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Yet, there's no explanation of why Buddha would not play these games. Seems like an important omission.

• awb 5y ago
  1st sentence: > The Buddhist games list is a list of games that Gautama Buddha is reputed to have said that he would not play and that his disciples should likewise not play, because he believed them to be a 'cause for negligence'.
  • dlsa 5y ago
    And what exactly does that mean? No exploration of that in the article or any particular exploration for each game. Its a list after all. How does that apply to 8x8 but not a 9x9 board game? I'd expect a passing comment about it at least. A paragraph.
    • awb 5y ago
      Fair point, but it’s a problem that plagues many religions where the decrees have been preserved but the reasoning lost or modified through interpretation. Who knows but maybe the list had an “etc.” in it that covers 9x9 but that 8x8 was the prevalent game of the times so it was called out explicitly. Or maybe 9x9 games took 10x the time as a 8x8 game, and no one could fathom spending days playing a 9x9 game. Or maybe it is just an arbitrary list. This is common with any law like the “right to bear arms” where new “arms” like rocket launchers were invented later. Unfortunately, the context appears lost. I understood “negligence” to mean that playing games is likely to make you negligent of your spiritual or daily life. That’s still a common philosophy with parents chiding their kids for playing too many games and not spending enough time on school work, chores, etc.