Started by gruff

This saying is widely attributed to the Buddha on the net but it appears nowhere in the Pali Canon, the record of his actual teachings. It appears to be a distortion of his words to the Kalamas in Anguttura Nikaya 3:65 - "...don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering' — then you should abandon them." As you can see he clearly rejects reasoning and common sense (pondering views). see http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.065.than.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalama_Sutta