Questions of King Milinda (Milindapañha)

[265] ' Now if, Nagasena, he could not, on that day, procure a teacher or preceptor, or a bowl and set of robes 3, would he then, being an Arahat, admit himself, or would he live over the day, or would some other Arahat suddenly appear by the power of Iddhi and admit him, or would he die away ? ' ' He could not, O king, because he is an Arahat, admit himself. For any one admitting himself to 1 Literally ' therefore is it that recitation, &c, is a condition free from the obstacles, and unmade ' (the Unmade being also one of the many epithets of Arahatship). 2 This passage has not yet been traced in the Pi/akas. 3 All these are necessary to one who is a candidate for admission to the Order — the teacher and preceptor being, as it were, his proposer and seconder; and no one being admitted who is not already provided with a bowl and a set of robes. the Order is guilty of theft K And he could not last beyond that day. Whether another Arahat should happen, or not, to arrive, on that very day would he die away.'

' Then, Nagasena, by whatever means attained, the holy condition of Arahatship is thereby also lost, for destruction of life is involved in it.' 8. ' It is the condition of laymanship which is at fault, O king. In that faulty condition, and by reason of the weakness of the condition itself, the layman who, as such, has attained to Arahatship must either, that very day, enter the Order or die away. That is not the fault of Arahatship, O king. It is laymanship that is at fault, through not being strong enough. 'Just, O king, as food, that guards the growth and protects the life of all beings, will, through indigestion, take away the life of one whose stomach is unequal to it, whose internal fire is low and weak — just so if a layman attains Arahatship when in that condition unequal to it, then by reason of the weakness of the condition he must, that very day, either enter the Order or die away. ' Or just, O king, as a tiny blade of grass when a heavy rock is placed upon it will, through its weakness, break off and give way — just so when a layman attains Arahatship, then, unable to support Arahatship in that condition, he must, that very day, either enter the Order or die away.

'Or just, O king, as a poor weak fellow of low birth and little ability, if he came into possession of 1 ' Inasmuch as he would be taking a dress to which he was not entitled ' is Hina/i-kumbure's gloss. a great and mighty kingdom, would be unable to support the dignity of it l — just so if a layman attains to Arahatship, then is he unable, in that condition, to support it. [266] And that is the reason why he must, on that very day, either enter the Order or die away.' ' Very good, Nagasena ! That is so, and I accept it as you say.' [Here ends the dilemma as to the lay Arahat.] [dilemma the sixty-third, the faults of the arahat.] 9. ' Venerable Nagasena, can an Arahat be thoughtless2 ?' ' The Arahats, O king, have put thoughtlessness far from them. They are never inadvertent.' ' But can an Arahat be guilty of an offence ?' ' Yes, O king.' ' In what respect ? ' 'In the construction of his cell3, or in his intercourse (with the other sex)4, or in imagining the wrong time (for the midday meal) to be the right

1 We have had the same simile above, IV, 6, 30. 2 Compare the note on Atillavagga V, 9, 5. 3 Which must not exceed certain dimensions, &c. See the 6th Sawghadisesa ('Vinaya Texts/ I, pp. 8, 9). 4 Saw^aritte. Perhaps only the 5th Sawghadisesa (loc. cit.) is here referred to, but Hina/i-kumbure (p. 375) takes it in a much more extended sense, as referring to all the restrictions, as to time and place, &c, laid down for the guidance of the brethren in their relations with women. IV, 7, io. OF MILINDA THE KING. 99 time \ or when he has been invited (to a meal -) forgetting the invitation, or in taking to be " left over3" food which has not been left over.' ' But, venerable Nagasena, your people say : " Those who commit offences do so from one of two reasons, either out of carelessness or out of ignorance 4." ' Now, is the Arahat careless that he commits offences ?' 1 No, O king.' ' Then if the Arahat commits offences, and yet is not careless, he must be capable of thoughtlessness.' ' He is not capable of thoughtlessness, and yet the Arahat may be guilty of offences.'

