(from Majjhima Nikaya 63)

While the venerable Malunkyaputta was alone in meditation,

the following thought arose in his mind:

"These speculative views

have been undeclared by the Blessed One,

set aside and rejected by him, namely:

‘the world is eternal’ and ‘the world is not eternal’;

‘the world is finite’ and ‘the world is infinite’;

‘the soul is the same as the body’ and

‘the soul is one thing and the body another’;

and ‘after death a Tathagata exists’

and ‘after death a Tathagata does not exist’ and

‘after death a Tathagata both exists and does not exist’ and

‘after death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist.’

"The Blessed One does not declare these to me,

and I do not approve of and accept the fact

that he does not declare these to me,

so I shall go to the Blessed One and ask him the meaning of this.

If he declares to me [any of these beliefs]

then I will lead the holy life under him;

if he does not declare these to me,

then I will abandon the training and return to ordinary life."

Then, when it was evening, the venerable Malunkyaputta

rose from meditation and went to the Blessed One

[and asked him why he would not answer these questions]

[The Buddha answered him]

Suppose, a man were wounded by an arrow

thickly smeared with poison,

and his friends and companions,

his kinsmen and relatives,

brought a surgeon to treat him.

The man would say:

‘I will not let the surgeon pull out this arrow

until I now whether the man who wounded me

was a noble or a priest or a merchant or a worker...

until I know the name and an of the man who wounded me.. .

until I know whether the man who wounded me

was tall or short or of middle height...

until I know whether the man who wounded me

was dark or brown or golden-skinned.. .

until I know whether the man who wounded me

lives in such a village or town or city;...

until I know whether the bow that wounded me

was a long bow or a crossbow;..

until I know whether the bowstring that wounded me

was fibre or reed or sinew or hemp or bark;.. .

until I know whether the shaft that wounded me

was wild or cultivated;...

until I know with what kind of feathers

the shaft that wounded me was fitted —

whether those of a vulture or a crow

or a hawk or a peacock or a stork;.. .

until I know with what kind of sinew

the shaft that wounded me was bound —

whether that of an ox or a buffalo or a lion or a monkey;.. .

until I know what kind of arrow it was that wounded me —

whether it was hoof-tipped or curved

or barbed or calf-toothed or oleander.’

"All this would still not be known to that man

and meanwhile he would die.

"So too, Malunkyputta, if anyone should say thus:

‘I will not lead the holy life under the Blessed One

until the Blessed One

[answers all the questions you want answered]’

they would still remain unanswered by the Tathagata

and meanwhile that person would die...

"Why have I left [them unanswered]?

Because it is unbeneficial,

It does not belong to the fundamentals of the holy life,

it does not lead to disenchantment,

to dispassion, to cessation, to peace,

to direct knowledge,

to enlightenment, to Nibbana.

That is why I have left it undeclared.

"And what have I declared?

‘This is dukkha' — I have declared.

‘This is the origin of dukkha' — I have declared.

‘This is the cessation of dukkha' — I have declared.

‘This is the path leading to the cessation of dukkha' — I have declared.

"Why have I declared [these things]?

Because it is beneficial,

it belongs to the fundamentals of the holy life,

it leads to disenchantnent,

to dispassion, to cessation, to peace,

to direct knowledge, to enlightenment,

to Nibbana. That is why I have declared it.

 

The Raft is not the Shore

(From Majjhima Nikaya 22.13)

 

Dhamma [Buddhist teaching] is similar to a raft,

being for the purpose of crossing over,

not for the purpose of grasping.

Suppose a man in the course of a journey

saw a great expanse of water,

whose near shore was dangerous and fearful

and whose further shore was safe and free from fear,

but there was no ferryboat or bridge going to the far shore…

then the man collected grass, twigs, branches, and leaves

and bound them together into a raft,

and supported by the raft

and making an effort with his hands and feet,

he got safely across to the far shore.

Then, when he had got across and had arrived at the far shore,

he might think thus:

‘This raft has been very helpful to me,

since supported by it.. I got safely across to the far shore.

Suppose I were to hoist it on my head, or load it on my shoulder,

and then go wherever I want.’

That man [would not be] doing

what should be done with that raft.

[But the man might think instead:]

‘Suppose I were to haul it onto the dry land

or set it adrift in the water, and then go wherever I want.’

By so doing that man would be doing what should be done with that raft.

So I have shown you how the Dhamma is similar to a raft,

being for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of grasping.

Gotami was her family name, but because she tired easily,

she was called Kisa Gotami, or Frail Gotami.

She was reborn… in a poverty stricken house.

When she grew up, she married, going to the house of her husband's family to live.

There, because she was the daughter of a poverty stricken house,

they treated her with contempt.

After a time she gave birth to a son. Then they accorded her respect.

But when that boy of hers was old enough to play and run about, he died.

Sorrow sprang up within her.

She thought: Since the birth of my son,

I, who was once denied honor and respect in this very house, have received respect.

These folk may even seek to cast my son away.

Taking her son on her hip, she went about from one house door to another,

saying: "Give me medicine for my son!"

Wherever people encountered her, they said,

Where did you ever meet with medicine for the dead?

So saying they clapped their hands and laughed in derision.

{She went to the Buddha for help. He said:]

You did well, Gotami, in coming here for medicine.

Go enter the city, make the rounds of the entire city, beginning at the beginning,

and in whatever house no one has ever died, from that house fetch tiny grains of mustard seed.

Delighted in heart, she entered within the city, and at the very first house said:

"[The Buddha] bids me fetch tiny grains of mustard seed for medicine for my son.

Give me tiny grains of mustard seed.

Alas Gotami, they said, and brought and gave some to her.

She said: I cannot take this particular seed. In this house some one has died!

What are you saying, Gotami? Here it is impossible to count the dead!

Well then, I will not take it. [The Buddha] did not tell me

to take mustard seed from a house where any one has ever died.

In this same way she went to the second house, and to the third.

She thought: In the entire city this alone must be the way!

This the Buddha, full of compassion for the welfare of mankind, must have seen!

Overcome with emotion, she went outside of the city, carried her son to the burning ground,

and holding him in her arms, said:

Dear little son, I thought that you alone had been overtaken by this thing which men call death.

But you are not the only one death has overtaken. This is a law common to all mankind."

So saying, she cast her son away in the burning ground.

Then she uttered the following stanza:

Not a village law, not a law of market town,

Not a law of a single house is this.

Of all the world and all the worlds of the gods

This only is the law:

that all things are impermanent.

When she had said this, she went to the Teacher.

The Teacher said to her:

Gotami, did you get the tiny grains of mustard seed?

Done, reverend sir, is the business of the mustard seed!

Only give me a refuge!

The Teacher granted her admission to the Sangha

She bowed to him, and going to the nuns' convent, entered the Sangha…

In no very long time, by the practice of meditation,

She developed insight…

And then the Teacher recited to her this verse:

Though one should live a hundred years,

Not seeing the Region of the Deathless,

It would be better to one to live a single day,

Seeing the Region of the Deathless.

 

[Nibbana is called "Deathless."  A consciousness not dependent on anything in the world is said not to be "born into the world" and so not subject to death either.]