Quotation
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“A person struck by a poisoned arrow who will not let the arrow be drawn until every question about the archer is answered does not get what the teaching is for.”
The Buddha · Buddhism · Ancient · canonical discourse; oral tradition from the 5th–4th century BCE, written down centuries later
Part of:Ancient questions, modern life →
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that speculative questions, about the world's eternity or what happens after death in metaphysical detail, are like interrogating the archer while the poison spreads: the teaching is for the wound. A competing reading says a tradition that brackets those questions is avoiding problems it cannot solve, and that some of them matter to how one lives. The parable is in Majjhima Nikaya 63. The monk is told that these issues were undeclared because they do not lead to disenchantment and release.
Did The Buddha really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. A compression of the parable, not one verse. Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation of the Cūlamālunkya Sutta gives the full list of questions the wounded person demands about the archer before accepting treatment. The canon presents this as the Buddha's reply to Malunkyaputta.
Where it comes from
Majjhima Nikaya 63, Cūlamālunkya Sutta
Approximate date: canonical discourse; oral tradition from the 5th–4th century BCE, written down centuries later.
How to use it
Refusing a treatment, or a practical step about debt or care, until a larger theory of the universe is finished, has the shape of the parable. Some questions are worth a life of study. His claim is that this practice is not waiting on them, and you can still think the undeclared questions are real, and the parable says they are not what the teaching is for, and that dying of curiosity about the bow is a confused priority.
A mindset reading
The habit is to ask what a practice is for before you grade it as a system of everything. Distinguish the arrow from the archer's biography. A question can be interesting and still be the wrong condition to set on removing the poison, and the parable is a priority claim, not a proof that the extra questions are nonsense.
Understand the philosophy
The discourse answers Malunkyaputta, who threatens to leave unless he is told whether the world is eternal, whether the soul is the body, and what becomes of a liberated person. The Buddha refuses, and tells the arrow story. The key term is undeclared: set aside, not answered in the way the monk demands. The teaching's purpose, he says, is the end of suffering, and metaphysical completeness is not the criterion he accepts.
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- meaning
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that speculative questions, about the world's eternity or what happens after death in metaphysical detail, are like interrogating the archer while the poison spreads: the teaching is for the wound. A competing reading says a tradition that brackets those questions is avoiding problems it cannot solve, and that some of them matter to how one lives. The parable is in Majjhima Nikaya 63. The monk is told that these issues were undeclared because they do not lead to disenchantment and release.
Did The Buddha really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. A compression of the parable, not one verse. Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation of the Cūlamālunkya Sutta gives the full list of questions the wounded person demands about the archer before accepting treatment. The canon presents this as the Buddha's reply to Malunkyaputta.
Which work is it in?
Majjhima Nikaya 63, Cūlamālunkya Sutta Approximate date: canonical discourse; oral tradition from the 5th–4th century BCE, written down centuries later.