Conformity with the suttas is still open ended. the suttas are just words on a paper until someone reads and interprets it. People used the exact same bible verses to justify thier opposing points of view on slavery. The United States has 9 Judges who all interpret the exact same document (the US constitution) vastly differently. Even without extrapolating the suttas, i would arrive at a different conclustion than bhante sujato on kamma. for instance the angulimali passage Robert posted or the passage on the slaughter of the Sakyas (which happened despite mahamoggallanas attempts to save them with psychic powers because kamma overpowers psychic powers) gives ample support to the contrary of what bhante sujato presents based on how I and many others read those suttas. also, Bhante Sujato extrapolated the suttas by applying it to the scenario of a tv falling on you, which is found nowhere in the Sutta Pitaka.retrofuturist wrote: ↑Sun Sep 30, 2018 5:07 am Greetings TRobinson465,
What if he got it from the Sutta Pitaka, didn't extrapolate beyond what he read, and didn't unquestioningly take on board subsequent additions and revisions?If you think bhante sujato is teaching the "true" kamma without direct knowledge then at best you can say he got this using scriptural interpretation, which was undoubtedly influenced by his anti-"asian superstition" western background or something, since he clearly didnt get it from any existing traditions.
Must this necessarily entail all the nefarious motives you ascribe to him?
I believe in conformity to the Suttas. If that's regarded as "alternative" or "mainstream" on any particular subject, then so be it.Also, this can apply to other "true" interpretations of certain Buddhist teachings also, like the ever controversial anatta. yet anytime someone points out alternative interpretations ppl on this forum, including you Paul, jump in and say anything alternative to the mainstream is wrong. Why apply this open minded idea of "true dhamma not maintained by tradition" only to this scenario here?
But as I am not the subject of discussion here...
Metta,
Paul.
Also, im not sure if this is intentional or not, but just so you know this thread is appearing on both the Discovering Theravada and General Theravada Discussion subjects.