Short answer
Not in the way it is often quoted. In the Kalama Sutta, the Buddha tells people not to accept a teaching because of tradition, scripture or respect for a teacher. Yet the same list also warns against going by logic and inference alone. The test he gives is about conduct: give up what leads to harm, as sensible people also judge. He then leads his hearers by his own questions, and at the end they become his followers. Leading Theravada teachers read it as a first step, not as licence to follow one's own sense of right and wrong. The Qur'an asks to be tested before it is believed. It says a book from anyone but God (﷾) would contain much discrepancy (4:82). It tells doubters to produce one chapter like it (2:23). And it answers plainly what follows death, which this sutta leaves as an "if".
Full explanation
Where the saying comes from
The saying comes from a sutta (a discourse of the Buddha) in the Pali canon, the scripture of Theravada Buddhism. It is Numbered Discourses 3.65, known as the Kalama Sutta. The Kalamas were the people of a town called Kesamutta. Teacher after teacher came there, each praising his own doctrine and attacking the others. The Kalamas asked the Buddha which of them spoke the truth. He told them that doubt about an uncertain matter was fitting.
““There are, sir, some ascetics and brahmins who come to Kesamutta. They explain and promote only their own doctrine, while they attack, badmouth, disparage, and smear the doctrines of others. Then some other ascetics and brahmins come to Kesamutta. They too explain and promote only their own doctrine, while they attack, badmouth, disparage, and smear the doctrines of others. So, sir, we’re doubting and uncertain: ‘I wonder who of these respected ascetics and brahmins speaks the truth, and who speaks falsehood?’” “It is enough, Kālāmas, for you to be doubting and uncertain. Doubt has come up in you about an uncertain matter.”
The passage people quote
The Buddha then lists ten things not to go by. They include oral tradition, lineage and "canonical authority", the scriptures. They also include logic, inference and a teacher's apparent skill. So the passage does not set reason above scripture. It sets both aside as grounds on their own. What it puts in their place is a test of conduct. When the Kalamas know for themselves that certain things are unskilful (unwholesome), blameworthy, criticised by sensible people and harmful, they should give them up.
“Please, Kālāmas, don’t go by oral transmission, don’t go by lineage, don’t go by testament, don’t go by canonical authority, don’t rely on logic, don’t rely on inference, don’t go by reasoned train of thought, don’t go by the acceptance of a view after deliberation, don’t go by the appearance of competence, and don’t think ‘The ascetic is our respected teacher.’ But when you know for yourselves: ‘These things are unskillful, blameworthy, criticized by sensible people, and when you undertake them, they lead to harm and suffering’, then you should give them up.”
He did not leave them wholly on their own
The Buddha did not stop at the list. He asked the Kalamas whether greed comes up in a person for welfare or for harm, and they answered that it brings harm. He asked the same about hate and delusion. Then he asked whether these things are skilful or unskilful, and praised or criticised by sensible people. Step by step, his questions led them to the answer.
“What do you think, Kālāmas? Does greed come up in a person for their welfare or harm?” “Harm, sir.” “A greedy individual, overcome by greed, kills living creatures, steals, commits adultery, lies, and encourages others to do the same. Is that for their lasting harm and suffering?” “Yes, sir.””
How Theravada teachers read it
Bhikkhu Bodhi, a Theravada monk who translates the Pali texts, reads the sutta in its setting. The Kalamas were not yet the Buddha's followers. So he gave them a teaching they could check in this life, and set the larger questions aside for them. Bodhi writes that what a person confirms in experience becomes a ground for trusting teachings he cannot yet verify. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, another Theravada translator, says the sutta is no licence to follow one's own sense of right and wrong. A belief must be tested in practice and checked against the experience of the wise. The sutta itself ends with the Kalamas going for refuge to the Buddha, his teaching and the Saṅgha, the community of his disciples. In other words, they became his followers.
A Theravada monk and translator of the Pali texts reads the sutta in its setting. The Kalamas were not yet the Buddha's disciples. Rival teachers had confused them, and their doubt concerned rebirth and the results of deeds. The Buddha did not leave them wholly to their own resources: by questioning, he led them to see that greed, hate and delusion bring harm. Bodhi rejects the reading that the Buddha dismisses all doctrine and faith. The counsel, he writes, was given with the question of ultimate beliefs set aside. The sutta leaves out right view, and in the suttas the fuller teachings are given to those who have gained faith in the Buddha. What a person confirms in experience then becomes a basis for accepting on trust teachings that lie beyond his own power to verify.
