BuddhAmbedkar: What_Buddha_Said 1369: Doubt & Uncertainty...

Friday, 26 November 2010

What_Buddha_Said 1369: Doubt & Uncertainty...

Doubt and Uncertainty Perplex the Mind!

A Brahmin once asked the Blessed Buddha:
Master Gotama, what is the cause of being unable to remember something
that has been memorized over a long period? The blessed Buddha answered:
Brahmin, when mind is perplexed by doubt & uncertainty, undecided, baffled
wavering and wobbling by doubt & uncertainty, and one does not understand
any actual safe escape from this arisen states mental doubt & uncertainty,
then one can neither see, nor ever understand any of what is advantageous,
neither for oneself, nor for others, nor for both oneself and others!
Then, consequently, what have been long memorized, cannot be remembered…
Why is this neglect & amnesia so? Imagine a bucket of water that is muddy,
unclear, cloudy, blurred and dark. If a man even with good eye-sight were
to inspect the reflection of his own face in it, he would neither see, nor ever
recognize it, as it really is! So too, brahmin, when mind is confused by doubt
& uncertainty, baffled, bewildered and hesitating by doubt & uncertainty,
on such occasion even things that have been long memorized, cannot recur
to the mind, not to speak of those texts, events and important information,
that have not been memorized at all…

On how to prevent Skeptical Doubt & Uncertainty (Vicikicchā):
Systematic Attention to scrutinizing investigation, examination & probing:
1: What is advantageous and what is detrimental here?
2: What is blameable and what is blameless in this situation?
3: What is ordinary and what is excellent in this particular case?
4: What is on the bright side and what is on the dark side in this aspect?

Doubt, Uncertainty, Hesitation & Vexation leads to Frustrating Perplexity!
Doubt stupefies action since decision to choose any alternative is blocked.

Medicine for Doubt and Uncertainty:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Barren_Stagnation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.3-4.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/Canon/Sutta/AN/AN.I.3-4c.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Suitable_Substitution.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Understanding_is_the_Chief.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/How_to_Overcome_Doubt.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Curing_Doubt_and_Uncertainty.htm

Vexation, Hesitation, Confusion and Painful Perplexity...

Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikāya.
Book [V:123-4] section 46: The Links. 55: To Sangarava...