THE REAL ANSWER
When the Buddha walked upon this earth, many were the questions that people addressed to him. Sometimes, these queries ranged on the side of the absurd; some were unanswerable. Why did God create the world? Were we ever one with Him? If so, how did we get separated from Him? And so they went on.
These were the days of abstract, philosophical speculation. People discussed endlessly, little realizing that they had no bearing on reality. What is more, they brought these futile queries to the Buddha, beseeching him to give them answers to these questions.
The Buddha once narrated a story to these abstract thinkers in reply to their queries.
There was a man whose house caught fire in the middle of the night. All the neighbours rushed to his help. “Get out of the house,” they cried to him. “Let us quench the flames.”
But the man replied, “I will not leave the house until I get the answers to a few pressing questions. What caused the fire? What is the intensity of the flames? What are the chemical constituents of the fire? Until I find answers to all these queries, I will not leave this house.
The Buddha said to his interlocutors, “Your house is on fire, and you want to ask futile questions. What you must do is to quench the flames first?”
Each one of us is trapped in the flames of endless desires. Instead of seeking abstract solutions, we should seek the liberation.
When the Buddha walked upon this earth, many were the questions that people addressed to him. Sometimes, these queries ranged on the side of the absurd; some were unanswerable. Why did God create the world? Were we ever one with Him? If so, how did we get separated from Him? And so they went on.
These were the days of abstract, philosophical speculation. People discussed endlessly, little realizing that they had no bearing on reality. What is more, they brought these futile queries to the Buddha, beseeching him to give them answers to these questions.
The Buddha once narrated a story to these abstract thinkers in reply to their queries.
There was a man whose house caught fire in the middle of the night. All the neighbours rushed to his help. “Get out of the house,” they cried to him. “Let us quench the flames.”
But the man replied, “I will not leave the house until I get the answers to a few pressing questions. What caused the fire? What is the intensity of the flames? What are the chemical constituents of the fire? Until I find answers to all these queries, I will not leave this house.
The Buddha said to his interlocutors, “Your house is on fire, and you want to ask futile questions. What you must do is to quench the flames first?”
Each one of us is trapped in the flames of endless desires. Instead of seeking abstract solutions, we should seek the liberation.