A Theravada monk and translator notes that the sutta is often cited as permission to follow one's own sense of right and wrong, but that it says something more rigorous. Traditions, reports, and one's own logic or feelings are not to be followed simply because they are those things. A belief is to be tested by its results when put into practice, and then checked against the experience of wise people.
“We go for refuge to the Buddha, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Saṅgha.”
The four consolations
Near its end the sutta describes a disciple whose mind is free of ill will. He has four consolations in this life. If there is another world, and deeds have a result, he will be reborn in a good place. If there is no other world, he still lives free of enmity and happy here. So the sutta does not ignore the afterlife. It gives a reason to live well whether or not there is one, but here it leaves the question as an "if". Bodhi explains why: the Kalamas were not yet his followers. In the suttas, the fuller teachings are given to those who have gained faith in the Buddha.
“When that noble disciple has a mind that’s free of enmity and ill will, uncorrupted and purified, they’ve won four consolations in this very life. ‘If it turns out there is another world, and good and bad deeds have a result, then—when the body breaks up, after death—I’ll be reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.’ This is the first consolation they’ve won. ‘If it turns out there is no other world, and good and bad deeds don’t have a result, then in this very life I’ll keep myself free of enmity and ill will, untroubled and happy.’ This is the second consolation they’ve won.”
A Theravada monk and translator of the Pali texts reads the sutta in its setting. The Kalamas were not yet the Buddha's disciples. Rival teachers had confused them, and their doubt concerned rebirth and the results of deeds. The Buddha did not leave them wholly to their own resources: by questioning, he led them to see that greed, hate and delusion bring harm. Bodhi rejects the reading that the Buddha dismisses all doctrine and faith. The counsel, he writes, was given with the question of ultimate beliefs set aside. The sutta leaves out right view, and in the suttas the fuller teachings are given to those who have gained faith in the Buddha. What a person confirms in experience then becomes a basis for accepting on trust teachings that lie beyond his own power to verify.
The Qur'an asks to be examined
The Qur'an asks why people do not consider it with care. It says that a book from anyone other than God (﷾) would contain much discrepancy. That is a test the book could fail, and it gives the test to every reader. Hostile readers have looked for centuries. The page "Does the Qur'an contain contradictions or errors?" answers what they claim to find. The Qur'an also asks why people do not earnestly seek to understand it. It asks to be studied before it is believed.
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
“Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Qur'an, or are their hearts locked up by them?”
A task for anyone in doubt
To anyone in doubt about it, the Qur'an gives a task. If you are in doubt about what was revealed, it says, produce one chapter like it, and call any helpers you have besides Allah (﷾). The same challenge had already been put in Mecca (10:38) to the Prophet's (ﷺ) opponents, whose great art was poetry. They wanted him silenced, and they never produced it. The page "Has anyone met the Qur'an's challenge to write a chapter like it?" takes up who judges it.
“And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.”
“Or do they say, "He forged it"? say: "Bring then a Sura like unto it, and call (to your aid) anyone you can besides Allah, if it be ye speak the truth!"”
Knowledge, not blind following
The Qur'an forbids pursuing what one has no knowledge of, and says every act of hearing and seeing will be questioned. It blames those who follow their fathers' ways even when their fathers lacked wisdom and guidance. It has the Prophet (ﷺ) say that he invites to Allah (﷾) on evidence as clear as seeing with one's own eyes. So the Qur'an asks a person to accept its claim on evidence, not on custom.
“And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning).”
“When it is said to them: "Follow what Allah hath revealed:" They say: "Nay! we shall follow the ways of our fathers." What! even though their fathers Were void of wisdom and guidance?”
“Say thou: "This is my way: I do invite unto Allah,- on evidence clear as the seeing with one's eyes,- I and whoever follows me. Glory to Allah! and never will I join gods with Allah!"”
What comes after death, without an "if"
Where the sutta says "if", the Qur'an answers plainly. Every soul will taste death, and on the Day of Judgment each will be paid in full. Whoever has done an atom's weight of good will see it, and the same is true of evil. People were not created in jest, and they will be brought back to God (﷾). He created death and life to test which of us is best in deed.
“Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object (of Life): For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception.”
“Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it.”
“"Did ye then think that We had created you in jest, and that ye would not be brought back to Us (for account)?"”
