Trudności pierwszego kazania Siddhātthy Gotamy

THE DIFFICULTIES ASSOCIATED WITH BUDDHA’S FIRST SERMONBuddhism means different things to different people: it is regarded as an outlook, faith, (unspecified) direction... etc. Regardless of the above interpretative differences, one may try to evaluate it, and here the issues of truth and consequently that of philosophy, belong to the most important ones. The question concerning coherence and lack of contradiction of both the outlook and the guidelines relating to man’s conduct which are based upon it, may sometimes become an important cause for evaluation of at least the validity of some of the assumptions making up a given view. The verifiability or refutability of a professed view may encourage one to accept it or not, still before one decides to evaluate its authenticity. This relates especially to the most fundamental instructions concerning one’s way of life. For, one should not simply accept the faith of one’s ancestors in the form they professed it; nor should one accept some assumptions, simply because they impress one with their innovatory approach, or else because they seem to reveal some new fragment of reality. In spite of the fact that Gautama’s first sermon, which appears to be most fundamental to Buddhism, was supposed to convince Buddha’s supporters to the “Way of the Middle”, it seems to be full of ambiguities and major difficulties. The sermon does not shed sufficient light on those shortcomings which the new “way” is to remove, nor does it justify their origin. What is more, the author of the sermon does not define precisely enough the newly assigned goals, nor does he justify the effectiveness of the recommended methods of attaining them