Just A Little Dust

Looked at one way, it makes no difference at all what the Buddha said or meant, for example by the various terms in dependent arising.  As long as we understand the general principles of how we’re creating this effervescent self, and how we run afoul of it, it doesn’t matter much if we translate it into modern terms, as long as the tools for seeing the process in our own lives — that is, meditation and mindfulness — are still sharpened by our concepts.

Looked at from another angle, though, failure to understand with precision what the Buddha said, and why, may mean that we miss key insights, or, worse, misunderstand in ways that have us expending a lot of energy on paths that won’t take us where we want to go — efficiently, or not at all.

The assumption that there was no historical person that originated this way of seeing leads to willingness to accept that it’s a fuzzy, disorganized insight from which one can pick and choose because we are all members of the committee that came up with the general directions.  It is willingness to look for evidence of consistency, the assumption that it may be there, that provides the fuel for the search, the persistence to stick with the difficult task of sorting out what’s added from what’s original, and to work at understanding the context and therefore the terms, to see if it all fits.