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

[David Kotschessa]

Hi folks,

If I'm getting this right, the point of Buddhism, and
the point of the arrow analogy, is simply that
Buddhism has a clearly defined goal.  (The cessation
of dukkha) and that Buddhists should stay on task.  To
me, this is what deliniates Buddhist "philosophy" from
non-Buddhist.

As for myself, I have never been able to ascertain
what the point of "western philosophy" is.  What are
"they" getting at?  What is their goal, and what
happens when they get it?  Will it end their
suffering?  If not, then what will it do, and for what
purpose?  And so on...

Not only does Buddhism have a clearly defined goal,
but it has already reached it!  As philosophies go,
Buddhism is finished.  There isn't anything left to
figure out.  The task we are given is to understand
what has already been "figured out" and to clarify and
manifest it, and then, wierdly enough, to abandon it
altogether.  

No "western" philosophy asks this of us.  They appear,
from my perspective, to wander on relatively
aimlessly, fascinating as they are, through
territories which may or may not be of any value
(relative to the goal of ending suffering). 

That which is of value to a Buddhist is likely to be
something that is either a parallel to or
reinforcement of an existing Buddhist teaching.  It's
valuable in the sense that it may universalize and
give some weight to a teaching.  This might provide
needed clarification, but essentially nothing new is
being offered except the presentation.

Buddhism uses utility (does it work?) rather than
truth (???) as a criteria for whether a teaching is
valid.  My prediction is that philosophers will
debate, until the sun fizzles out, on the nature of
truth.  That is, unless they figure out that what they
were really trying to do in the first place was end
their suffering.   There will be a collective slap on
the forehead when (if) they realize the time they
could have saved, had they only oriented themselves to
that end in the first place.

-M


       
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