I Don’t Know

By Dhammacaro

A lot of questions present themselves to us during our lifetime. If we wanted to answer them all, we would have to spend almost of our time just searching for answers. We have to decide which questions need answering and which ones do not. One interesting answer is, ‘I don’t know’. You may think that it sounds negative to give that answer to a question. Before forming such an opinion and having judgment about it, let me share with you a Zen story, which may help you reflect and give you some idea about when it is good to use the ‘I don’t know’ answer. Here is the story:

In the Zong era, there was a general who was very good at war. One day after battle, he marched his men to camp in a Zen temple. All the Zen monks knew that this general was cruel, so they hid themselves away in their huts. Only the head monk was left sitting in meditation in front of the Buddha statue in the temple hall. The general called to him, but he still carried on meditating. This made the general angry.  The general demanded, “Don’t you know who I am? The one who is standing in front of you can kill a man without blinking.” The Zen master opened his eyes and said, “Don’t you know that the monk who is sitting in front of you is not afraid of death?”

The general calmed down, silenced and impressed with this brave answer. He asked the master another question. “This is a big temple. Why is there only you here? Where are the others monks?” The master replied, “They are in their huts.  If you hit the drum, they will all appear.” So the general hit the drum hard, but no one appeared. The master said, “The sound of your drumming summons up the smell of blood.  You need to drum mindfully and at the same time chant the name of the Buddha.” The general did as the master advised. Then all the monks came to the hall. The general was stunned, fell on his knees and paid respect to all the monks. He had deep respect for the master and asked him, “You are a great master. Can you advise me what I should do in battle so that I can win?” The master said, “I don’t know.” The general said, “Huh?”

From the story the ‘I don’t know’ answer is regarded as good one, because it stops people doing unskilful actions. The answer ends unskilful action continuing, which is why it is good to give this answer in particular situations like this. Bear in mind that it is good to stop the progress of unskilful actions.