Interpreting the Raft Simile

Buddha compared his teachings to a raft. The Raft Simile is one of the most important parables of Buddha because it has an important message about the nature of Dharma(Dhamma). It offers important advice as to how the practitioner should regard Buddha’s teachings. The Raft Simile crosses the sectarian divide–it can be found in both the Theravada tradition and the Mahayana tradition. What is most surprising about the Raft Simile is that it sounds almost self-deprecating. Most religions want to give the general public the impression that the teachings of their founders are very special, absolute, immutable, and sacred. The subtext or unspoken message is that only my religion has the Truth and all other religions are false. When a religion becomes domineering and plays the superiority game, there is no question that it is just our inflated ego. It is precisely the belief that the Truth can be monopolized that often leads to religious wars, be they literal or metaphorical. But the message in the Raft Simile points to something very different from this tribal mindset. In a sense, the Raft Simile teaches that there is nothing special in the Master’s teachings. It portrays the usefulness of Buddha’s teachings as provisional, i.e. they serve only a temporary purpose. The usefulness of a particular teaching is also relative to the situation or circumstances. Due to this relative nature, we should not expect that the same…