The Buddhist attitude to any such revelation would be that of accepting what is true, good and sound and rejecting what is false, evil and unsound after a dispassionate analysis of its contents without giving way to prejudice, hatred, fear or ignorance.

K. N. Jayatilleke outlines three broad means of spiritual knowledge, where Buddhist thought fits in, and how this compares to the major religious thought at the time of the Buddha.

The three means are: revelation, reason, and direct experience. Jayatilleke places Buddhism squarely in the third category. He then explores these means of knowledge as viewed by the materialists, Jains, and followers of the Vedas, comparing them with Buddhist thought.