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A parable from the Buddha's Teaching The Buddha heard about this so he asked one of his disciples to bring to him nine blind men and to bring along one elephant. When this was done the Buddha asked his disciple to show the elephant to the blind men. The disciple did as he was told and he showed the elephant to the blind men. One blind man felt the elephant's head, another felt the tail and the other felt the ear of the elephant, one felt the trunk, and one its rump and so on until all had felt a part of the elephant. The disciple went to Buddha and told him what he had done. The Buddha then went to the blind men and asked them: 'Has an elephant been shown to you?' and they all said 'Yes sire.' Then said the Buddha 'Describe to me then, what is an elephant like?' So one man said the elephant is like a jar, another argued that the elephant is like a basket, yet another said no no, its more like a post. The other contradicted and said no its like a broom, no it is more like a plough's pole shouted another and they got angry with each other and fought and argued and hit one another, each one insisting he was right and the others were all wrong. The Buddha went away pleased having proved his point: 'So too are those wandering monks and Brahmans of different sects, they are also blind and eyeless, that is why they quarrel and wound each other. Each one seeing only a part of the truth. Ud.6:4. |
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