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RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE JAINAS
existence of soul but in avoiding the metaphysical and subtle disputation of the Brahmanas. His sarcasm against this sort of discussion appears to be very bold as we read it in Tevijja Sutta. He says to a Brāhmaṇa named Vasettha, "Then you say, Vasettha, that not one of the Brahmaṇas or of their teachers or of their pupils have ever seen Brahman face to face. And that even rșis of old, the utterers of the ancient verses which the Brahmanas of today so carefully intone and recite precisely as they have been handed down even they did not pretend to know or to have seen where or whence or whither Brahman is. So, that Brahmana versed in the three Vedas have forsooth said thus: To a state of union with that which we know not and have not seen we can show the way and can say 'this is the straight path, this is the direct way which leads him who acts according to him into a state of union with Brahman"."
"Now what do you think, Vasettha? Does it not follow, this being so, that the talk of the Brahmanas, versed though they be in the three Vedas, is foolish talk? Verily, Vasettha, those Brāhmaṇas versed in the three Vedas should be able to show the way to a state of union with that which they do not know, neither have they seen - such a condition of thing has no existence. As when a string of blind men are clinging one to the other, neither can the foremost see, nor can the middle one see, nor can the hindmost see, just so is the talk of the Brāhmaṇas versed in the three Vedas."
What explanation then does Buddha offer as to the nature of man and his relation to the world around him. In fact, Buddhism does not attempt to solve the problem of the primary origin of all things. When Mälumkya asked Buddha whether the existence of the world is eternal or non-eternal, he made him no reply. The reason of this was that it was considered by him as an inquiry which tended to no profit. Buddhism takes as its ultimate fact the existence of the materal world and of conscious beings living within it. And it holds that everything is subject to the law of cause and effect, and that everything is constantly though imperceptibly changing. The whole cosmos
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