11. Buddha's Silence - 10 questions the Buddha did not answer

2.1-English.Reciting Buddha's Silence questions answer

In the original Pali scriptures, there are many references to a wanderer named Pocha.

One time, Pocha came to the Buddha's place and asked:
"Respected Gautama, is there a God?"

The Buddha remained silent.

"Then, venerable Gautama, is there no God?"

Buddha remained silent.

In the Buddha's time, there were many wanderers like Pocha. When they were discussing with others, they debated for the sake of debate, and often used metaphysical issues to argue with others. Ten of these well-known metaphysical questions are:

A. Questions about the universe (Yǔzhòu)
Yǔ, represents all the space in the upper and lower four directions, and Zhòu represents the time from the past to the present.

1. Is the universe eternal?

2. Is the universe not eternal?

3. Is the universe finite?

4. Is the universe infinite?

B. Questions about the Psychology

5. Are body and mind one?

6. Is the body of one substance and the heart another?

C. Questions about the realm of the Buddha's enlightenment

7. Does the Tathagata Nirvana continue to exist?

8. Does the Tathagata Nirvana cease to exist?

9. Does the Tathagata Nirvana exist and not exist at the same time?

10. Does the Tathagata Nirvana neither exist nor not exist at the same time?

  The Buddha was not interested in discussing these metaphysical questions, so whenever someone asked the Buddha these questions, the Buddha always remained silent.

Why did the Buddha not answer these metaphysical questions? We can explain it from four aspects:

1) The Buddha replied more than once, "Bhiksu, I teach only two things: suffering and the cessation of suffering (nirvana).

  Human beings are full of suffering, and our immediate task is to get rid of suffering, so I explain these dharmas, because they are useful and fundamentally related to the mind and body in the practice of the holy life; it will bring renunciation, remove attachment, pass into cessation, lead you to the serenity, insight, and nirvana. So I’ll explain these dharmas …”

  Among the ten metaphysical questions above, the first four questions are about the duration and grandness of the universe. This is cosmology. No matter whether the world is eternal or non-eternal, finite or infinite, theses concepts are not beneficial to human beings' liberation from suffering.

  The next two questions are about body and mind. According to the Buddha's teachings, all dharmas are about emptiness, this is one of the three-dharma seals. In fact, the doctrine of emptiness is a major feature of Buddhism, so if one asks whether body and mind are one or separate, it is simply irrelevant to the teachings of the Buddha. For Buddhism, these questions are simply out of the question.

2. Metaphysical Related Questions Can Lead People Astray

  In the time of the Buddha, there was a monk named Mantongzi. One afternoon, while he was sitting and meditating, he suddenly got up and went to the Buddha's dwelling. After bowing, he sat down and said, "Honourable One, I was sitting alone in meditation when a thought suddenly occurred to me, there are ten questions of which you have never given us clear explanation. Whenever people ask these questions, you always put them aside and keep silent. I don't like that.

Honourable One, if you explain these ten questions clearly to me today, and I will continue to practice living a holy life;
if the Honourable One remains silent on these questions, I will lose confidence and stop the practice of living a holy life.
If the Honourable One knows that the world is eternal, please tell me that.
If the universe is not eternal, why is that so?
If you don't know the answers, just say: “I don't know.”

The Buddha said,"You fool! Did you ordain to understand these metaphysical questions? Did I promise you that I would answer these questions when you followed me in the holy life?"

Mantongzi replied, "Master, no."

The Buddha said, "You will die before you get the answer from the Tathagata. Mantongzi, you are acting like a person injured by a poisoned arrow. When relatives and friends find a doctor to treat him, he says to the doctor, “before you remove the arrow, please answer my question: to which class does the person who hurt me belong? What is his name? What is his stature? Where is he from? What is the bow made of? How about the arrow? The make of the arrow shaft? What kind of bird's feather is on the arrow horn? Doctor, if you can't give me a satisfactory explanation, I won't want to be treated!”