' Convince me then by a reason. What is the reason of this ? ' io. 'There are two kinds of sins, O king — those which are a breach of the ordinary moral law, and those which are a breach of the Rules (of the Order). And what is a breach of the ordinary moral law ? The ten modes of evil action 5 (killing, theft, 1 It is curious that the well-known rule as to not eating solid food after sunturn at noon is not expressly stated in the Patimokkha, or indeed anywhere in the Vinaya. But it is often implied. See, for instance, the 37th Pa&ttiya Rule; Mahavagga VI, 19, 2 ; VI, 33, 2 ; VI, 40, 3 ; A^ullavagga V, 25, &c. 2 See the Pa&ttiya Rules, Nos. 32 and 46. 3 A Bhikkhu may not, except for certain special reasons, such as sickness, either keep or eat food which has been left over after the principal meal. See the 35th PaX'ittiya Rule. Hina/i-kumbure (PP- 374—376) goes at great length into the full meaning of these five technical terms of the Buddhist Canon Law, giving examples under each. 4 Not traced as yet. ' Ignorance of the Sikshapadas ' says the Sinhalese (p. 376).

5 Dasa akusala-kamma-patha. See Childers sub voce. unchastity, lying, slander, harsh language, frivolous talk, covetousness, malice, and false doctrine). These things are against the moral law. And what is a breach of the Rules f Whatever is held in the world as unfitting and improper for Samaras, but is not wrong for laymen — things concerning which the Blessed One laid down rules for his disciples, not to be transgressed by them their lives long. Eating after sunturn, O king, is not wrong to those in the world, but is wrong to those in the religion (the Order) of the Conquerors. Doing injury to trees and shrubs is no offence in the eyes of the world, but it is wrong- in the religion. The habit of sporting in the water is no offence to a layman, but it is wrong in the religion. And many other things of a similar kind, O king, are right in the world, but wrong in the religion of the Conquerors. This is what I mean by a breach of the Rules. Now the Arahat (he in whom the Great Evils are destroyed) is incapable of sinning against whatever is moral law, but he may unawares be guilty of an offence against the rules of the Order. [267] It is not within the province of every Arahat to know everything, nor indeed in his power. He may be ignorant of the personal or family name of some woman or some man. He may be ignorant of some road over the earth. But every Arahat would know about emancipation, and the Arahat gifted with the six modes of transcendental knowledge l would know what lies within their scope, and an omniscient Tathagata, O king, would know all things.'

1 Cha/abhi«/7o — which every Arahat is not. IV, 7, it. OF MILINDA THE KING. IOI ' Very good, Nagasena ! That is so, and I accept it as you say.' [Here ends the dilemma as to the faults of the Arahat.] [dilemma the sixty-fourth, what is, but not in the world.] II. 'Venerable Nagasena, there are to be seen in the world Buddhas, and Pa/£v£eka-Buddhas, and disciples of the Tathagatas, and sovran overlords, and kings over one country, and gods and men ; — we find rich and poor, happy and miserable ; — we find men who have become women, and women who have become men — there are good deeds and evil, and beings experiencing the result of their virtue or their vice ; — we find creatures born from eggs, and in the water, and in sediment, or springing into life by the mere apparitional birth ; creatures without feet, bipeds and quadrupeds, and creatures with many feet ; — we find Yakkhas and Rakkhasas, and Kumbhandas, and Asuras, and Danavas, and Gandhabbas, and Petas and Pisa/v'as, and Kinnaras, and Mahoragas, and Nagas and Supa^;2as *, and magicians and sorcerers ; — there are elephants, and horses, and cattle, and buffaloes, and camels, and asses, and goats, and sheep, and deer, and swine, and lions, and tigers, and leopards, and bears, and wolves, and hyenas, and dogs, and jackals, and many kinds of birds ; — there is gold and silver, and the pearl, and

