-Dear Nich,
I think Suan and venerable Pandita explained it well. How can we
prove devas, hell worlds Mt. Meru, the various marks of the Buddha
There is so much in the Tipitaka we can never know. How could we
ever prove that the Buddha took seven steps after he was born, but I
don't doubt it.
It is pitiful and regretable that instead of taking advantage of the
Tipitaka so many Buddhist doubt it and think they have the ability
to say which is true which is not.

Gotamaka-cetiya
eMonks, I proclaim Dhamma with full comprehension, not without full
comprehension. I proclaim Dhamma with causal connexions, not
without. I proclaim Dhamma accompanied by wonders, not without
wonders. Since I do so there is good reason why I should admonish,
there is good reason why I should instruct. Well may ye be glad.
Well may ye be satisfied. Well may ye be pleased at the thought:
Perfectly enlightened is the Exalted One. Well taught by the Exalted
One is Dhamma. Well conducted is the Order.f So spake the Exalted
One.
And while this explanation was being given, the ten-thousand fold
world-system quaked."
Robertk


Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Nich" <puthujjano@...> wrote:

> Dear Robert,
>
> > Not sure what Jesus has to do with it?
>
> Sorry about that. I left a piece of text I thought I'd deleted by

mistake. I

> started a paragraph rattling on about other religions

having "doctrines" of

> various sorts but thought better of it.
>
> > I think people have many doubts about the Buddha's teachings. My
> > question was why you thought Mt. Meru might have come about

through

> > an imaginative scribe. Is there evidence for this?
>
> Not AFAIK -- almost anyone else on the group would have a better

idea 8-). I

> don't know anything about this particular case but was just using

it as a

> starting point for a discussion about how one weights different

parts of the

> canon. I am meaning to research it when I'm able though, now my

attention's

> been drawn to it.
>
> This topic is of interest to me as a westerner because the

cosmological

> content of the canon is often glossed over or completely omitted in
> portrayals of Theravada "doctrine" to western audiences.
>
> << snip >>
> > Last month on another group I had a discussion with a Buddhist

who

> << snip >>. Arguably, the Buddha himself
> > > suffered from delusions such as possessing omniscience and
> > > superpowers, seeing all of his former "rebirths," visiting
> << snip >>>
> You see he disbelieves many parts of the Tipitaka but doesn't

assume

> > that monks made it up, he thinks it was the Buddha who might have
> > been wrong.
>
> Fortunately it's a core Buddhist doctrine that all things are to

be tested

> through one's own experience.
>
> For this reason, if no other, I'm not really interested in

believing or

> disbelieving anything in the Canon, but this doesn't mean that one

might

> want wise advice as to the relative merits of different parts,

just as one

> should seek out the company of the wise, surely one should seek

out the most

> reliable parts of the canon as a basis for practice?
>
> Regards, nich