[Nfxutkpa]

Hi Ticktock,

The Buddha taught a path, and like all teachings, he had to make some assertions. At a certain level, all assertions begin to break down and have to be abandoned, because, ultimate truth can only be experienced. It can't be conceived by thought and words, except through simile, of which there are many that seem to contradict each other, but they really don't. At an extreme level, one can pick apart anyone's assertions through reductio ad absurdum (Nagarjuna, a buddhist philosopher, showed this to be true) As such, when one gets to the ultimate truth, nirvana, one drops the teachings one used to get there. Buddha said his teachings were like a raft built to get us from one shore called Samsara, or the world as we normally percieve it, to another shore, Nirvana, the world as it actually is. He said that you use a raft to carry you across the water, and then when you get to the other shore, you leave the raft behind on the beach. You don't need it anymore.