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**OnerePeepsy** · 05-29-2012, 03:00 AM

Hello "The Thinker",

Sorry for the late reply.

As i understand a divine being as Buddha was after he become enlightened he only needed to say the words for his disciples/ followers to understand and to become more enlightened them too. so yes he could have asked Ananda to have written it down, but did Ananda know how to write? I dont know the answer to that question, but i guess he could not write. I am not sure what do you mean by divine being??!! Let us face the truth, the Buddha was born 2500 years ago and i am not sure what archaeological evidence we have that he truely existed!! have you read the story of Mahavira (Jainism)? have you noticed the similarities between his story and the Buddha's story and between the two religions?

The Buddha was born in an era when many other thinkers/philosophers appeared. I am not drawing any conclusions but only warning myself before others from blind belief.

As far as i know the teachings of Buddha was only written down some generations after he was here giving his teachings. So the words that was spoken of Buddha can of course have been a bit changed in the time that has passed, also when translated into other languages some of the words can be misunderstood, all this i am aware of but in general Buddhas words are still our teaching and this is what we have to try to become enlighten from too .

I am happy to be corrected if i am wrong, but the pali canon was written down on palm leaves during the fourth council (1st century BCE) when not only the Buddha, but all his immediate disciples were turned into dust. So we are not only depending on Ananda's memory, but also on the memories of those who came in the era between the first and the fourth councils. In addition, we dont know how accurate the translation is (unless we learn the language so we have to trust the translators)

Your question about mind completely free from knowledge : this i am not agree about When you want to investigate, you have to be completely neutral (objective/mind independent). This is what scientists try to do my friend.

05-29-2012, 03:00 AM	#14
OnerePeepsy Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 474 Senior Member	Hello "The Thinker", Sorry for the late reply. As i understand a divine being as Buddha was after he become enlightened he only needed to say the words for his disciples/ followers to understand and to become more enlightened them too. so yes he could have asked Ananda to have written it down, but did Ananda know how to write? I dont know the answer to that question, but i guess he could not write. I am not sure what do you mean by divine being??!! Let us face the truth, the Buddha was born 2500 years ago and i am not sure what archaeological evidence we have that he truely existed!! have you read the story of Mahavira (Jainism)? have you noticed the similarities between his story and the Buddha's story and between the two religions? The Buddha was born in an era when many other thinkers/philosophers appeared. I am not drawing any conclusions but only warning myself before others from blind belief. As far as i know the teachings of Buddha was only written down some generations after he was here giving his teachings. So the words that was spoken of Buddha can of course have been a bit changed in the time that has passed, also when translated into other languages some of the words can be misunderstood, all this i am aware of but in general Buddhas words are still our teaching and this is what we have to try to become enlighten from too . I am happy to be corrected if i am wrong, but the pali canon was written down on palm leaves during the fourth council (1st century BCE) when not only the Buddha, but all his immediate disciples were turned into dust. So we are not only depending on Ananda's memory, but also on the memories of those who came in the era between the first and the fourth councils. In addition, we dont know how accurate the translation is (unless we learn the language so we have to trust the translators) Your question about mind completely free from knowledge : this i am not agree about When you want to investigate, you have to be completely neutral (objective/mind independent). This is what scientists try to do my friend.
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