Having seen two long-term members get banned recently, I was inspired to write this blog post. Some people just fail to see the other view-point, and cannot let go of being right.
A short Zen story illustrates the danger of being attached to being right.
Two monks were arguing. One maintained that it was vital to believe in rebirth to be a Buddhist, the other maintained that it was unnecessary, that one could understand the Dhamma only in the present moment.
The first went and asked the abbot whether it was essential to believe in rebirth. The abbot replied, “Yes you are right.” He was pleased with himself, and told the other monk what the abbot had said.
The second went to the abbot and asked whether one could understand the Dhamma only in the present moment. The abbot replied, “Yes you are right.”
When the second monk came out, the two monks argued again, each saying that the abbot had told him he was right. So they went in together, and each said to the abbot, “You said I was right. We can't both be right.” The abbot thought for a while, and then replied, “Yes, you are right!”
That's the way it is with most human beings — they are strongly attached to their own view and fail to see things as others see them. Anyone who is not personally involved in the debate can clearly see what the real problem is, but those who think they're right cannot see that they are wrong.
In teaching a monk by the name of Malukyaputta, the Buddha said:“Having thought of a mind object, one loses mindfulness. Getting involved in the attraction of it, one feels the onset of desire that tries to imbibe it.”“A multitude of passions such as covetousness and rage, springing from ideas, torments one who takes a firm hold of it, with the result that his mind becomes burdened with vexation. Therefore, nibbāna remains remote from one who would rather carry the burden of suffering than practise meditation.”Due to attachment to ideas (concepts) that one has thought of, all kinds of passionate views and opinions arise, leading to all manner of speech and actions to defend that attachment to those views. If one does not understand that it is just a view that one has thought of, nibbāna (i.e. the end of suffering) remains remote. The more passionately one defends a view (whether right or wrong), the more attached to it one becomes. Then one is far away from liberation from attachment and the end of suffering.