“He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed: and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving;-”
Test the Book, then trust it
Every teaching about what follows death asks for trust in the end. That includes the teaching that nothing follows. None of us can see the next world for ourselves in this life. So the real question is whose word has passed a test that anyone can still apply. The Qur'an sets that test and gives it to every reader. It was brought by Muhammad (ﷺ), who was sent to all mankind. Trust in a word that has passed the test grows into certainty: the Qur'an describes believers who "have the assurance of the Hereafter" (2:4). Muslims invite every Buddhist reader, secular or traditional, to read it with care and test it.
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
“And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.”
“Say: "O men! I am sent unto you all, as the Messenger of Allah, to Whom belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He That giveth both life and death. So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, who believeth in Allah and His words: follow him that (so) ye may be guided."”
“And who believe in the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before thy time, and (in their hearts) have the assurance of the Hereafter.”
Nine replies answered
Anguttara Nikaya 3.65 — Numbered Discourses, book of the threes, discourse 65 (With the Kalamas of Kesamutta), segments 4.1-4.3
“Please, Kālāmas, don’t go by oral transmission, don’t go by lineage, don’t go by testament, don’t go by canonical authority, don’t rely on logic, don’t rely on inference, don’t go by reasoned train of thought, don’t go by the acceptance of a view after deliberation, don’t go by the appearance of competence, and don’t think ‘The ascetic is our respected teacher.’ But when you know for yourselves: ‘These things are unskillful, blameworthy, criticized by sensible people, and when you undertake them, they lead to harm and suffering’, then you should give them up.”
Cited for
The Buddha said not to go by scripture. So I should not accept the Qur'an just because it is a scripture.
The response
The same sentence also warns against relying on logic or inference alone. So the sutta does not set reason above scripture. It warns against accepting a claim only because of where it comes from. The Qur'an does not ask to be accepted only because it calls itself scripture. It asks first to be considered with care (4:82), gives the doubter a task (2:23), and forbids pursuing what one has no knowledge of (17:36). Trust in its word then follows from what the test has shown.
Where it lands — The Qur'an asks to be tested before it is trusted, so the warning does not touch it.
Anguttara Nikaya 3.65 — Numbered Discourses, book of the threes, discourse 65 (With the Kalamas of Kesamutta), segments 4.1-4.3
“Please, Kālāmas, don’t go by oral transmission, don’t go by lineage, don’t go by testament, don’t go by canonical authority, don’t rely on logic, don’t rely on inference, don’t go by reasoned train of thought, don’t go by the acceptance of a view after deliberation, don’t go by the appearance of competence, and don’t think ‘The ascetic is our respected teacher.’ But when you know for yourselves: ‘These things are unskillful, blameworthy, criticized by sensible people, and when you undertake them, they lead to harm and suffering’, then you should give them up.”
Cited for
By the sutta's own list, your tests fail too. 4:82 is an inference, and the challenge of 2:23 trusts how skilled a text appears.
The response
The list warns against going by any one of these alone. Thanissaro Bhikkhu reads it this way. Traditions are not to be followed simply because they are traditions, nor one's own preferences simply because they seem logical. The Buddha's own test used reasoning: he led the Kalamas by questions. The Qur'an asks the reader to reason about evidence he can check for himself, the Book in his hands (4:82; 47:24). The challenge of 2:23 is not to admire a speaker's skill but to produce a chapter like it. And 4:82 is one test among several, not the whole proof.
Where it lands — The Qur'an asks for reason applied to evidence anyone can check, not reason alone or custom alone.
Anguttara Nikaya 3.65 — Numbered Discourses, book of the threes, discourse 65 (With the Kalamas of Kesamutta), segments 4.1-4.3
“Please, Kālāmas, don’t go by oral transmission, don’t go by lineage, don’t go by testament, don’t go by canonical authority, don’t rely on logic, don’t rely on inference, don’t go by reasoned train of thought, don’t go by the acceptance of a view after deliberation, don’t go by the appearance of competence, and don’t think ‘The ascetic is our respected teacher.’ But when you know for yourselves: ‘These things are unskillful, blameworthy, criticized by sensible people, and when you undertake them, they lead to harm and suffering’, then you should give them up.”
Cited for
The Kalama Sutta lets each person decide right and wrong from his own experience.
The response
The sutta's test also asks what sensible people praise or criticise. And the Buddha led the Kalamas to the answer by his own questions about greed, hate and delusion. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, a Theravada translator, says the sutta is no licence to follow one's own sense of right and wrong.