  Mantonzi, this man died long before these answers were known. If someone is troubled by these metaphysical problems all day long and pursues them desperately, they will go astray, and they will end up getting nothing.

3. Due To The Limitations Of Language, Ordinary People Cannot Understand The Reality Through Language.

  Language is a manmade construct for expressing events, experiences, thoughts and feelings those of which are experienced through the mind and senses. It consists of symbols for things and ideas that we know well. It is limited to time, space, and the dependent origination, and language cannot go beyond these boundaries.

  In other words, human beings can only express one thing or a mindset within the limits of time, space and the dependent origination. Sometimes human language is not even sufficient enough to express the reality of our daily living. For example, some of our feeling of passion cannot be expressed in words. So human language is not omnipotent, it has certain limitations.

  In terms of knowing the truth, language is even more powerless, because the Buddha dharma is beyond the world and is restricted beyond the limitations of time, space and the law of dependent origination. Human beings can only experience it, but cannot describe it in words. Speechless. In fact, these questions can never be fully and satisfactorily answered through language, as no language can express this realm.

  Just as there is no descriptive word for land in the vocabulary of a fish. The tortoise tells his friend, the fish, that he has just returned to the lake after a walk on land. The fish says, "What's the difference between walking and swimming?" The tortoise wishes to explain walking to the fish. The land is dry so the fish could not possibly be able to swim on it but only walk on it. Obviously, the fish will never be able to experience what it is like to walk on land.

  Likewise, in the vocabulary of an ordinary layperson, it is impossible to find the appropriate words to describe Nirvana. However nowadays, many people use the most elaborate words in the world to describe the sublime supremacy of Nirvana; and some even rack their brains to painfully and lengthily describe the blissful state of the Buddha after his death. The result is just as what the "Langa Sutra" says, “fools are attached to words, like elephants stuck in a quagmire, unable to extricate themselves.”

4. Within the Buddhist sutras exist the methods of Buddha in teaching and transforming sentient beings

  The Buddha is not a computer, he won’t simply answer any answers without thinking. He is a teacher who is very concern about practical benefits; he is also full of compassion and wisdom. He does not answer questions to show off his knowledge, but to help the questioner on the path of enlightenment. When he talks to a person, he always keeps in mind the level, inclination, aptitude, character and ability of understanding a certain issue of that person.

**According to the Buddha's teachings, there are four ways to deal with the imposed questions:

1. When the questions are direct and obvious, deprived of the metaphysical aspects, they must be answered directly. For example, what is the cause of suffering?

2. Certain questions must be answered analytically, such as ‘is Buddhism an idealism or materialism’?

3. Other questions must be answered by questioning back.

4. There is a class of questions that must be answered by silence. For example, when someone asked the Buddha about metaphysics, the Buddha often kept silent.

  So, when Pocha asked the Buddha if there is a god and self, the Buddha always kept silent. The Buddha's reticence had an effect on Pocha than any eloquence. The compassionate and wise Buddha took great care of the bewildered seeker and expressed his deep concern for the seeker.

  In short, these ten questions that the Buddha did not answer are all about the realm of the Buddha's enlightenment. The transcendent state of Buddha's enlightenment can only be realized through practice. For ordinary people, even if the Buddha explained it to them, it will still be beyond their comprehension.

  Once long-ago, when the Buddha was passing by a forest in Khohimmi (in present-day Allahabat, India), he took a few leaves and put them in his hands. He asked his disciples, "O bhiksu, what do you think? Are there more leaves in my hand, or are there more leaves in the forest here?" "Most Honourable One, you have only a few leaves in your hand, but there are countless leaves here in the forest."

"Similarly, the Dharma I know is like leaves in the forest, and what I have told you is just like the leaves in my hand, only a number of them, and there is a lot of Dharma that I haven't said! And why don't I tell it all to you? It is not helpful in leading people to nirvana. That's why I didn't tell all the dharma."

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