The Buddha”s Silence

　　佛陀的沉默

　　When the questioner himself was not in a position to understand the real significance of the answer to his question and when the questions posed to Him were wrong, the Buddha remained silent.

　　当发问的人没有能力了解答案时，或所问的问题存在根本的错误时，佛陀保持沉默。

　　The scriptures mention a few occasions when the Buddha remained silent to questions posed to Him. Some scholars, owing to their misunderstanding of the Buddha”s silence, came to the hasty conclusion that the Buddha was unable to answer to these questions. While it is true that on several occasions the Buddha did not respond to these metaphysical and speculative questions, there are reasons why the Buddha kept noble silence.

　　When the Buddha knew that the questioner was not in a position to understand the answer to the question because of its profundity, of if the questions themselves were wrongly put in the first place, the Blessed One remained silent. Some of the questions to which the Buddha remained silent are as following:

　　Is the universe eternal

　　 Is it not eternal

　　 Is the universe finite

　　 Is it infinite

　　 Is soul the same as the body

　　 Is the soul one thing and the body another

　　 Does the Tathagata exist after death

　　 Does He not exist after death

　　 Does He both (at the same time) exist and not exist after death

　　 Does He both (at the same time) neither exist nor not exist

　　 The Buddha who had truly realized the nature of these issues observed noble silence. An ordinary person who is still unenlightened might have a lot to say, but all of it would be sheer conjecture based on his imagination. The Buddha”s silence regarding these questions is more meaningful than attempting to deliver thousands of discourses on them. The paucity of our human vocabulary which is built upon relative experiences cannot hope to convey the depth and dimensions of Reality which a person has not himself experienced through Insight. On several occasions, the Buddha had very patiently explained that human language was too limited and could not describe the Ultimate Truth. If the Ultimate Truth is absolute, then it does not have any point of reference for worldlings with only mundane experiences and relative understanding to fully comprehend it. When they try to do so with their limited mental conception, they misunderstand the Truth like the seven blind men and the elephant. The listener who had not realized the Truth could not fathom the explanation given, just like a man who was blind since birth will have no way of truly understanding the color of the sky.

　　The Buddha did not attempt to give answers to all the questions put to Him. He was under no obligation to respond to meaningless questions which reflected gross misunderstanding on the part of spiritual development. He was a practical Teacher, full of compassion and wisdom. He always spoke to people fully understanding their temperament, capability and capacity to comprehend. When a person asked questions not with the intention to learn how to lead a religious life but simply to create an opportunity for splitting hairs, the Blessed One did not answer these questions. Questions were answered to help a person towards self-realization, not as a way of showing His towering wisdom.

　　According to the Buddha, there are several ways of answering various types of questions. The first type of question is one that requires a definite answer, such as a ”yes” or ”no”. For example, the question, ”Are all conditioned things impermanent

　　” is answered with a ”Yes”. The second type of question is one requiring an analytical answer. Suppose someone says that Angulimala was a murderer before he became an "Arahant”. So is it possible for all murderers to become Arahants

　　 This question should be analyzed before you can say ”Yes” or ”No”. Otherwise, it will n…

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