English translation 3.4.12
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3.4.12 Pañhabyākaraṇasuttaṃ – How Questions should get Answered!*
“There are, O’ Bhikkhus, four ways of answering a question. What are the four? There is, O’ Bhikkhus, the question which requires a direct reply; there is, O’ Bhikkhus, the question which needs further investigation; there is, O’ Bhikkhus, the question which requires a counter question and there is, O’ Bhikkhus, the question which needs to be rejected. These are, O’ Bhikkhus, the four ways of answering a question.
"Straightforward first, then well explained
Counter questioned the third and omitted the fourth should be,
A Bhikkhu, who thus knows the correct way to reply at any situation
Is called: 'Skilled in the four modes to reply'
Difficult to conquer, hard to overcome, profound, not vulnerable,
Thus likewise skilled in good and bad,
A wise one like this knows to reject the false and to comprehend the truth
And he is called: ‘Established in grasping the profound".
Counter questioned the third and omitted the fourth should be,
A Bhikkhu, who thus knows the correct way to reply at any situation
Is called: 'Skilled in the four modes to reply'
Difficult to conquer, hard to overcome, profound, not vulnerable,
Thus likewise skilled in good and bad,
A wise one like this knows to reject the false and to comprehend the truth
And he is called: ‘Established in grasping the profound".
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* Pañhabyākaraṇasuttaṃ: Pañha + byākaraṇa + suttaṃ: Question + explanation + sutta
Last modified: Monday, 14 December 2015, 8:31 AM