XPost: talk.religion.buddhism, alt.zen, alt.philosophy.zen   
   XPost: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy   
   From: oxtail@nowhere.org   
      
   Catawumpus wrote:   
      
   > oxtail :   
   >   
   >> you should not read 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.   
      
      
   All depends on the context.   
   What is the context of the sutta?   
   What was the Buddha actually trying   
   to make us do?   
   To believe in his words about things   
   or to realize the skillfulness of the Dharma   
   and practice it?   
      
   --   
   Oxtail is not doing what he thinks he is doing here.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)