"I realise that some of my criticisms may be mistaken; but to refuse to criticize judgements for fear of being mistaken is to abandon criticism altogether... If any of my criticisms are found to be correct, the cause is served; and if any are found to be incorrect the very process of finding out my mistakes must lead to the discovery of the right reasons, or better reasons than I have been able to give, and the cause is served just as well."

-Mr. HM Seervai, Preface to the 1st ed., Constitutional Law of India.

Friday, March 23, 2018

Mediation, ADR and (not) the Buddha

Today, this blawgger had the occasion to read through an interesting post in the Kluwer Mediation blog on differentiating between actions that are unforgivable and people who are forgivable. The point that the author of the said post wished to make was that the aggrieved has to be driven to think how although the action complained against may not be be one that could be forgiven by the injured but how the person, who for some positive reasons, could be forgiven. It appears that the author of the blog got the idea by reading another author's book relating to Buddhism, which follows the peace as a fundamental principle. 

Consequently, it would be reasonable to believe that the below quote, as found in the Mediation Manual of the Supreme Court of India, was by the Buddha:

"Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back; choose that which leads to wisdom". 

What a wonderful quote! This blawgger was pleasantly surprised to find that even the Buddha has spoken so eloquently about the salutary features of Mediation several hundred centuries and wanted to find the source of the quote for future reference. 

A little bit of research revealed that Buddha said nothing of the sort! In fact, the Buddha was talking about Meditation and not Mediation! The actual quote (on Meditation and not Mediation) appears to be the Verse 282 of the Dhammapada, which roughly translates as follows: "Indeed, wisdom is born of meditation; without meditation wisdom is lost..." The words used to denote "meditation" and "without mediation" in the original text are "yoga" and "ayoga" respectively.

It would do well for the Supreme Court's mediation team to correct the error.

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