Ven. Gavesako - Can an arahant read newspapers?

Does someone who has realized Dhamma need to acquire more information in order to teach his listeners effectively?
See http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an07/an07.064.than.html

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• dhamma
• theravada
• buddhism
• education
• learning
• arahant
• teaching
• information
• parisa

[IcarusFlying]

is the goal to read the newspaper and seek out students to teach, or is the goal to liberate oneself from clinging and stress? clinging to ideas is apart of the cause of stress. when discernment is well developed, one releases that one already knows. what you speak of would be the culmination of skillful qualities before reaching the attainment of Arhant

[ckpeltomaa]

It sounds that he cleared out all his fixed polarities. The TROM work might further the work of Buddha.

[WarpHedgehog]

The Buddha specifically denies omniscience in the Majjhima Nikaya of the Pali Canon. He says that noone can know everything in one single mind moment.

[pragzter]

Yes, meaning he knew how everything functioned. This way he could predict certain things (as any computer could with the appropriate data and formulae), but he himself said that all is uncertain.

I think the search for "powers" is a distraction from the path.

[BuddhaWhisper]

Thank you for this, keep your videos coming in:)

[venusbuddha]

I like the way you explain! thank you

[gregg4]

Hi. Omniscient literally means 'all-knowing'. Nobody could possibly know everything and the Buddha did not claim to have any supernatural powers. All the Buddha claimed was that he was fully enlightened i.e. free of any prejudice, misconceptions, delusions, bias, etc.

[Undech01]

If you look exclusively at pre-sectarian Buddhist sources (The Pali Nikayas and the Chinese Agamas) which are the earliest stratum of Buddhist literature, the Buddha never claims to be omniscient. its only in later additions to Buddhist literature that you find this quality attributed to him. The Buddha in no way differentiated between his enlightenment and an Arahant. You can find a great book on this topic entitled "Buddhist Philosophy a Historical Analysis" by David Kalupahana

[henjokongo]

The question of the omniscience of an awakened being is treated differently by the various Buddhist traditions. In general though, omniscience is not always a result of awakening; there were a lot of Arahants in the Buddha's retinue that had no miraculous powers. Enlightenment does not always entail those abilities.

[yuriythebest]

hi! very interesting video, however I can't omit commenting on the fact that a lot of the things mentioned are obvious and are general skills of public speaking. However considering how long ago this advice was probably written it probably wasn't that obvious at the time of it's writing. So arahants are not yet omniscient?