The Blessed One, the Buddha, declared that certain questions based on abstract general reasoning (metaphysical) are unanswerable, they are termed the Inexpressible.
The Buddha likened those who asked such questions as not wise, as it is like a man who when struck by an arrow and before treatment, would like to know what sort of arrow struck him, where it come from, who aimed it etc. It is likely that he would be dead before he can get any satisfactory answers to his questions. The moral drawn is that such enquiries are unnecessary and can prove detrimental to a spiritual life.
There are four sets of questions with its accompanying alternatives that are usually stated, they are:
(1) Whether the world is eternal, or not, or both, or neither. (Its origin and duration)
(2) Whether the world is finite (in space), or infinite, or both, or neither. (Its end)
(3) Whether the soul is identical with the body or different from it.
(4) Whether the Lord Buddha exists after death, or does not, or both, or neither.
To hold that the world is eternal, or not, or to agree to any of the other propositions is to theorized, it does not conduces to detachment, tranquility, peace or knowledge and wisdom of Nirvana. ‘This is the danger I perceive in these views which make me discard them all,’ The Blessed One said.
Read the rest from The Buddhist Channel
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