No Final Answer

Shaun Bartone presents The Path of Inquiry, challenging the seeker to engage in a simple but bold technique of contemplation: take whatever you think you know about dharma (or don't know) as a statement and turn it into a question. This first in the series asks, "Are there any final answers?"

Transcript

The Path of Inquiry Hello,

This is Metta Buddhist Inquiry.

The Path of Inquiry is a path of challenging our preconceived notions,

Questioning,

Opening to new ideas or possibilities.

So let's begin with a central subject of Metta Buddhist Inquiry,

Which is,

Are there any final answers to anything?

Often when we spend a great deal of time and effort reading Buddhist scripture,

Buddhist authors,

We're searching for answers.

We're searching for things that make sense,

Concepts,

Ideas,

Feelings,

Notions,

Intuitions,

That somehow fit together in a cohesive wholeness,

A coherent worldview.

And as we search,

We find that there are no lasting answers to many of our questions.

Sometimes it seems that we find an answer that works for some period of time,

But then that answer seems to fade and the questions come back to haunt us again.

And so we begin to think,

Are there any final answers to anything?

Are there any final solutions to the problems of this world,

To suffering,

To the meaning of life?

There seem to be answers that work for a particular period of time,

Context,

Certain people,

Situations.

But all those contexts,

Situations are impermanent and they change.

And so then our answers,

Which seem to work so well before,

Just stop working.

They no longer satisfy.

They're no longer sufficient.

And we are left again with the question,

Are there any final answers to anything?

And so we go and search again for more answers to our questions.

We ask more questions and we seek more answers.

The path of inquiry always leads us through the answers back to the question.

The wisdom that we find is not in the answers,

But it is in asking the questions.

And it is in the process of seeking those answers that we gather the wisdom that finally brings us peace of mind,

A sense of wholeness,

And a sense of liberation.

.

Reviews

Nice to know that maybe there isn’t a single answer to the question. Like the music too. Found it easy to tie that to the breath.

I thought this was lovely. Love his voice. Music was great.