Objection · Case 14 · Buddhism

“A cure that depends on the very thing it aims to destroy” misstates the raft parable. The raft is used and then set down, not destroyed, and wholesome desire isn’t the thing the path aims to eliminate.

One objection from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.

Suggest a correction

Response

Correct. The raft parable teaches non-attachment even to the teaching; it does not concede that the cure depends on craving, and the critique in that form targets a position no Buddhist holds. The most that can be said is that the tradition uses directed desire as scaffolding and then transcends it, which is a coherent position that a Christian may find incomplete but not self-undermining. The incompleteness, if there is one, is about where the scaffolding leads, not about the scaffolding.

About this exhibit

This objection is to The raft parable, Alagaddupama Sutta (MN 22).

Buddhism adds that even the wholesome desire and the teaching itself are eventually set down, like a raft used to cross a river and then left behind. The Buddha says a person should let go even of…

Under Claim 02: Buddhism distinguishes craving from wholesome desire, so its real diagnosis is misdirected desire rather than desire itself, which is close to Augustine’s and a point of contact rather than a contradiction.