Where it lands — Read as its Theravada teachers read it, the sutta is a guided test of conduct, not a licence.
"A Look at the Kalama Sutta" (1988)
A Theravada monk and translator of the Pali texts reads the sutta in its setting. The Kalamas were not yet the Buddha's disciples. Rival teachers had confused them, and their doubt concerned rebirth and the results of deeds. The Buddha did not leave them wholly to their own resources: by questioning, he led them to see that greed, hate and delusion bring harm. Bodhi rejects the reading that the Buddha dismisses all doctrine and faith. The counsel, he writes, was given with the question of ultimate beliefs set aside. The sutta leaves out right view, and in the suttas the fuller teachings are given to those who have gained faith in the Buddha. What a person confirms in experience then becomes a basis for accepting on trust teachings that lie beyond his own power to verify.
Cited for
Buddhism needs no faith, because everything it teaches can be checked in meditation.
The response
Calm, a kinder heart and the link between craving and stress can be checked in this life. Rebirth, the results of deeds in a next life and the end of rebirth cannot be checked by a beginner. Bodhi writes that confidence won in practice leads a person to accept such teachings on trust. Trust is part of both paths. The question is whose word has passed a test that any reader can still apply.
Where it lands — Both paths ask for trust in what cannot yet be seen; the Qur'an names the test that earns it (4:82; 2:23).
Anguttara Nikaya 3.65 — Numbered Discourses, book of the threes, discourse 65 (With the Kalamas of Kesamutta), segments 4.1-4.3
“Please, Kālāmas, don’t go by oral transmission, don’t go by lineage, don’t go by testament, don’t go by canonical authority, don’t rely on logic, don’t rely on inference, don’t go by reasoned train of thought, don’t go by the acceptance of a view after deliberation, don’t go by the appearance of competence, and don’t think ‘The ascetic is our respected teacher.’ But when you know for yourselves: ‘These things are unskillful, blameworthy, criticized by sensible people, and when you undertake them, they lead to harm and suffering’, then you should give them up.”
Cited for
The teaching invites everyone to come and see. Anyone who practises far enough can know even rebirth for himself.
The response
Practice can show a calmer mind and less craving. What an advanced meditator reports seeing of past lives, others cannot check, and a beginner cannot reach it. So the beginner still trusts the teacher, as Bodhi writes. The Qur'an rests its case on something else: a Book that anyone, beginner or not, can open and test today (4:82; 2:23).
Where it lands — The Qur'an's test needs no advanced practice; the Book is open to every reader.
Anguttara Nikaya 3.65 — Numbered Discourses, book of the threes, discourse 65 (With the Kalamas of Kesamutta), segments 43.1-44.1
“When that noble disciple has a mind that’s free of enmity and ill will, uncorrupted and purified, they’ve won four consolations in this very life. ‘If it turns out there is another world, and good and bad deeds have a result, then—when the body breaks up, after death—I’ll be reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.’ This is the first consolation they’ve won. ‘If it turns out there is no other world, and good and bad deeds don’t have a result, then in this very life I’ll keep myself free of enmity and ill will, untroubled and happy.’ This is the second consolation they’ve won.”
Cited for
The four consolations show that a good life is wise either way, so I can leave the afterlife question open.
The response
The first consolation looks to another world and a good rebirth, if there is one. The sutta leaves it as an "if" because the Kalamas were not yet ready for more, as Bodhi explains. The Qur'an answers the question: each soul will be paid in full on the Day of Judgment (3:185). Every atom's weight of good and evil will be seen (99:7-8). A question this large is worth settling if it can be settled, and a Book that names its own test offers a way.
Where it lands — A hedge is not an answer; the Qur'an gives one, with a book to test.
Qur'an 4:82 — Surat al-Nisa (The Women), verse 82
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
Cited for
Critics have listed contradictions in the Qur'an, so it fails its own test.
The response
The test is open, and anyone may look. The page "Does the Qur'an contain contradictions or errors?" takes the cases critics raise and answers them one by one. A book that names a test it could fail has put itself in the reader's hands. Read the cases and the answers, and judge.
Where it lands — The test stays open to every reader, and the claimed cases are answered.
Qur'an 4:82 — Surat al-Nisa (The Women), verse 82
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
Cited for
Being free of contradiction proves nothing. Many careful human books are consistent.
The response
4:82 is a test the Qur'an could fail, not the whole proof. The Qur'an names a second test in 2:23: produce one chapter like it. The page "How can we tell if a holy book really comes from God?" sets out further tests and applies them.
