The poisoned arrow
A monk named Malunkyaputta once grew restless. The Buddha, he felt, had never said whether the world is eternal, whether it has an end, or what becomes of a person after death. He went to the Buddha and said he would leave the order unless he got clear answers.
The Buddha did not argue. He told a small story instead.
A man is hit by an arrow smeared with poison. His family fetches a surgeon. The man refuses help. "I will not let you pull it out," he says, "until I know who shot it, what caste he belongs to, how tall he is, what the bow was made of and what the string was made from." Before any of his questions could be answered, the man would be dead.
The Buddha said that he had taught what is needed: that there is suffering, how it arises, that it can end, and the path that leads to its end. Those questions, he said, matter right now, like pulling out the arrow. The other questions might be interesting, but they do not help someone who is in pain.
The parable is often read as a reminder to put practice before speculation. It does not say that questions are wrong; it says that a person can wait for every answer and miss the chance to ease what hurts today. The story is found in the early teachings, and Mahayana and Theravada readers both know it. See also the basics for the Four Noble Truths.
Related pages
- The blind men and the elephantA well-known parable about seeing only part of the truth: several blind men touch an elephant and each describes something different.
- Kisa Gotami and the mustard seedA short story about grief and what it can teach, retold in plain words. A woman who lost her child asks the Buddha for help.
- Buddhist basics in plain wordsThe Three Jewels, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Five Precepts, and karma and rebirth, explained briefly and neutrally for people who are new to Buddhism.
- The Buddha's awakeningPrince Siddhartha sits beneath the bodhi tree and awakens: a short story about Bodhi Day.
Keep reading
- Buddhist basics in plain words
- Layout of a Vietnamese Buddhist temple
- The altars of a Vietnamese temple
- How to pay respects at a Vietnamese temple
- Buddhist calendar
- Uposatha, full-moon and new-moon days
- Buddhist glossary for temple visitors
- Avalokiteshvara (Quan Thế Âm), the one who listens
- The Buddha's awakening
- Two Jataka tales
- Maudgalyayana and filial gratitude
- Visiting a Vietnamese temple: common questions
- Temple etiquette: how to behave in a Vietnamese temple
- Offerings: what flowers, fruit, water, lamps and incense mean
- Festivals in Vietnamese Buddhist temples
- Kisa Gotami and the mustard seed
- The blind men and the elephant
- Angulimala, the road back
- Ksitigarbha (Địa Tạng) and the vow
- Sujata and the bowl of milk rice