On 9/2/05, Chris André Stranden <bobtarzan@...> wrote:
> 1) Is the following excerpt from Kalama Sutta a valid argument for the view
> that the Buddha did not have a clear opinion upon the question of wether or
> not we are reborn?
I don't think so, I agree with what Piya already explained.
> 2) Are there any statements in the Tipitaka which indicates that the Buddha
> did not personally consider the teachings on rebirth as valid?
Take a look at:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn-117-tb0.html
"And what is right view? Right view, I tell you, is of two sorts:
There is right view with fermentations [asava], siding with merit,
resulting in the acquisitions [of becoming]; and there is noble right
view, without fermentations, transcendent, a factor of the path.
"And what is the right view that has fermentations, sides with merit,
& results in acquisitions? 'There is what is given, what is offered,
what is sacrificed. There are fruits & results of good & bad actions.
There is this world & the next world. There is mother & father. There
are spontaneously reborn beings; there are priests & contemplatives
who, faring rightly & practicing rightly, proclaim this world & the
next after having directly known & realized it for themselves.' This
is the right view that has fermentations, sides with merit, & results
in acquisitions.
"And what is the right view that is without fermentations,
transcendent, a factor of the path? The discernment, the faculty of
discernment, the strength of discernment, analysis of qualities as a
factor for Awakening, the path factor of right view in one developing
the noble path whose mind is noble, whose mind is free from
fermentations, who is fully possessed of the noble path. This is the
right view that is without fermentations, transcendent, a factor of
the path."
--
Hugo