“That’s the purpose of discussion, that’s the purpose of counsel, that’s the purpose of drawing near, that’s the purpose of lending ear: i.e., the liberation of the mind through no clinging.”— AN 3:68 “Just as if a man with good eyesight standing on the shore of a body of water were to see a large fish rise. The thought would occur to him, ‘From the rise of this fish, from the break of its ripples, from its speed, it is a large fish, not a small one.’ In the same way, one individual, in discussion with another, knows this: ‘From the way this person rises to an issue, from the way he applies [his reasoning], from the way he addresses a question, he is discerning, not dull.’” — AN 4:192
摘要
The content of this treatise has not changed, but all three eBook versions have been recreated from scratch to look and function better as well as provide Pali diacriticals and hyper-linking. If you already have the previous substandard eBook versions in your library, you will want to replace them with these. This is a treatise about discernment in action, centered on the Buddha’s strategic use of discernment in framing and responding to questions.
目次
Table of Contents Titlepage 2 Copyright 3 Abbreviations 4 Foreword 5 Skill in Questions 8 Chapter 1: The Kamma of Teaching 19 Readings 42 Skill in Questions 42 Skill in Answers 43 The Buddha’s Rhetoric 52 Chapter 2: The Bodhisatta’s Quest 55 Readings 61 Chapter 3: Categorical Answers 79 Readings 106 Categorical Teachings 106 Appropriate Attention 109 Skillful & Unskillful Actions 112 The Four Noble Truths 122 Dependent Co-arising 134 Recommended Questions 137 Views & Awakening 138 Papañca 142 Chapter 4: Analytical Answers 148 Readings 156 On Judging People 156 Judging Ways of Life 165 Judging Practices 173 Kamma & Feeling 175 On the Buddha as Teacher 182 Chapter 5: Cross-questioning: I 194 Readings 219 Establishing Orthodoxy 219 Cross-Questioning in the Process of Learning 223 Invitations to cross-questioning 225 The Buddha anticipates cross-questioning of his teaching by faultfinders 231 Ven. Sāriputta anticipates cross-questioning of the teaching by sincere, intelligent people 232 Awakening through cross-questioning the speaker 233 The Buddha’s final invitation to cross-question him 238 The Buddha Questions Other Sectarians 239 Clarifying the Question 250 Extracting Definitions 252 Hypotheticals: on the Buddha as Teacher 255 Hypotheticals: Kings, Princes, & Generals 266 Hypotheticals: Brahmans 283 Hypotheticals: Kamma 288 Hypotheticals: Understanding Pleasure & Pain 297 People Worth Talking to (& Not) 306 Debates 317 Chapter 6: Cross-questioning: II 334 Readings 349 Chapter 7: Questions Put Aside: I 377 Readings 384 Livelihood 384 Other Teachers 388 Chapter 8: Questions Put Aside: II 397 Readings 434 Agnosticism 434 Inconceivables: Kamma & the World 436 The Buddha’s Silence 445 Questions of Inappropriate Attention 448 Dependent Co-arising: Extremes Avoided 451 Dependent Co-arising: Invalid Questions 458 The Ten Undeclared Issues 463 View-standpoints from DN 1 478 The Tetralemma 482 The Tetralemma Declared Meaningless 489 Different Responses to Similar Questions 506 Chapter 9: A Path of Questions 515 Appendix 1: Buddhaghosa on the four categories of questions 527 Appendix 2: Mnemonic Questions 529 Appendix 3: Eternalism & Annihilationism 538 Appendix 4: On the meaning of ‘tathāgata’ in the tetralemma 544 Glossary 555
