Healthy Doubt Versus Vacillating Doubt
The first thing that the Buddha told the Kalamas was that it was right for them to be perplexed and doubtful when a matter that arouses perplexity has arisen. Given the frustration of the Kalamas this opening statement of the Buddha is well placed and understandable. But the Buddha did not mean this as merely a consolation for the Kalamas in order to put them at ease. More than that it also serves as an encouragement to ask questions and seek knowledge when in doubt. For within the Buddha's teaching itself there is a room for healthy doubting which serves as a catalyst for the search after knowledge and truth. This kind of doubt should be differentiated from the vacillating doubt that constitutes a hindrance to the practice of meditation. Vacillating doubt is an unwholesome state of mind closely allied with delusion, the combination of both which gives rise to a confused and debilitating mental vacillation that leads to mental paralysis. The mind that is plague by vacillatin