1 Fairies and goblins of various degrees and powers,, most of them not mentioned in the Pi/akas. the diamond, and the chauk, and rock, and coral, and the ruby, and the Masara stone, and the cat's-eye, and crystal, and quartz, and iron ore 1} and copper, and brass 2, and bronze ; — there is flax, and silk, and cotton, and hemp 3, and wool ; — there is rice, and paddy, and barley, and millet, and kudrusa grain, and beans 4, and wheat, and oilseed, and vetches ; — there are perfumes prepared from roots, and sap, and pith, and bark, and [268] leaves, and flowers, and fruit, and of all other sorts ; — we find grass, and creepers, and shrubs, and trees, and medicinal herbs, and forests, and rivers, and mountains, and seas, and fish, and tortoises, — all is in the world. Tell me, Sir, what there is, then, which is not in the world.' 12. 'There are three things, O king, which you cannot find in the world. And what are the three ? That which, whether conscious or unconscious, is not subject to decay and death — that you will not find. That quality of anything, (organic or inorganic), which is not impermanent — that you will not find. And in the highest sense there is no such thing as being possessed of being 5.'

1 Ka/a-loha, ' black metal' (not found in the Pi/akas). 2 Va//a-loha, 'round metal.' I can only guess what this is. The Sinhalese has simply wa/aloha, which is equally unintelligible. The word occurs again below (p. 331 of the Pali), and Hina/i-kumbure there renders it toe/i, which is a particular kind of brazen vessel. 3 Two kinds are mentioned, sa«a and bhahga. I don't know the difference between them. The Sinhalese has sana and bahkalpe. 4 Three kinds of Phaseoli are mentioned, Varaka, Mugga, and Mas a. 5 Paramatthena sattupaladdhi natthi. It is very curious ' Very good, Nagasena ! That is so, and I accept it as you say.' [Here ends the puzzle as to what is not in the world.] [dilemma the sixty-fifth, things without a cause.] 13. 'Venerable Nagasena, there are found beings in the world who have come into existence throueh Karma, and others who are the result of a cause, and others produced by the seasons 1. Tell me — is there any thing that does not fall under any one of these three heads ? ' ' There are two such things, O king. And what are the two ? Space, O king, and Nirvana.'

' Now do not spoil the word of the Conquerors, Nagasena, nor answer a question without knowing what you say ! ' 'What, pray, is it I have said, O king, that you should address me thus ? ' ' Venerable Nagasena, that is right what you said in respect of space. But with hundreds of reasons that both here, and in the analogous phrase at III, 5, 6 (p. 71 of the Pali), Hina/i-kumbure should merely repeat the words in the text. Both of these curt summaries of the deepest Buddhist doctrine were probably as ambiguous to him as they are to us. The literal translation of the phrase here would be, ' In the highest sense there is no acquisition of a being.' As in Buddhism being cannot strictly be predicated of any thing, or of any god or animal or man, — each is really only becoming — the sense probably meant must be very nearly as I have ventured to render. 1 Utu-nibbatta; which the Sinhalese repeats. See the next dilemma on ' Karma-born, cause-born, and season-born.' did the Blessed One proclaim to his disciples the way to the realisation of Nirvana. And yet you say that Nirvana is not the result of any cause ! '

' No doubt, O king, the Blessed One gave hundreds of reasons for our entering on the way to the realisation of Nirvana. But he never told us of a cause out of which Nirvana could be said to be produced.' 14. ' Now in this, Nagasena, we have passed from darkness into greater darkness, [269] from a jungle into a denser jungle, from a thicket into a deeper thicket — inasmuch as you say there is a cause for the realisation of Nirvana, but no cause from which it can arise. If, Nagasena, there be a cause of the realisation of Nirvana, then we must expect to find a cause of the origin of Nirvana. Just, Nagasena, as because the son has a father, therefore we ought to expect that that father had a father — or because the pupil has a teacher, therefore we ought to expect that the teacher had a teacher — or because the plant came from a seed, therefore we ought to expect that the seed too had come from a seed ] — so, Nagasena, if there be a reason for the realisation of Nirvana, we ought to expect that there is a reason too for its origin, — just as if we saw the top of a tree, or of a creeper, we should conclude that it had a middle part, and a root.'

