Kesamutti Sutta

The Kālāma Sutta (also known as Kālām Sutta, [Kālāma Sūtra] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help); [] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: no text (help)Kalama thoke ; Thai: กาลามสูตร, Kalama Sut, or Kesamutti Sutta; Pāli: Kesamuttisuttaṃ, [] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: no text (help) Kethamotti thoke) is a short but often cited discourse of the Buddha concerning religious authority, contained in the Aṅguttara Nikaya of the Tipiṭaka. The sutta records a statement of the Buddha to the Kalamas (a people of Kosala in Northern India) in which he advises against the uncritical acceptance of religious authority advocating instead the employment of human reason and personal experience in assessing the veracity of a religious teaching. It is often cited (alongside other suttas) to demonstrate that the Buddha was in favour of rationality and common sense and opposed to blind faith and dogmatism in matters concerning truth, wisdom and knowledge.

Premise

The sutta starts off by describing how the Buddha passes through the village of Kesaputta and is greeted by its inhabitants, the Kalamas of the title. They ask for his advice: they say that many wandering holy men and ascetics pass through, expounding their teachings and criticizing the teachings of others. So whose teachings should they follow? He delivers in response a sermon that serves as an entry point to the Buddhadhamma for those unconvinced by mere spectacular revelation.

The Kesariya Stupa is believed to be at the place where the Buddha delivered the discourse

Discerning Religious Teachings

The Buddha proceeds to list the criteria by which any sensible person can decide which teachings to accept as true. Do not believe religious teachings, he tells the Kalamas, just because they are claimed to be true, or even through the application of various methods or techniques. Direct knowledge grounded in one's own experience can be called upon. He advises that the words of the wise should be heeded and taken into account. Not, in other words, passive acceptance but, rather, constant questioning and personal testing to identify those truths which you are able to demonstrate to yourself actually reduce your own stress or misery:

• 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 blamable; 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 provides ten specific sources which should not be used to accept a specific teaching as true, without further verification:

1. Oral history
2. Traditional
3. News sources
4. Scriptures or other official texts
5. Suppositional reasoning
6. Philosophical reasoning
7. Common sense
8. One's own opinions
9. Authorities or experts
10. 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. Thus, as stated by Bhikkhu Bodhi, neither was this teaching intended as an endorsement of radical skepticism:

On the basis of a single passage, quoted out of context, the Buddha has been made out to be a pragmatic empiricist who dismisses all doctrine and faith, and whose Dhamma is simply a freethinker's kit to truth which invites each one to accept and reject whatever he likes.

However, it seems not all Buddhists agree. According to Ven. Soma Thera, the Kalama Sutta is just that; the Buddha's charter of free inquiry:

The instruction of the Kalamas (Kalama Sutta) is justly famous for its encouragement of free inquiry; the spirit of the sutta signifies a teaching that is exempt from fanaticism, bigotry, dogmatism, and intolerance.

Buddha's Assurances

The first and main part of the Kalama Sutta is often quoted, but an equally important section of the Kalama Sutta follows on from this. This section (17) features the Buddha's four assurances, or solaces. Vaguely reminiscent of Pascal's Wager, the Buddha says that whether or not there are consequences to one's actions or not (kamma), whether there is an afterlife or not (rebirth), a happy, morally correct life in the here and now is what is most important and is assurance in itself:

"The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, and such a purified mind, is one by whom four solaces are found here and now.

"'Suppose there is a hereafter and there is a fruit, result, of deeds done well or ill. Then it is possible that at the dissolution of the body after death, I shall arise in the heavenly world, which is possessed of the state of bliss.' This is the first solace found by him.

"'Suppose there is no hereafter and there is no fruit, no result, of deeds done well or ill. Yet in this world, here and now, free from hatred, free from malice, safe and sound, and happy, I keep myself.' This is the second solace found by him.

"'Suppose evil (results) befall an evil-doer. I, however, think of doing evil to no one. Then, how can ill (results) affect me who do no evil deed?' This is the third solace found by him.

"'Suppose evil (results) do not befall an evil-doer. Then I see myself purified in any case.' This is the fourth solace found by him.

"The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who has such a hate-free mind, such a malice-free mind, such an undefiled mind, and such a purified mind, is one by whom, here and now, these four solaces are found." - Kalama Sutta, translated by Soma Thera

On these four solaces, Ven. Soma Thera wrote:

The Kalama Sutta, which sets forth the principles that should be followed by a seeker of truth, and which contains a standard things are judged by, belongs to a framework of the Dhamma; the four solaces taught in the sutta point out the extent to which the Buddha permits suspense of judgment in matters beyond normal cognition. The solaces show that the reason for a virtuous life does not necessarily depend on belief in rebirth or retribution, but on mental well-being acquired through the overcoming of greed, hate, and delusion.

External links

• अङ्गुत्तरनिकाय तिकनिपातपाळि महावग्गो केसमुत्तिसुत्तं Pali text
• English translation of the Kalama Sutra
• The wisdom of Kalama Sutta
• Kalama Sutta: The Buddha's Charter of Free Inquiry — from Access to Insight
• Kalama Sutta: To the Kalamas — from Access to Insight
• Knowledge and Truth in Early Buddhism Dharmachari Nagapriya from Western Buddhist Review
• Help! The Kalama Sutta, Help! by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu.