It is also worth noting that, while some people interpret this sutta
as a call to challenge tradition, one young man from a suburb of Yangon,
who is active in his local Buddhist youth organization, explained
to one of the authors that it needs to be understood in the proper
context.42 That is, the Buddha gave this advice to people who were
confronted with many different doctrines and needed a method to
avoid confusion. Since Burmese Buddhists already had the teachings
of the Buddha to follow, they should turn instead to the Mingala Sutta,
which advises obedience to parents and elders. Differences of interpretation
about the implications of the Kalama Sutta could limit its
utility as a general scriptural justification for questioning the veracity
of rumors, especially when the source of those rumors is a presumably
authoritative monk.