I don't know

I don't know


Once, a learned 'buddhist', highly respected, highly certified and endowed with superior knowledge of the scriptures, spoke to Maitreya.

Scholar : Do you know the XXX sutta?

Maitreya : No, I don't.

Eyeing Maitreya suspiciously and with doubt the scholar continued,

"Do you know the XXX sutra under the Mahayana discipline, then?"

Maitreya : Nope, I don't know that either.

Getting impatient and visibly irritated, but trying to stay calm and maintain his composure, the learned 'buddhist' asked again, this time in a stern loud and authoratative tone :

"Do you know the teaching by the renowned XXX guru - the "living buddha" ?"

Maitreya : I don't know that one either - never heard of it.

Flabbergasted, his face flushed red hot with anger, the 'buddhist' screamed at Maitreya,

"What then do you know?!"

Lighting into a smile, Maitreya replied happily,

"There's suffering, The Cause of suffering, There's a way out of suffering and the way out of suffering is Nibbana, There's a path leading to the way out of suffering - The Noble Eightfold Path ......... And that sir, is ALL that I know."



"People may know, but how many understand?

Of the few who understood, how many believe?

Of the few who believed, how many see?

Of the few who saw, how many try?

Of the few who tried, how many realise?

Of the few who realised, how many, will be Enlighten?"




"Involvement = Attachment = Entanglement = Trap = SUFFERING

Non-involvement = Non-attachment = Non-entanglement = Freedom -> Nibbana."




"It is through NOT understanding, NOT realising 4 things,

That I, disciples, as well as you,

Had to wander so long through this round of rebirths.

And what are these 4 things?

They are :

1) The Ariyan (Noble) Truth of Dukkha (Suffering)

2) The Ariyan (Noble) Truth of the Origin of Dukkha

3) The Ariyan (Noble) Truth of the Extinction of Dukkha

4) The Ariyan (Noble) Truth of The Path that leads to the extinction of Dukkha."

- The Buddha, Digha Nikaya No. 16




"Seeking controversy, they plunge into an assembly,

Regarding one another as fools.

Relying on others' authority, they speak in debate.

Desiring praise, they claim to be skilled .........

These desputes have arisen among contemplatives.

In them are elation, dejection.

Seeing this, one should abstain from disputes

For they have NO other goal than the gaining of praise.

He who is praised there for expounding his doctrine in the midst of the assembly,

Laughs on that account and grows haughty,

Attaining his heart's desire.

That haughtiness will be his grounds for vexation,

For he'll speak in pride and conceit.

Seeing this, one should abstain from debates

NO purity is attained by them, say the skilled."

- The Buddha, Sutta Nipata 4 : 8




"Vision arose, insight arose, discernment arose, knowledge arose, illumination arose within me with regard to things never heard before:

'This is the noble truth of stress'...

'This noble truth of stress is to be comprehended'...

'This noble truth of stress has been comprehended.'


'This is the noble truth of the origination of stress'...

'This noble truth of the origination of stress is to be abandoned' ...

'This noble truth of the origination of stress has been abandoned.'


'This is the noble truth of the cessation of stress'...

'This noble truth of the cessation of stress is to be directly experienced'...

'This noble truth of the cessation of stress has been directly experienced.'


'This is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress'...

'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress is to be developed'...

'This noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress has been developed.'


"And, monks, as long as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these Four Noble Truths as they have come to be was — not pure, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras, & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & priests, its royalty & commonfolk.

BUT as soon as this — my three-round, twelve-permutation knowledge & vision concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was truly pure, then I did claim to have directly awakened to the right self-awakening unexcelled in the cosmos with its deities, Maras & Brahmas, with its contemplatives & priests, its royalty & commonfolk.

Knowledge & vision arose in me:

'Unprovoked is my release. This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.'"

- http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html

- The Buddha, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion




"Anybody can learn and memorise the names and symbols of Dhamma because they are things which anybody should be able to memorise.

BUT the important thing is the TRUE Dhamma whose name and symbols one has naturally in oneself without having to learn it by repetition and memorising -

And this kind of Dhamma is Difficult to practise, Difficult to see, and Difficult to KNOW."

- Venerable Ajahn Mun




"Deep Vaccha, is this phenomenon,

Hard to see, Hard to realise,

Tranquil, Refined,

Beyond the scope of conjecture

Subtle,

To-be-experience ( ONLY ) by The Wise.

For those with other views, other practices, other satisfactions, other aims, other teachers,

It is DIFFICULT to know."

- The Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya 72




"And I discovered that profound Truth,

So difficult to perceive, difficult to understand,

Tranquilizing and sublime,

Which is NOT to be gained by mere reasoning and is visible ONLY to the wise.

The world, however, is given to pleasure, delighted with pleasure, enchanted with pleasure.

Truly such beings will hardly understand the Law of Conditionality, the

Dependent Arising of Everything,

Incomprehensible to them will also be the end of existence conditions;

The forsaking of every substranum of rebirth; the fading away of craving; detachment, extinction, Nibbana.

Yet there are beings whose eyes are only a little covered with dust -

They will understand the Truth."

- The Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya Sutta no.26