' Nirvana, O king, is unproduceable, and no cause for its origin has been declared.' ' Come now, Nagasena, give me a reason for this. Convince me by argument, so that I may know how 1 Compare the argument based above, II, 3, 2, on this and similar series. it is that while there is a cause that will brino- about the realisation of Nirvana, there is no cause that will bring about Nirvana itself.' 1 5. ' Then, O king, give ear attentively, and listen well, and I will tell you what the reason is. Could a man, O king, by his ordinary power, go up from hence to the Himalaya, the king of mountains ?' ' Yes, Sir, he could.' ' But could a man, by his ordinary power, bring the Himalaya mountains here ?' ' Certainly not, Sir.' ' Well ! therefore is it that while a cause for the realisation of Nirvana can be declared, the cause of its origin can not. And could a man, O king, by his ordinary power cross over the great ocean in a ship, and so go to the further shore of it ? ' ' Yes, Sir, he could.'

' But could a man [270] by his ordinary power bring the further shore of the ocean here ? ' ' Certainly not, Sir/ ' Well ! so is it that while a cause for the realisation of Nirvana can be declared, the cause of its origin can not. And why not ? Because Nirvana is not put together of any qualities.' 1 6. 'What, Sir ! is it not put together ? ' ' No, O king. It is uncompounded, not made of anything. Of Nirvana, O king, it cannot be said that it has been produced, or not been produced, or that it can be produced l, that it is past or future or present, that it is perceptible by the eye or the ear or the nose or the tongue, or by the sense of touch.' ' But if so, Nagasena, then you are only showing 1 The Sinhalese is here (p. 381) expanded. us how Nirvana is a condition that does not exist \ There can be no such thing as Nirvana.' ' Nirvana exists, O king. And it is perceptible to the mind. By means of his pure heart, refined and straight, free from the obstacles2, free from low cravings, that disciple of the Noble Ones who has fully attained can see Nirvana.'

17. ' Then what, Sir, is Nirvana ? Such a Nirvana (I mean) as can be explained by similes3. Convince me by argument how far the fact of its existence can be explained by similes.' ' Is there such a thing, O king, as wind ? ' ' Yes, of course.' ' Show it me then, I pray you, O king — whether by its colour, or its form, whether as thin or thick, or short or long ! ' ' But wind, Nagasena, cannot be pointed out in that way 4. It is not of such a nature that it can be taken into the hand or squeezed. But it exists all the same.' ' If you can't show me the wind, then there can't be such a thing.' ' But I know there is, Nagasena. That wind 1 Natthidhamma7;z nibbanam upadisatha. Compare the use of atthi-dhammaw nibbanawz, at p. 316 (of the Pali). I take the compound to mean either ' has the quality (or condition) of not existing/ or ' is a condition that is not.' And the latter is more in harmony with the analogous phrase atthisatta deva (p. 317 of the Pali) since that can only mean 'gods, which are beings that are.'

2 Lust, malice, pride, sloth, and doubt. 3 Hina/i-kumbure puts the stop, not after nibbanazw as Mr. Trenckner does, but after opammehi. 4 On the connotation of upadassayitu/w, see pp. 316, 347, of the Pali. exists I am convinced x, [271] though I cannot show it you.' ' Well ! just so, O king, does Nirvana exist, though it cannot be shown to you in colour or in form V ' Very good, Nagasena ! That is so, and I accept it as you say.' [Here ends the dilemma as to Nirvana.] [dilemma the sixty-sixth, modes of production.] 1 8. ' Venerable Nagasena, what are they who are said, in this connection, to be " Karma-born," and ' cause-born," and " season-born " ? And what is it that is none of these ? ' ' All beings, O king, who are conscious, are Karmaborn (spring into existence as the result of Karma). Fire, and all things growing out of seeds, are causeborn (the result of a pre-existing material cause). The earth, and the hills, water, and wind — all these are season-born (depend for their existence on reasons connected with weather). Space and Nirvana exist independently alike of Karma, and cause,

