Avyākata

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Avyākata (Pāli; Skt., avyākṛtavastūni, ‘that which cannot be expressed’). The four issues or questions on which the Buddha was pressed, but concerning which he remained silent. The silence was not because the questions are unanswerable, but because any answer would lead to a false sense of apprehension within the limits of his hearers' understanding. See Brahmajāla Sutta 28; but it does not follow from that that he was agnostic. The true answers require insight which is itself a consequence of enlightenment or of considerable progress toward it.

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