1. One can attempt to answer those ten questions. However, the answers depend on the approach taken.
- That is why the Buddha “set aside” those questions.
2. For example, someone with scientific training can try to answer the first four questions. In fact, that is what physicists are trying to do these days.
- But in Buddha Dhamma, one focuses on one’s own existence in this world.
- When an Arahant passes away (Parinibbana), he/she will no longer be “in this world of 31 realms.” So, such questions are irrelevant. One could say that Arahant‘s world was “not eternal” because it came to an end! But, of course, the world will exist for all others until they attain Parinibbana in some future time.
3. The fifth and sixth questions are regarding a “soul.” By mundane definitions (according to Abrahamic religions), there is an “unchanging, permanent entity” associated with any person.
- But that assumption does not hold in Buddha Dhamma.
- If there was such an “unchanging, permanent entity,” how would an Arahant attain Parinibbana?
4. A similar situation arises with the other four questions.
- Tathāgata means a Buddha, even though sometimes that word is used for Arahants, too.
- A Buddha (or an Arahant) had transcended the human realm, even though born a human.
- Even though the physical body that he was born with died 45 years after the Buddhahood, the Tathāgata status was attained at the Buddhahood. Those four questions are asked with the wrong assumption that the physical body was the Buddha.
5. There is no benefit in discussing such questions. When one’s understanding grows, one will be able to see the futility of even asking such questions.