1 Me hadaye anupavi/Z/zaw, literally 'has entered into my heart.' But Hina/i-kumbure takes vato atthiti as dependent on ^anami, and renders these three words by 'it (the wind) has entered into my heart,' and then adds, by way of gloss, ' and has struck against my body, and travels through the sky.' In another passage below, IV, 8, 65 (p. 317 of the Pali), this same word anupavi//^a/« recurs in a clause the sense of which is doubtful; and there Hina/i-kumbure explains it quite differently. It looks very much as if we had here an idiom peculiar to our author ; but one cannot of course be sure on any such point till the Pi/akas are all published. 2 The same simile is used below, p. 317 (of the Pali). and seasons. Of ] 0 king, it cannot be said is Karma-born or cause-born or sease rn ; that it has been, or has not been, or can be produe that it : . pa tt o r futur ant, that it is pe ble the e;. e or or the ear or the tongue or the sense of touch. But it is perceptible 0 k the mind. B; f his pure art, r

and str . :.::/. fit the obstacles free from low cravings, that disciple of the foble C ^ias fully attained can :a.' ;11 ha. .tful puzzle, vener sena, been examined ir. red of ^ht certitude. My per been put an end .3 soon as I you, O best of t' [Here ends the tnma a produ ir. a are there sue as khd) in t .'. ' 'Yes 0 Do they ever that condition fall out of tha e of e > ? ; But, if -it that the Yakkhas are never found, nor any odour of r cor i smelt ? '272 'I heir rema and an . .:- : from that di /.'.<■:.. 1 he re- mains of bad Yakkhas can be seen in the form of worms and beetles and ants and moths and snakes and scorpions and centipedes, and birds and wild beasts.' ' Who else, O Nagasena, could have solved this puzzle except one as wise as you ! ' [Here ends the dilemma as to dead demons.] [dilemma the sixty-eight if. the method of promulgating the rules.] 20. 'Venerable Nagasena, those who were teachers of the doctors in times gone by — Narada \ and Dhammantari 2, and Anglrasa3, and Kapila 4, and KaWaraggisama, and Atula, and Pubba Ka/'/'ayana 6 — all these teachers knowing thoroughly, and of themselves, and without any omission, the rise of disease and its cause and nature and progress and cure and treatment and management 6, — each of them composed his treatise en bloc, taking time by the forelock, and pointing out that in such and such a body such and such a disease would arise. Now no one of these

1 No doubt the celebrated Devarshi is meant, thougb it is odd to find him in a list of physicians. " In Sanskrit Dhan vantan, the physician of the gods. He is mentioned in the (Vataka IV, 496, with Bho.va and Vetara/n, as a well-known physician of old famous for the cure of snake-bite. 3 The connection <>f Ahgirasa with the physicians is due to the charms against disease to be found in the Alharva-veda. 1 Kapila is known in the Brahman literature as a teacher of philosophy rather than of medicine. Probably 'the Eastern Ka/'/iavana.' but nothing is known of these last three names. Ilina/i-kumbure calls all seven ' Rishis.1 * Siddhasiddhaw, for which Hma/i-kumbure (p. 385), who merely repeats all the other terms, has sadhyasadhya. was omniscient. Why then did not the Tathagata, who was omniscient, and who knew by his insight of a Buddha what would happen in the future, determining in advance that for such and such an occasion such and such a rule would be required, lay down the whole code of rules at once ; instead of laying them down to his disciples from time to time as each occasion arose, when the disgrace (of the wrong act) had been already noised abroad, when the evil was already wide spread and grown great, when the people were already filled with indignation x ? '

21. ' The Tathagata, O king, knew very well that in fulness of time the whole of the hundred and fifty Rules2 would have to be laid down to those men. But the Tathagata, O king, thought thus : " If I were to lay down the whole of the hundred and fifty Rules at once the people would be filled with fear [273], those of them who were willing to enter the Order would refrain from doing so, saying, ' How much is there here to be observed ! how difficult a thing is it to enter religion according to the system of the Samara Gotama ' — they would not trust my words, and through their want of faith they would be liable to rebirth in states of woe. As occasion arises therefore, illustrating it with a religious discourse, will I lay down, when the evil has become manifest, each Rule." ' ' A wonderful thing is it in the Buddhas, Nagasena, and a most marvellous that the omniscience of the Tathagata should be so great. That is just so, 1 This question has already been discussed above, III, 6, 2 (I, 116). 2 The rules of the Patimokkha are 227 in number, but without the Sekhiyas they are 152.

