Don't believe everything: Advices from the Kālāma Sutta

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Kālāma Sutta, is a discourse of the Buddha contained in the Ańguttara Nikaya of the Tipitaka  It is often cited by those of the Theravada and Mahayana traditions alike as the Buddha's "charter of free inquiry. It states that,

Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing (anussava),

nor upon tradition (paramparā),

nor upon rumor (itikirā),

nor upon what is in a scripture (piṭaka-sampadāna)

nor upon surmise (takka-hetu),

nor upon an axiom (naya-hetu),

nor upon specious reasoning (ākāra-parivitakka),

nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over (diṭṭhi-nijjhān-akkh-antiyā),

nor upon another's seeming ability (bhabba-rūpatāya),

nor upon the consideration, The monk is our teacher (samaṇo no garū)

For instance, when you believe everything you hear, if what you hear is not true and you react to it, then you're misguided. 

The Buddha said, 

Kalamas, when you yourselves know: "These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness," enter on and abide in them.'


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