Buddhism For Beginners 5

5. The truth-speaking through experience

The fifth characteristic of Buddhism is Vibhajjavada. In the third council, King Asoka asked Moggalanatissa who was the leader of the monastic group, “What is the Buddhist character? What did the Buddha teach?” He answered him, “Buddhism is Vibhajjavada.” The Buddha himself was a Vibhajjavadi, a truth-speaker or shower of the truth. He did not judge what he had seen or heard without consideration of his own experiences.

The truth has many aspects, not only one, so, in Buddhism, any truth is polar, therefore it must be considered and contemplated clearly. Even when answering a question, the Buddha, had to answer analytically and the answer depended on the people who asked the question. For example, to the question “Can laypeople attain enlightenment, or only monks?” the Buddha would answer, “It depends on how they commit themselves to learning and practising, because they have the same faculties.” In another example, one man asked the Buddha, “Will you preach that which others do not like?” The Buddha did not answer “Yes” or “No”, but he answered with 6 points as follows;

1. Anything which is untrue, not meaningful or not liked by the listeners, I do not speak.
2. True, not meaningful or disliked speech I do not speak.
3. Before saying anything which is true, to the advantage of the listener but disliked, I will reflect on the situation first.
4. Any speech which is untrue, not to the advantage of the listeners but liked by them, I do not speak.
5. Any speech which is true, not to the advantage of the listener, but liked by the people I do not speak.
6. True speech which is of advantage to the people and liked by them I will speak if the time is right.

This is just one question the Buddha answered in 6 ways, because of his analysis of the question, before answering, he was called Vibhajjavadi or Bhagava which mean a provider of Dhamma; therefore the Dhamma of the Buddha is divided into groups.