XPost: talk.religion.buddhism, alt.zen, alt.philosophy.zen   
   XPost: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy   
   From: kimmerian@fastmail.fm   
      
   oxtail :   
      
   > you don't have to interpret sutras too literally.   
      
        Rejecting literalism doesn't begin to make your misreading   
   go away.  The Apannaka Sutta describes the Budda stating   
   "there is actually the next world," referring to that assertion   
   as "right speech," describing it as "true dhamma," etc.  So   
   even if you arbitrarily decide the sutta is an allegory of some   
   kind, you've still made a very obvious mistake by denying   
   those statements are part of the teaching it assigns the Buddha.   
      
   -- Catawumpus   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)