Where it lands — 4:82 is one test among several, and the Qur'an does not rest on it alone.
Qur'an 2:23 — Surat al-Baqara (The Cow), verse 23
“And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.”
Cited for
No one can win the challenge, because Muslims will never admit that anyone has.
The response
The first judges were not Muslims. The challenge was first put to the Prophet's (ﷺ) opponents in Mecca, whose great art was poetry, as in 10:38. They wanted him silenced, and one convincing chapter would have done it. They never produced it. The page "Has anyone met the Qur'an's challenge to write a chapter like it?" sets out the record.
Where it lands — Those who most wanted the challenge met did not meet it.
Perspectives
The secular reading
Many Western readers, and secular Buddhists above all, quote the Kalama Sutta as the Buddha's charter of free inquiry. On this reading the Buddha asked no one to believe anything. Each person tests teachings in his own experience and keeps what works. Questions such as rebirth can be left aside.
Many Western and secular Buddhists
The Buddha told the Kalamas not to go by tradition or scripture but to know for themselves. So Buddhism asks for no faith, while Islam asks for obedience to a book.
Rebuttal
The same list also warns against relying on logic and inference alone, so it does not set reason above scripture. The Qur'an asks to be examined before it is believed (4:82; 2:23). Obedience to God (﷾) then follows from what the test has shown.
The test is personal experience. Each person judges what is skilful by what he finds in his own life.
Rebuttal
The sutta adds the judgment of sensible people, and the Buddha led the Kalamas by his own questions. Its Theravada translators read it this way, not as licence to follow one's own sense of right and wrong.
Meditation lets anyone verify the teaching for himself, so no faith is needed.
Rebuttal
Calm, and the link between craving and stress, can be checked in this life. Rebirth and the results of deeds in a next life cannot be checked by a beginner; Bodhi writes that they are accepted on trust. Setting them aside does not set aside death, and the Qur'an answers what follows it (3:185).
The four consolations show that a good life is wise whether or not there is another world. So the afterlife can be left aside.
Rebuttal
The first consolation looks to another world and a good rebirth, but only as an "if". A hedge is not an answer. The Qur'an answers plainly: each soul will be paid in full on the Day of Judgment (3:185; 99:7-8).
The reading of Theravada teachers
Theravada teachers read the sutta in its setting. The Kalamas were not yet followers, so the Buddha gave them a test of conduct they could check in this life. Confidence won that way then carries the student on to trust teachings he cannot yet verify.
Bhikkhu Bodhi and Thanissaro Bhikkhu
The Kalamas were not yet the Buddha's followers. He gave them a test they could check in this life and set the larger questions aside for them.
Rebuttal
The test it gives is one of conduct. It does not by itself settle what troubled the Kalamas: rebirth and the results of deeds, which the sutta leaves as an "if". The Qur'an answers that question and names its test (4:82; 2:23).
Confidence is confirmed in practice. It then becomes a ground for trusting the Buddha on teachings one cannot verify oneself.
Rebuttal
Then both paths ask for trust in what cannot yet be seen. What earns that trust is a test of where a word comes from, not only of whether its advice is good. The Qur'an names such a test (4:82; 2:23).
The Kalamas themselves ended by going for refuge to the Buddha, his teaching and the Saṅgha.
Rebuttal
A test of conduct shows that some advice is good, and good advice is found in many places. It cannot show whose word on the unseen is true. The Qur'an's tests ask a different question: whether the Book comes from God (4:82; 2:23). If it does, its word on the unseen stands.
The Islamic perspective
The Qur'an asks to be examined before it is believed. It names a test it could fail and gives the doubter a task. It forbids following what one has no knowledge of. Where the Kalama Sutta leaves the next world as an "if", the Qur'an answers plainly.
The Qur'an asks its readers to consider it with care. It says that a book from anyone but God (﷾) would contain much discrepancy.
The Qur'an tells anyone in doubt about it to produce one chapter like it.
The Qur'an forbids pursuing what one has no knowledge of, and blames following one's fathers without wisdom or guidance.
The Qur'an has the Prophet (ﷺ) say that he invites to Allah (﷾) on evidence as clear as sight.
Every soul will taste death and be paid in full on the Day of Judgment. Every atom's weight of good and evil will be seen.
Every teaching about what follows death rests on trust in the end. So the question is whose word has passed a test that anyone can still apply.