A number of disciples went to the Buddha and said, "Sir, there are
living here in Savatthi many wandering hermits and scholars who
indulge in constant dispute, some saying that the world is infinite
and eternal and others that it is finite and not eternal, some
saying that the soul dies with the body and others that it lives on
forever, and so forth. What, Sir, would you say concerning
them?"
The Buddha answered, "Once upon a time
there was a certain raja who called to his servant and said, 'Come,
good fellow, go and gather together in one place all the men of
Savatthi who were born blind... and show them an elephant.' 'Very
good, sire,' replied the servant, and he did as he was told. He
said to the blind men assembled there, 'Here is an elephant,' and
to one man he presented the head of the elephant, to another its
ears, to another a tusk, to another the trunk, the foot, back,
tail, and tuft of the tail, saying to each one that that was the
elephant.
"When the blind men had felt the elephant, the raja went to each of
them and said to each, 'Well, blind man, have you seen the
elephant? Tell me, what sort of thing is an
elephant?'
"Thereupon the men who were presented with the head answered,
'Sire, an elephant is like a pot.' And the men who
had observed the ear replied, 'An elephant is like a
winnowing basket.' Those who had been presented with a
tusk said it was a ploughshare. Those who knew
only the trunk said it was a plough; others said
the body was a grainery; the foot, a pillar; the back, a
mortar; the tail, a pestle, the tuft of the tail, a
brush.
"Then they began to quarrel, shouting, 'Yes it is!' 'No, it
is not!' 'An elephant is not that!' 'Yes, it's
like that!' and so on, till they came to blows over the
matter.
"Brethren, the raja was delighted with the scene.
"Just so are
these preachers and scholars holding various views blind and
unseeing.... In their ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome,
wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining reality is thus and
thus."
Then the Exalted One rendered this meaning by uttering this verse
of uplift
O how they cling and wrangle, some who
claim
For preacher and monk the honored name!
For, quarreling, each to his view they cling.
Such folk see only one side of a thing.
