The Next Time You’re Shot with an Arrow

A famous Buddhist parable (sutta) relates a conversation with a man called Malukya.

It begins with Malukya demanding answers from the Buddha to what were then referred to as the “fourteen unanswerable questions” —e.g., is there life after death, what is the nature of the cosmos, etc.

These are the same questions we’re still asking ourselves these many years later.

The heart of the answer went something like this (taking some liberties with the translation):

Imagine a man gets shot with an arrow smeared with poison.

People come to his rescue, including a doctor.

The wounded man says, “Before I let you remove this arrow, I need to know where you went to school, your grades, where you interned, and where you did your residency. I’d also like to read your online reviews and talk to your last ten patients.”

“Oh, I also need information about the person who shot the arrow. What is their preferred pronoun? Did they grow up in a broken home? Is there a history of abuse? Are they intersectional in some way? Whom did they vote for in the last election?”

“And what kind of bow was it? Crossbow? Compound? Long Bow? And what about the arrow? Wood shaft? Aluminum?”

And then he died, never once knowing the answer to any of those questions.

Life is full of interesting things to think about that have nothing to do with what’s going on right now. For whatever reason, speculating about the future and replaying the past easily crowd out being fully focused on right now. It’s the difference between “noise” and “signal.”

I love a philosophical debate as much as the next person. The parable of the arrow is a daily reminder that the most important thing is what’s going on right now.

Be here for that.