IV, 7, 23. OF MILINDA THE KING. I I I venerable Nagasena. This matter was well understood by the Tathagata — how that hearing that so much was to be observed, men l would have been so filled with fear that not a single one would have entered religion according to the system of the Conquerors. That is so, and I accept it as you say2.' [Here ends the dilemma as to the method in which the Rules were laid down.] [dilemma the sixty-ninth, the heat of the sun.] 22. 'Venerable Nagasena, does this sun always burn fiercely, or are there times when it shines with diminished heat ? ' ' It always burns fiercely, O king, never gently.' ' But if that be so, how is it that the heat of the sun is sometimes fierce, and sometimes not 3 ? ' 23. 'There are four derangements4, O king, which happen to the sun, and affected by one or other of these its heat is allayed. And what are the four? The clouds, O king, and fog5, and 1 Satta, literally 'beings,' but that means human beings, men and women, as no others (gods, Nagas, animals, &c.) were admitted to the Order. See Mahavagga I, 63; I, 76, 1; JTullavaggaX, 17, 1.

2 In the Introductory Stories to the Rules it is often stated, how, when a Bhikkhu had done some act, the people were indignant, the brethren heard that and reported the matter to the Blessed One, who then, and then only, laid down the Rule prohibiting that act. But these Introductory Stories are really later than the Rules. 3 Here Hina/i-kumbure (pp. 386-7) goes into great details, giving instances, and quoting verses. 4 Roga, literally 'diseases.' 5 Mahika. Childers gives frost as the only meaning of this word. I 1 2 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 7, 24. smoke1, and eclipses2 — these are the four derangements which happen to the sun, and it is when affected by one or other of these that its heat is allayed.' ' Most wonderful, Nagasena, and most strange [274] that even the sun, so transcendent in glory, should suffer from derangement — how much more then other, lesser, creatures. No one else could have made this explanation except one wise like you ! ' [Here ends the dilemma as to the heat of the sun.] [dilemma the seventieth, the seasons.] 24. ' Venerable Nagasena, why is it that the heat of the sun is more fierce in winter than in summer?'

'In the hot season, O king, dust is blown up3 into clouds, and pollen 4 agitated by the winds rises up into the sky, and clouds multiply in the heavens, and gales blow with exceeding force. All these crowded and heaped together shut off the rays of the sun, and so in the hot season the heat of the sun is diminished. But in the cold season, O king, the earth below is at rest, the rains above are 1 Megho, literally ' rain-cloud.' But clouds of smoke are meant, as is clear from the parallel passage loc. cit. which has dhumara^o, but see ^"ullavagga XII, 1, 3 (from which the whole section IV, 7, 23 is derived). 3 Anupahataw. Compare Dr. Morris's note in the 'Journal of the Pali Text Society,' 1884, p. 75, on Thera Gatha 625. 4 Re«u. Perhaps this should again be rendered dust. Seethe verse at Gataka I, 1 1 7 (which is nearly the same as Divyavadana, p. 491). IV, 7, 24- OF MILINDA THE KING. I I in reserve1, the dust is quiet, the pollen wanders gently through the air, the sky is free from clouds, and very gently do the breezes blow. Since all these have ceased to act the rays of the sun become clear, and freed from every obstruction the sun's heat glows and burns. This, O king, is the reason why the heat of the sun is more fierce in winter than in summer.

' So it is when set free from the obstacles besetting it that the sun burns fiercely, which it cannot do when the rains and so on are present with it.' [' Very good, Nagasena ! That is so, and I accept it as you say V] [Here ends the dilemma of the seasons3.] Here ends the Seventh Chapter4. 1 Maha-megho upa/7/nto hoti, which is very ambiguous. The Sinhalese (p. 389) has maha meghaya pa/an-ganna-lada wanneya. 2 Inserted from Hina/i-kumbure. 3 There is great uncertainty at present as to the views held, first in the Pi/akas and later in the Commentaries, regarding the calculation of time and the division of years into months and seasons. Our author here seems to regard the year as divided into two seasons only, Hemanta and Gimha. But Hemanta is usually supposed to last only from the 1st November (that is the middle of Kattika) to the beginning of March (that is the middle of Phagguni), Gimhana for the next four months (March istJune 30th), and Vassana the remaining four (July-October) — the year being thus divided into three equal cold, hot, and rainy seasons. At Mahavagga VIII, 24, 3 there is a division of the year into unequal dry and wet seasons (utu and vassana), and at Gataka I, 86 it is said that vasanta-samayo begins when hemanta ends at the full moon of Phagguni. As our author places the characteristic events of the rainy season in the hot season, he cannot have had the division into three seasons in his mind.

