would have pity on us, and we should be saved and preserved. But
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now he has left us and died in a distant country.'
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"Deeming themselves orphans with no one to rely on, continuous grief brings
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them to their senses; they recognize the color, scent, and excellent flavor of
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the medicine, and thereupon take it, whence their poisoning is entirely
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relieved. Their father, hearing that the sons are recovered, seeks an
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opportunity and returns, showing himself to them all.
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"Good sons! What is your opinion? Are there any who could say that this good
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physician had committed the sin of falsehood?"
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"No, World-honored One!"
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The Buddha then said: "I also am like the father. It has been infinite
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countless hundred thousand myriad billions of kalpas since I became Buddha.
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But for the sake of all living beings, I say expediently, 'I must enter
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Nirvana.' There is none who can lawfully accuse me of falsehood."
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29.Buddhism. Lotus Sutra 16
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Lotus Sutra 16: After having revealed the eternal life of the Buddha, the Lotus
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Sutra explains the apparent demise of the historic Sakyamuni Buddha as an
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expedient device. Knowing that if the followers knew of the Buddha's eternal
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life span, they might become lazy and not vigorously apply themselves to
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attaining Nirvana, the Buddha uses his power of expedient devices to show his
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death. The sutra then illustrates this expedient device by the Parable of the
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Good Physician, given here. For another expedient device, see the Parable of
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the Prodigal Son, Lotus Sutra 4, pp. 444f.; on Buddha as the Great Physician,
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see Garland Sutra 37, p. 458.
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