Question:

Why are Buddha’s Suttas not easily accepted? I notice that NOT ONLY in Hindu monks but also in the Buddhist sects. Why can’t man accept the Truth?

Answer:

Your question is valuable and will help many others.

Buddha’s original teachings are in the form of Suttas in the 5 Nikayas:

1] Digha Nikaya

2] Majjhima Nikaya

3] Samyutta Nikaya

4] Anguttara Nikaya

5] Khuddaka Nikaya

They are hard for a weak mind to embrace. They were teachings given to spiritual seekers who had been walking the path for an extremely long time. All teachings are directed to help one to ‘See reality as it is’. The materialistic man cannot accept the Reality/Truth easily. It is the pure spiritualist who will embrace the Truth without any selfishness.

Here are some reasons why certain Hindu and Buddhist monks cannot accept Reality of the Buddha’s Suttas: 

] Traditional ritual monks [Hindu or Buddhists or others] lose income because Buddha’s Suttas say rituals cannot take one to Nibbana [Enlightenment] because they only create more craving. The first teaching of the Buddha is the ‘destruction of craving’.

] Rich monks and monks with titles/high positions avoid the Buddha’s Suttas because the original Suttas praise renunciation.

] Materialistic Spiritual Organizations want to centralize control of the Sangha. But according to the Buddha’s Suttas, the real authentic Sangha is decentralized and not under any administrative control.

] Academics want to do everything easy for a degree and an ancient extinct language like Pali is hard to learn and attracts few students, so the Buddha’s Suttas are avoided by them.

Now let’s look at other Buddhist sects:

The most common reason for the different Buddhist sects not embracing the Buddha’s Suttas is that the Suttas talk about non-sectarianism being the ONLY right way to Nibbana. Every division is born of craving and the Buddha taught only the ‘destruction of craving’.

] Mahayanists don’t like the Buddha’s Suttas because the Mahayana teachings are clearly different from the original 5 Nikayas and hence one arrives at the conclusion that Mahayana was clearly not taught by the Buddha.

] People obstinate about Vipassana [insight] as the one and the only path and disdain the Buddha’s suttas because the Suttas teach the Jhanas in addition to Insight and do not have an Insight-only path approach. 

] Forest tradition embraces blind belief [e.g. Original Mind] which is loudly spoken against in the Buddha’s Suttas so they discard the Suttas.

] Abhidhammists retaliate because the Buddha’s Suttas explicitly show that the Buddha didn’t teach the Abhidhamma.

] Tantrics don’t embrace them because the Buddha’s Suttas don’t mention tantra at all.

] Worshippers of Amitabha Buddha ignore the Buddha’s Suttas as the Suttas clearly discourage any blind worship, external ritual and only encourage ‘Seeing Reality as it is’.

Then who follows the Buddha’s Suttas?

Only the Suttavadins follow the original Pali Canon [the 5 Nikayas]. 99% of the Suttavadins are people who have walked the various paths outlined above and realized the follies mentioned above. They have slowly filtered out that which is not conducive to their spiritual growth and arrived at the 5 Nikayas.

Only by one’s own experience can one reach the purest teachings and embrace it willingly as they are extremely detrimental to the health of Maaya [Ignorance].

If you can see clearly, you will notice that it is only the selfishness of man that prevents him from accepting the Truth. This does not mean that the ‘Truth’ is not for everyone. It just means that everyone is not ripe enough NOW to be able to embrace the Truth, may it be a Monk or a Sadhu or a Saint or a Guru or a layman. Everyone is at different stages of spiritual maturity.

Have compassion for their stage and keep moving on your path without harbouring any negativity for anyone. Buddha’s original Suttas are for the very few who have realized the true futility of this world and have only one sole purpose in life – ‘true freedom from the suffering of Mind’ NOT a ‘fake belief or palliative ritual or temporary pleasantness of a technique’.

Only PURE people will be chosen to move ahead!