Thundering Silence by Thich Nhat Hanh

Author:Thich Nhat Hanh [Hanh, Thich Nhat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-935209-01-0
Publisher: Parallax Press
Published: 2005-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

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Thundering Silence

In the Samyutta Nikaya, we read about the ascetic Vacchagotta’s visit to the Buddha. Vacchagotta asked, “Reverend Gautama, please tell me, is there a self?” The Buddha did not say anything. Vacchagotta asked again, “Then you do not think there is a self?” The Buddha remained silent. Eventually, Vacchagotta left.

Afterwards, Ananda asked the Buddha, “Venerable Sir, when you give us Dharma teachings you often speak about no-self. Why did you not reply to Vacchagotta’s questions concerning the self?” The Buddha replied, “The teaching of no-self that I give the bhikshus is a means to guide you to look deeply in your meditation. It is not an ideology. If you make it into an ideology, you will be caught in it. I believe the ascetic Vacchagotta was looking for an ideology and not for a teaching to help him in the practice. So I remained silent. I did not want him to be caught by the teachings. If I had told him there is a self, that would not have been correct. If I told him there is no self, he would have clung to that dogmatically and made it into a theory, and that would not have been helpful either. That is why I kept silent.”

The first precept of the Order of Interbeing represents the same spirit: “Aware of the suffering created by fanaticism and intolerance, we are determined not to be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist teachings are guiding means to help us learn to look deeply and to develop our understanding and compassion. They are not doctrines to fight, kill, or die for.”16

Teachings that are received as doctrines or theories are no longer teachings. They do not liberate, and the person receiving them is caught. In most precept texts, the first precept is not to take life. Not taking life, however, is not unique to Buddhism. In the Jainism of the naked ascetic Nirgantha, for example, restrictions concerning the taking of life were far more severe than in Buddhism. But in the spirit of breaking the bonds of attachment to ideology, the practice of the precept not to kill goes much further in Buddhism. A person caught in a doctrine or a system of thought can sacrifice millions of lives in order to put into practice his theory, which he considers the absolute truth, the unique path that can lead humankind to happiness. With a gun in hand, a person can kill one, five, or even ten people. But holding on to a doctrine or a system of thought, one can kill tens of thousands of people. Therefore, unless the precept not to take life is understood in terms of breaking the bonds of attachment to ideology, it is not truly the precept taught by the Buddha.

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