The key to the code

Let us assume for a minute that all the discourses of the Buddha were composed in a mysterious kind of coded language.  If we really want to know what the Buddha was teaching we would first have to have the 'key' to unlock the code.  Without such a key we might read and understand the discourses of the Buddha the wrong way; coming up with ideas about Buddhism that are, frankly, wrong.

For the sake of argument, let's assume the key for those electing to follow the teachings of the Buddha, as found in the Pali cannon, was becoming a ariya-savaka, that is, one who has attained stream-entry or right view.  In the Mahayana tradition it would be the attainment of bodhicittotpada, that is, the manifestation of the mind that is awakened after which commences the life of a Bodhisattva.  With this key, both the savakas and Bodhisattvas could understand the Buddha's discourses eventually becoming Arhats and fully awakened Buddhas.

For a modern Buddhist this doesn't sound right—they reject it.  Why should there be some kind of preliminary attainment required to fully understand the Buddha's discourses?  Yet there is.  That is the incontestable fact.  Followers of Buddhism who have not entered the stream or have not had bodhicittotpada abide at the worldly level which means they really can't understand the Buddha's teachings.  They are still bound up with the psychophysical organism (skandha) which they can't distinguish from their self.  

Faced with the problem of not having the key to unlocking the code of Buddhism the  mischief of some modern Buddhists knows no limits.  This might explain why they rely so much on the Kalama Sutta which they believe gives them the right to accept or reject the teachings of the Buddha, especially rebirth and karma.  But this is not what Buddhism is about.  Not in the slightest.  They lack the key to understand true Dharma (saddharma).

 

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