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The man struck by the 'poison' arrow Because of this practical bent, the Buddha dismisses all speculative concerns as irrelevant. He says that he teaches only suffering and the cessation of suffering. All other philosophical pursuits are irrelevant, futile, misleading and even dangerous. The Buddha compares a man obsessed with speculation to a man struck by a poisoned arrow. A man has been struck by a poison arrow and he is dying. When a physician comes to him and offers to remove the arrow, the man says " No, I won't let you take out the arrow, until you tell me the name of the man who shot me, what class he comes from, what his family is, what kind of material the arrow is made of, etc. Such a man will die before the arrrow is removed. The Buddha says that in the same way, a speculative thinker lost in his questions only continues to wallow in suffering without finding the way to liberation. |