Shakyamuni described the problem of religion as being like blind men trying to describe an elephant. This same story is universal and is also told by Rabbis and other religious teachers:
One thinks the ear is a parasol, another thinks the nose is a snake, another thinks the tail is a fly whisk, and still another is wondering why things are so disgusting.
- Buddhist version:
- http://www.buddhistinformation.com/blind_men_and_the_elephant.htm
- Princeton:
- http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~rywang/berkeley/258/parable.html
- Wikipedia
- Babylonian Talmud
- http://www.aish.com/shmooze/4_blind_men_and_an_elephant.asp
So it is with religious understanding. How we frame the questions determines how we see the answers. On this website, I'm trying to frame questions and provide enough answers so that people can ask themselves the right questions. If we ask the right questions we can get better answers.
Life is like this "World Elephant," and Buddhism is about "awakening" to the nature of that "World Elephant" and to our true "being." Only presumptious people would claim that the elephant's tail was the whole and complete truth without first having examined the elephant's "trunk". Yet many people have done just that, and their disciples have insisted that the world is exactly as they said it was.
There are a number of important stories and parables that involve Elephants both in Buddhism and in general religious literature. With Buddhism, elephants played a key role from the beginning. Shakyamuni was persecuted when King Ajatshatru got an Elephant drunk. He calmed the angry and miserable elephant with a handsign and his calming enlightenment. Later, when his disciples were feuding among themselves and wanted him to take sides he went to hang with this same elephant.
Nichiren warned about people misusing their practice of Buddhism for selfish reasons in the Gosho "Hero of the world." You can see my essay on the subject at Awarning.html and more on this subject at issues.html.