TEN UN-ANSWERED QUESTIONS (AVYĀKATA) OF LORD GAUTAMA BUDDHA
In the Panha Vyākarana sutta of the Anguttara Nikāya (collection of the Buddha’s numerical discourses), the Buddha has described four different ways of answering questions that the Buddha Himself seems to have practised. They are:
1. Questions to be answered categorically such as yes or no (ekamsa vyākaranīya).
2. Questions to be answered analytically in detail (vibhajja vyākaranīya).
3. Questions that need a counter-question (patipuccha vyākaranīya).
4. Questions to be left aside without answering (thapanīya).
There are many occasions recorded in the Buddhist scriptures when Lord Gautama Buddha has resorted to the fourth way of responding to a question by maintaining silence or by saying that those questions were not declared by the Buddha. As recorded in several discourses, the Buddha was asked a list of ten questions by several people, for which the Buddha has not provided any answers. For example, in the Aggi Vacchagotta sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya (collection of the Buddha’s middle-length discourses), a wanderer named Vacchagotta went to the Buddha and asked whether the Buddha held the following ten views:
1. The world is eternal.
2. The world is not eternal.
3. The world is finite.
4. The world is infinite.
5. The soul and the body are the same thing.
6. The soul is one thing and the body another.
7. After death, a Tathāgata exists.
8. After death, a Tathāgata does not exist.
9. After death, a Tathāgata both exists and does not exist.
10. After death, a Tathāgata neither exists nor does not exist.
The Buddha responded by saying that the Buddha did not hold any such views and gave the following reasons for not holding such views.
“It is a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. It is accompanied by suffering, distress, despair, and fever, and it does not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, to calm, direct knowledge, full awakening and Nibbana.”
Out of the ten unanswered questions, the first four questions deal with the world: Whether the world is eternal or not eternal and whether the world is finite or infinite. The next two questions deal with the issue of assuming the presence of a permanent entity called a self or a soul in sentient beings. The two questions are whether the body and the soul are the same or two different things. The last four questions are related to the issue of whether a Tathāgata exists after death or not. In the commentarial literature, there are two explanations for the term “Tathāgata”. One explanation is that Tathāgata means a fully awakened, liberated person such as a Buddha or an Arahant. The other explanation is that it refers to any living being (satta). Out of the two explanations, it is more likely that the word “Tathāgata” refers to an enlightened person rather than to any living being. It should be noted that the Buddha may have been asked these ten questions because, the other sectarian religious leaders and their followers in India during the time of the Buddha, were preoccupied with philosophical and metaphysical issues related to these ten questions.
- The post is too long to post in full. I will put the relevant suttas that were cited to support the article.
Majjhima Nikāya called Cūla Mālunkyaputta, Moggallāna sutta of the Samyutta Nikāya, Vacchagotta sutta of the Samyutta Nikāya, Khema sutta of the Samyutta Nikāya, Anurādha sutta of the Samyutta Nikāya,Aggi Vacchagotta sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya.
In the Buddhist literature, several speculative views have been expressed as to why the Buddha declined to answer those ten unanswered questions. One view is that the Buddha perhaps did not know the answers to those questions. Lord Gautama Buddha was a Samma Sambuddha who attained enlightenment and Buddhahood through his efforts with no assistance from any teacher. A Samma Sambuddha is believed to possess six extraordinary super knowledges that no one else possesses and one of them is the Buddha’s Omniscience (Sabbannuta nāna). The term “Sabbannu” is made up of two parts, “Sabba” meaning “All” and “Nu” meaning “Knowledge” or “Knowing”. Hence, the Buddha possessed the knowledge of everything that needed to be known. So, it is not unreasonable to assume that the Buddha must have known the answers to those ten questions and has decided not to discuss them for some reason, and the exact reason was known only to the Buddha Himself. But we can gather some evidence from the Buddhist scriptures as to why the Buddha may not have answered those ten unanswered questions.
In the Simsāpā sutta of the Samyutta Nikāya, the Buddha picked up a few simsāpā leaves with his hand and asked the monks which was more numerous; the few simsāpā leaves in the hand or all the leaves in the simsāpā forest. The monks answered that the leaves in the hand were few and that all the leaves in the forest were far more numerous. The Buddha said that in the same way, those things that the Buddha has known through direct knowledge but has not taught are far more numerous than what the Buddha has taught. It was because those things were not connected to the holy life and would not lead to one’s liberation from suffering. This is a clear statement from the Buddha that what the Buddha taught to others is minute compared to the vast knowledge that the Buddha has known through direct knowledge.
- Is it true that we should leave these 10 questions aside or can some of them be accessible?