On Speaking Ill of the Dead

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plwk
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On Speaking Ill of the Dead

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Would you? And why not? And why yes?
plwk
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Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:14 am

Re: On Speaking Ill of the Dead

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The late Hitchens was no holds barred...
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: On Speaking Ill of the Dead

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If one does speak ill of anyone at all, whether they are dead or alive, it should only be done with a good intention, i.e., to protect others from falling into the evil views that they hold or held while they were alive. One should reflect carefully beforehand whether this will be beneficial or not. If one considers that it will not be beneficial, even if one considered it to be a true and well-balanced opinion, it is better to say nothing.
DPPN wrote:According to the books, the Buddha considered Makkhali Gosāla as the most dangerous of the heretical teachers: “I know not of any other single person fraught with such loss to many folk, such discomfort, such sorrow to gods and men, as Makkhali, the infatuate (A.i.33).

The Buddha also considered his view the meanest — just as the hair-blanket is reckoned the meanest of all woven garments, even so, of all the teachings of recluses, that of Makkhali is the meanest (A.i.286).
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