Speaking Without Knowing

One day, a certain scientist came to visit Luang Por [Chah]. Speaking as someone who had practised meditation and felt qualified to make a comparison, he was of the opinion that as a means of realizing the truth of things, science offered a path that was more effective and more verifiable than Buddhist training.

Luang Por was unimpressed. ‘Don’t you think it’s possible,’ he asked, ‘that you’re putting forth this claim without a full knowledge of the results of Buddhist training?’

He gave two similes: it was like a man putting one short arm down a hole who concludes that the hole only goes as far as his arm; it was like a short-sighted man who concludes that there are no such things as airplanes in the sky because he’s never seen one.

This reflection by Ajahn Chah as recounted by Ajahn Jayasaro is from the book, Stillness Flowing, (pdf) p.654.