Ways of Answering Questions
The Buddha tells the mendicants that there are four ways of answering a question. Some questions should be answered categorically, some analytically, some with a counter-question, and some should simply be set aside. The text does not give examples of each kind. A verse follows: a mendicant who knows which kind of question is which, in line with good principles, is said to be skilled in the four kinds of questions, hard to defeat, and expert in what the meaning is and what it is not. Shunning what is not the meaning and grasping what is, the verse says, is the mark of an astute person.
The full text
Numbered Discourses 4.42 · 5. With Rohitassa · Ways of Answering Questions · translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · public domain (CC0) · about 1 min · on SuttaCentral
“Mendicants, there are these four ways of answering questions. What four? There is a question that should be answered categorically. There is a question that should be answered analytically. There is a question that should be answered with a counter-question. There is a question that should be set aside. These are the four ways of answering questions.
One is stated categorically,another analytically,a third with a counter-question,while a fourth is set aside.
That sort of mendicant,who knows each of these,in line with good principles,is said to be skilledin the four kinds of questions.
They’re intimidating, hard to defeat,deep, and hard to crush.They’re expert in bothwhat the meaning is and what it isn’t.
Shunning what is not the meaning,an astute person grasps the meaning.An attentive one, comprehending the meaning,is said to be astute.”