* 'Of the excellent Saddharmadasa' says the Sinhalese. Book IV. Chapter 8. [dilemma the seventy-first, vessantara's giving \] I. 'Venerable Nagasena, do all the Bodisats give away their wives and children, or was it only Vessantara the king who did so?' 'All of them do so, not Vessantara only.' [275] ' Do they then give them away with their own consent ? ' ' The wife, O king, was a consenting party. But the children, by reason of their tender age, lamented. Had they thoroughly understood, they too would have approved.' 'A hard thing, Nagasena, was it that the Bodisat carried out, in that he gave away his own children, his only ones, dearly beloved, into slavery to the Brahman. And this second action was harder still, that he bound his own children, his only ones, and dearly beloved, young and tender though they were, with the jungle rope, and then, when he saw them being dragged along2 by the Brahman, — their hands 1 We have seen above, IV, i, 41 (I, 178), how Hma/i-kumbure expanded the story of Vessantara, which had aroused also in our author a greater enthusiasm than any of the many other subjects that he treats. Here too the Sinhalese translator fairly runs riot over the ' mighty giving of the glorious king,' and expands the ten pages of the Pali into thirty-three pages of his version (pp. 389-42 1), whereas usually one page of the Sinhalese covers very nearly a page of the Pali.

5 Anuma^iyante. See Mr. Trenckner's note. But the IV, 8,2. OF MILINDA THE KING. I I 5 bruised by the creeper, — yet could look on at the sight. And this third action was even harder still, that when his boy ran back to him, after loosing the bonds by his own exertion, then he bound him again with the jungle rope and again gave him away. And this fourth action was even harder still, that when the children, weeping, cried: "Father dear, this ogre is leading us away to eat us ! " he should have appeased them by saying : " Don't be afraid." And this fifth action was even harder still, that when the prince, Gall, fell weeping at his feet, and besought him, saying : " Be satisfied, father dear, only keep Kawhagina (his little sister). I will go away with the ogre. Let him eat me ! " — that even then he would not yield. And this sixth action was even harder still, that when the boy c7ali, lamenting, exclaimed : " Have you a heart of stone then, father, that you can look upon us, miserable, being led away by the ogre into the dense and haunted jungle, and not call us back ? " — that he still had no pity. And this seventh action was even harder still, that when his children were thus led away to nameless horrors until they passed gradually to their bitter fate1, out of sight — that then his heart did not break, utterly break ! What, pray, has the man who seeks to gain merit to do with brineins: sorrow on others ! Should he not rather give himself away ? '

2. 'It is because what he did, O king, was so Sinhalese (p. 390) has at mardanaya ko/a welannawun doeka. 1 Ru/aru/assa bhimabhimassa. The Sinhalese (p. 390) omits these words, giving other details in place of them, and as they occur only here I am not sure of their meaning. Il6 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 3. difficult, that the sound of the fame of the Bodisat was spread abroad among gods and men through the ten thousand world systems — [276] that the gods exalt him in heaven ; and the Titans in the Titanworld, and the Gammas in their abodes, and the Nagas in the Naga-world, and the Yakshas where they dwell — that through the ages the reputation of this his glory has been handed down by successive tradition — till now, to-day, it has reached to this meeting of ours, at which we sitting are, forsooth, disparaging and casting a slur on that gift1, debating whether it were well given or ill ! But that high praise, O king, shows forth the ten great qualities of the intelligent, and wise, and able, and subtle-minded Bodisats. And what are the ten ? Freedom from greed, the not clinging (to any worldly aim), selfsacrifice, renunciation, the never turning back again (to the lower state), the equal delicacy and greatness, the incomprehensibility, the rarity, and the peerlessness of Buddhahood. In all these respects is it that the fame of that giving shows forth the great qualities of the Bodisats.'

