To a visitor who claimed he had no need to search for Truth because he found it in the beliefs of his religion, the Master said:
“There was once a student who never became a mathematician because he blindly believed the answers he found at the back of his maths textbook and, ironically, the answers were correct.”
Anthony de Mello
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Anthony de Mello (1931-1987) was an Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist. A spiritual teacher, writer and public speaker, De Mello wrote several books on spirituality and hosted numerous spiritual retreats and conferences. He continues to be known for his storytelling, which drew from the various mystical traditions of both East and West. In most of his stories, “The Master” is deliberately framed not as a single historical figure, but as a wise teacher, demonstrating how universal wisdom transcends religious boundaries
Image: A postage stamp issued by China in 2006 features Sakyamuni Buddha (Northern Wei) in the Yungang Grottoes. The Yungang Grottoes, formerly the Wuzhoushan Grottoes, are ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes near the city of Datong in the province of Shanxi. They are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture and one of the three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China. In 2001, the Yungang Grottoes were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Courtesy https://www.buddhiststamp.com/
Notes:
The Socratic method and unexamined belief: The Master’s critique of passive acceptance mirrors the foundational spirit of Western philosophy, notably articulated by Socrates: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In Platonic dialogues like the Meno, Socrates demonstrates that true knowledge (episteme) requires understanding the reasoning behind a truth, distinguishing genuine comprehension from mere true belief (doxa).
Self-verification in epistemology: In classical Indian philosophy (Pramana-shastra) and Buddhist epistemology, personal verification (Ehipassiko—”come and see for yourself”) takes precedence over unverified authority. Accepting a truth solely on dogmatic authority (Shabda) without personal realisation is compared to a shepherd counting another man’s cows—possessing information without owning the reality.