Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge c13.52

c13.52

(647) We can again hardly draw the inference that omniscience is claimed for the Buddha when it is said in the Aṅguttara Nikāya that 'whatever is well-spoken is the word of the Exalted One' (*yam kiñci subhāsitaṃ, sabbam tam tassa bhagavato vacanam . . .*, A. IV.164), if we take this statement in the context in which it is made. This is not a saying attributed to the Buddha, but to a little known monk Uttara who says this in a mythological context, addressing Sakra, the king of the gods. In its context, there is a simile accompanying the utterance: 'If there is a granary in the vicinity of a village or hamlet and people were to carry grain in pingoes, baskets, in their robes and hands . . . then if one were to ask the question 'from where are you carrying this grain', the proper reply would be to say that it was from this large granary. Even so, whatever is well-spoken is the word of the Exalted One'.⁴ What it means in its context, is that those 'well-spoken' utterances made by the disciples of the Buddha at a time and place when the Buddha had appeared are the utterances of the Buddha. This appears to be the contextual significance of this remark, which is used to illustrate that an utterance of Uttara's was not really his, since he was merely echoing the words of his master (*v.* kim pan'idam bhante āyasmato Uttarassa sakam paṭibhānam udāhu tassa Bhagavato vacanam ...? *i.e.* is this a product of your own insight or is it an utterance of the Exalted One...? A. IV.163) It is strange that this statement should be torn out of its context, to make it say some-thing that it does not even remotely suggest in its context.¹