[Buddha-l] The arrow: its removal and examination

[Katherine Masis]

Hi, Richard

In a recent post you said:

"As Buddhists we might do well to recall that the
business of Buddhism is not at all the same as the
business of science and philosophy. Our task is not to
explain how the world works--indeed, the Buddha warned
against that temptation. Rather, our task as Buddhists
is to reduce (even eliminate, if one feels especially
heroic) pain and turmoil."   

I for one don’t know what business, if any, is the
proper Buddhist one, but if no Buddhist had ever had
the inclination to lead the examined life, no Buddhist
cosmology, no Buddhist epistemology and no Buddhist
psychology would ever have developed.  

I bring this up because for 15-plus years I was a
member of a very harsh, anti-intellectual and
hierarchical Zen group based in the U.S.  To quash
sincere inquiry, intellectual or otherwise, was
standard fare at that place.  The justification given
was precisely the proverbial removal-of-the-arrow
versus examining it.  So whenever I hear that, I feel
wary.

For some of us, removing the arrow is the work of a
lifetime (if not myriads of lifetimes).  While we’re
at it, I see no problem with inquiring about the
nature of the arrow, where it came from and why it was
shot.  Must its removal and examination be exclusive
of each other?

Katherine Masis
Professor of Philosophy
Universidad de Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa Rica


       
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