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Blind men and the elephant, 1907 American illustration. Blind Men Appraising an Elephant by Ohara Donshu, Edo Period (early 19th century), Brooklyn Museum. The parable of the blind men and an elephant is a story of a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before and who learn and imagine what the elephant is like by touching it.
Adhipataka Sutta / Upāti Sutta X. Uppajjanti Sutta Tittha Suttha comprises three of these sutras, where the parable of the monks and the elephant is found in the first, viz. sutra number 4. The parable is usually referred to as "The story of the blind men and the elephant". [3] [4]
The blind men and an elephant is a fable that originated in the Indian subcontinent from where it has widely diffused. It is a story of a group of blind men (or men in the dark) who touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk.
The title might be translated "inspired utterances". The book comprises 80 such utterances, most in verse, each preceded by a narrative giving the context in which the Buddha uttered it. The famous story of the Blind men and an elephant appears in Udana, under Tittha Sutta (Ud. 6.4). [1]
The story is of the blind men who feel an elephant (Chinese: 盲人摸象; Jyutping: mang2ren2mo1xiang4)—the elephant in this tale symbolizes the "Buddha nature". A group of blind men reach out to touch a different part of the elephant—one feels the tusk and thinks it is a carrot, another mistakes the elephant's belly for an urn, and so on ...
Blind men and an elephant. Credit: Hanabusa Itchō. An 1888 Hanabusa Itchō ukiyo-e print illustrating a Buddhist parable showing blind monks examining an elephant.
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The fourth stoned man was tripping on peyote, and he said, "You see not the mystery, for the elephant is a poem written in tons instead of words," and his eyes danced. The fifth stoned man was on acid, and he said nothing, merely worshiping the elephant in silence as the Father of Buddha.