In our own time there is a separate branch of science that provides the method of examining outstanding branches of knowledge on a comparative basis to establish a truth. It is the custom of people who follow scientific enquiry to examine anything that has come down to them from their parents and only to accept it after examination. 

For us, if it has come down from our ancestors that earth is white, then we take it as white. A scientist, on the other hand, may accept a general assurance that something is white, but may say “Why do you call it white? If you are to call it white, let that be the truth.” If he has any doubt about it, he will look at it.

Then, whether it is really white, or not, he will be able to say for certain which it is. When he says the white thing is white, it becomes more effectively white and all doubts disappear and there is no room for differences of opinion. 

Still, when you show that their “white” is not white, however plain it may be that it is not, those who give great weight to custom will give you an argument. 

In particular, when you put ancient beliefs and certainties to the test, even while you are producing arguments that are axiomatic, logical and with textual support, since they do not fit with the hearers' preconceptions, many criticisms will break out and you will be accused of being a revolutionary. On the path of knowledge, looking closely at such criticisms over and over again will lead you to the truth.

Such an inspection that turned over for examination the ideas and beliefs received by the people in general would be in a way to affirm the Kælæma sutta which was pronounced by the Lord.

Let us take as careful a look at the Kælæma Sutta as the limited space allotted to this essay will allow, remembering that in order to understand the Buddha's utterances correctly it is essential to take account of his own intentions in making them.

The passage that has been cited so often runs as follows: "Come, Kælæmas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing, nor upon tradition, nor upon rumour, nor upon scripture, nor upon surmise, nor upon axiom, nor upon specious reasoning, nor upon bias toward a notion pondered over, nor upon another's seeming ability, nor upon the consideration 'The monk is our teacher.' When you yourselves know: 'These things are bad, blamable, censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill,' abandon them... When you yourselves know: 'These things are good, blameless, praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,' enter on and abide in them."

This means that such an examination might be made by the scientific methods of the time, even though those methods had been rejected by some important people of the past. Those who disliked such methods could not reject them as being unfounded. 

The scientific methods of enquiry applied into the basic ideas of the Burmese polity and scheme of government. This enquiry was not a matter of erasing the old to install a new replacement.

‘New’ and ‘Old’ do not apply to the Law -- it is right to hold that good that meets your need." and: “People say that if you go to make new rules and regulations when things in the country are working well, you destroy the law of what must not be done, but don't be in a hurry to believe them.” 

If we rely upon what is said that, in what is old, anything that should be discarded must be discarded; in the new, what merits adoption, should be adopted. 

က်မ္းကုိး ...

အဂၤုတၱရနိကာယပါဠိ၊ တိကနိပါတ္၊ ၂။ မဟာဝဂၢ။ ၅။ ေကသမုတၱသုတ္၊ ႏွာ-၁၊ ၁၉၀