Buddha quote

Fenix

"Whatever knowledge a fool acquires causes him only harm. It cleaves his head and destroys his good nature"

according to this a fool, say goes to a meditation class to gain knowledge on the subject only for his disadvantage. How is that, why is that? how can a fool learn if he cant attain knowledge

fivebells

You may find this explanation helpful.

Subjectivity9

Fenix,

Q: "Whatever knowledge a fool acquires causes him only harm. It cleaves his head and destroys his good nature"

S9: My guess is that, Buddha is trying to say that anything, (no matter how wonderful it is) can be misused.

Sometimes, over time, translations can misplace their original meaning.

It is very hard for me to believe that the Buddha went around condemning fools, when He also said that “every single one of us is Enlightened (right now) and simply do not know it.”

How in this context could anyone be kept from Enlightenment? And further, how could anyone be damned to failure (AKA hell)? That is rather mean spirited, don't you think? I respect Buddha too much to believe that.

Buddha did not write down anything. He was translated into print by people listening to him, people who were not Aware of Enlightenment, as He was, and therefore still somewhat confused.

Question everything until you personally witness this Truth, yourself. Do not swallow anything whole. : ^ )

Remember, Buddha said, "Don't believe anything, just because I said it. Find out for yourself."

Compassion is not denied to anyone, IMPO.

Warm Regards,
S9

Floating_Abu

Fenix wrote: »

"Whatever knowledge a fool acquires causes him only harm. It cleaves his head and destroys his good nature"

according to this a fool, say goes to a meditation class to gain knowledge on the subject only for his disadvantage. How is that, why is that? how can a fool learn if he cant attain knowledge

Doesn't look like a real Buddha quote to me.

Quiet_witness

What is a fool?

One who uses knowledge for selfish/personal temporary gain and disregards permanent joy would be considered a fool in my book and their knowledge would be more harm than good to that person.

Jeffrey

Can you post the context this quote appears in.

DhammaDhatu

Fenix wrote: »

"Whatever knowledge a fool acquires causes him only harm. It cleaves his head and destroys his good nature"

according to this a fool, say goes to a meditation class to gain knowledge on the subject only for his disadvantage. How is that, why is that? how can a fool learn if he cant attain knowledge

Hi Fenix

The impression I have gained, is you are taking this quote to heart. The Buddha is not really saying what you have interpreted. In the Balavagga, the Buddha is referring to misusing knowledge and/or becoming deluded by any minor attainments.

The Buddha said:

72. To his own ruin the fool gains knowledge, for it cleaves his head and destroys his innate goodness.

73. The fool seeks undeserved reputation, precedence among monks, authority over monasteries and honor among householders.

74. "Let both laymen and monks think that it was done by me. In every work, great and small, let them follow me" — such is the ambition of the fool; thus his desire and pride increase.

75. One is the quest for worldly gain and quite another is the path to Nibbana. Clearly understanding this, let not the monk, the disciple of the Buddha, be carried away by worldly acclaim, but develop detachment instead.

So, the Buddha is merely giving a warning here, not to get carried away when we learn something.

Kind regards

DDhatu

DhammaDhatu

Jeffrey wrote: »

Can you post the context this quote appears in.

Here

Subjectivity9

I am sorry but,

Even if the Buddha stood right in front of me and called someone “a fool,” I would say that He was having a bad day and misspoke.

First of all, Buddha didn’t actually see the ‘ego and her errors’ as the being the self. So why would He of all people begin labeling others as a fool. Even I wouldn’t make that mistake. : ^ (

Just because it is written down, doesn't make it true.

Now if He had said, these are foolish acts, I could easily agree with Him in that.

A stubborn friend of the Buddha,
S9

AllbuddhaBound

I would suppose, knowing of the character of Buddha, that he was speaking of the foolish use of all forms of information. If the intent is to use it to support ones own beliefs, even wisdom becomes foolishness.

Tosh

72. To his own ruin the fool gains knowledge, for it cleaves his head and destroys his innate goodness.

73. The fool seeks undeserved reputation, precedence among monks, authority over monasteries and honor among householders.

74. "Let both laymen and monks think that it was done by me. In every work, great and small, let them follow me" — such is the ambition of the fool; thus his desire and pride increase.

75. One is the quest for worldly gain and quite another is the path to Nibbana. Clearly understanding this, let not the monk, the disciple of the Buddha, be carried away by worldly acclaim, but develop detachment instead.

I'm probably way off mark here, but I've heard it said in A.A "Beware the pride that comes with growth". Its to do with controlling our expanding egos, and maybe telling others what they ought to be doing with regards their spiritual education.

That's what - to me - it sounds like Buddha is saying in the above.

AllbuddhaBound

Tosh wrote: »

I'm probably way off mark here, but I've heard it said in A.A "Beware the pride that comes with growth". Its to do with controlling our expanding egos, and maybe telling others what they ought to be doing with regards their spiritual education.

That's what - to me - it sounds like Buddha is saying in the above.

That makes a lot of sense to me.

Namaste

jinzang

The word translated as fool here (bala) literally means child. What the quote is contrasting is knowledge and emotional maturity. The result of any sort of success, even spiritual success, for a childish person is an increase of afflictive emotions, mostly pride and attachment.

This is why the "meditation is enough" people are wrong. You also need to cultivate virtue and study & heed the teachings of the Buddha.

PietroPumokin

jinzang wrote: »

This is why the "meditation is enough" people are wrong. You also need to cultivate virtue and study & heed the teachings of the Buddha.

meditation is enough though, when it naturally engenders those other factors necessary for a well-rounded practice, which if done right it should, true meditation is one with dharma.

Subjectivity9

Darn,

I so wanted to be friends with Buddha. He is such a great guy.

Maybe, I will ask him if we can be friends, and not go through any hard-hearted middleman.

; ^ )

But, that's just me 4 ya,
S9

Subjectivity9

Thanks jinzang,

Calling a person ‘a child’ with good possibilities for further growth in the future, is far more compassionate in my book. We all start off as children, don't we?

This takes away the onus of the "haves and the have not." I feel better with this translation.

I knew Buddha wouldn’t let me down. ; ^ )


Respectfully,
S9

Fenix

so it´s ok to listen to talks, read books, etc. without condemning ourselves?

person

@Fenix You seem really hard on yourself. Buddhist practice is kind of like washing the dishes. You learn how to do it then you get about to scrubbing them. If the dishes are dirty or you miss a spot you don't get mad at the dishes or the dirt, you just go back and scrub it clean. We generally see our flaws and weaknesses as being our selves and so we can get upset when we see that there is dirt. In meditation we learn to look at our minds and see that these undesirable mental qualities are not us so we don't have to judge ourselves for having them, we just go about cleaning them out.

federica

Fenix, this thread ended in January 2010. 18 months ago.
Really, you are beating yourself up way too hard, if you are resurrecting threads of this nature and using them as a personal whipping post.

You need to relax.....
and just absorb, not condemn.

nlighten

lol, sorry no offense Fenix, but I find this post kind of ironic. Don't worry we have all been a fool at some point and sometimes still are. I know that I have had my fair share of being one

Let me ask you, what good is knowledge without wisdom?

andyrobyn

This sentiment of this quote is what strikes me tonight, after visiting online forums again today .... Whilst it is possible to teach others without being able to implement or act upon on the teaching ourselves consistently if we are skilled teachers, there is little benefit to our own development, especially if we seek to teach to strengthen our superior view of ourselves.