2. Dhammaris Saddhamma when it teaches that mere learning is not enough. It may lead to pedantry.
1. Once when the Buddha was residing in the country of Kausambi, in a certain Vihara called the " Beautiful Voice," preaching to the people assembled there was a certain Brahmacharin.
2. The Brahmacharin felt that he was unrivalled for knowledge of scriptures and being unable to find anyone equal to himself in argument, was accustomed to carry, wherever he went, a lighted torch in his hand.
3. One day a man in the market place of a certain town, seeing him thus, asked him the reason of his strange conduct, on which he replied:
4. " The world is so dark, and men so deluded, that I carry this torch to light it up so far as I can."
5. Seeing this the Buddha forthwith called out to the Brahmacharin, "What ho there ! What are you about with that Torch ? "
6. The Brahmacharin replied, " All men are so wrapped in ignorance and gloom, that I carry this torch to illumine them."
7. Then the Blessed Lord asked him again, " And are you so learned as to be acquainted with the four treatises (Vidyas) which occur in the midst of the Sacred Books, to wit, the treatise on ' Literature ' (Sabdavidya) ; the treatise on the ' Heavenly Bodies and their Paths ' ; the treatise on ' Government ' and the treatise on 'Military Art'?"
8. On the Brahmacharin being forced to confess he was unacquainted with these things, he flung away his torch, and the Buddha added these words:
9. " If any man, whether he be learned or not, considers himself so great as to despise other men he is like a blind man holding a candle—blind himself, he illumines others."
1. Once when the Buddha was residing in the country of Kausambi, in a certain Vihara called the " Beautiful Voice," preaching to the people assembled there was a certain Brahmacharin.
2. The Brahmacharin felt that he was unrivalled for knowledge of scriptures and being unable to find anyone equal to himself in argument, was accustomed to carry, wherever he went, a lighted torch in his hand.
3. One day a man in the market place of a certain town, seeing him thus, asked him the reason of his strange conduct, on which he replied:
4. " The world is so dark, and men so deluded, that I carry this torch to light it up so far as I can."
5. Seeing this the Buddha forthwith called out to the Brahmacharin, "What ho there ! What are you about with that Torch ? "
6. The Brahmacharin replied, " All men are so wrapped in ignorance and gloom, that I carry this torch to illumine them."
7. Then the Blessed Lord asked him again, " And are you so learned as to be acquainted with the four treatises (Vidyas) which occur in the midst of the Sacred Books, to wit, the treatise on ' Literature ' (Sabdavidya) ; the treatise on the ' Heavenly Bodies and their Paths ' ; the treatise on ' Government ' and the treatise on 'Military Art'?"
8. On the Brahmacharin being forced to confess he was unacquainted with these things, he flung away his torch, and the Buddha added these words:
9. " If any man, whether he be learned or not, considers himself so great as to despise other men he is like a blind man holding a candle—blind himself, he illumines others."
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