Words of wisdom, scriptures & teachings from Gautama Buddha and others.
The Kalama Sutta
Summarised, The Buddha said:
"Do not believe a spiritual teaching just because:
- it is repeatedly recited,
- it is written in a scripture,
- it was handed from guru to disciple,
- everyone around you believes it,
- it has supernatural qualities,
- it fits my beliefs anyway,
- it sounds rational to me,
- it is taught by a respectable person,
- it was said to be the truth by the teacher,
- one must defend it or fight for it.
However, only when it agrees with your experience
and reason, and when it is conducive to the good
and gain of oneself and all others, then one should
accept the teachings, and live up to them."
Or, as the Buddha taught:
"My teaching is not a philosophy. It is the result of direct experience...
My teaching is a means of practice, not something to hold onto or worship.
My teaching is like a raft used to cross the river.
Only a fool would carry the raft around after he had already reached the other shore of liberation."
To his favourite disciple, Ananda, the Buddha once said:
"If you were to follow the Dharma purely out of love for me or because you respect me, I would not accept you as a disciple. But if you follow the Dharma because you have yourself experienced its truth, because you understand and act accordingly - only under these conditions have you the right to call yourself a disciple of the Exalted One."