3. ' What, venerable Nagasena ? he who gives gifts in such a way as to bring sorrow upon others — does that giving of his bring forth fruit in happiness, does it lead to rebirth in states of bliss ? ' ' Yes, O king. What can be said (to the contrary) ? ' ' I pray you, Nagasena, give me a reason for this.' ' Suppose, O king, there were some virtuous Samara or Brahman, of high character, and he were 1 Vikittentavikopenta. Hina/i-kumbure (p. 410) has 'angrily finding fault with.' Compare above, vikopana, at p. 266 (of the Pali). IV, 8, 4- OF MILINDA THE KING. I I J paralysed, or a cripple \ or suffering from some disease or other, and some man desirous of merit were to have him put into a carriage, and taken to the place he wished to go to. Would happiness accrue to that man by reason thereof, would that be an act leading to rebirth in states of bliss?' ' Yes, Sir. What can be said (to the contrary) ? That man would thereby acquire a trained elephant, or a riding-horse, or a bullock-carriage, on land a land-vehicle and on water a water-vehicle, in heaven a vehicle of the gods 2 and on earth one that men could use, — from birth to birth there would accrue to him that which in each would be appropriate and fit, — and joys appropriate would come to him, and he would pass from state to state of bliss, and by the efficacy of that act mounting on the vehicle of Iddhi he would arrive at the longed-for goal, the city of Nirvawa itself.'

' But then, O king, a gift given in such a way as to bring sorrow upon others does bring forth fruit in happiness, does lead to rebirth in states of bliss [277], — inasmuch as that man by putting the cart-bullocks to pain would attain such bliss. 4. ' And hear another reason, O king, for the same thing. Suppose some monarch were to raise from his subjects a righteous tax, and then by the issue of a command were to bestow thereout a gift, would that monarch, O king, enjoy any happiness on that account, would that be a gift leading to rebirth in states of bliss ? ' 1 Pakkha-hato va pi//za-sappi va. See the note above on IV, 6, 22. 2 Devayana, on which compare Sutta Nipata, verse 139 (Vasala Sutta 24). Il8 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 5. ' Certainly, Sir. What can be said against it ? On that account the monarch would receive a hundred thousandfold, he might become a king of kings, a god above the gods, or Brahma lord of the Brahma gods, or a chief among the Samaras, or a leader of the Brahmans, or the most excellent among- the Arahats.'

' Then, O king, a gift given in such a way as to bring sorrow upon others does bring forth fruit in happiness, does lead to rebirth in states of bliss — inasmuch as that monarch by giving as a gift what was gained by harassing his people with taxation would enjoy such exceeding fame and glory.' 5. ' But, venerable Nagasena, what was given by Vessantara the king was an excessive gift ; in that he gave his own wife as wife to another man, and his own children, his only ones, into slavery to a Brahman. And excessive giving is by the wise in the world held worthy of censure and of blame. Just, Nagasena, as under too much weight the axletree of a cart would break, or a ship would sink, as his food would disagree with him who ate too much, or the crops would be ruined by too heavy rain, or bankruptcy would follow too lavish generosity, or fever would come from too much heat, or a man would go mad from excessive lust, or become guilty of an offence through excessive anger, or fall into sin through excessive stupidity, or into the power of robbers through too much avarice, or be ruined by needless fear, or as a river would overflow through excessive inflow, or a thunderbolt fall through too much wind, or porridge boil over through too hot a fire, or a man who wandered

about too much l would not live long — just so, Nagasena, is excessive giving held by the wise in the world as worthy of censure and of blame. And as king Vessantara's gift was excessive [278] no good result could be expected from it.' 6. ' Giving exceedingly 2, O king, is praised, applauded, and approved by the wise in the world ; and they who give away anything as a gift just as it may occur to them 3, acquire fame in the world as very generous givers. Just, O king, as when a man has taken hold of a wild root which by its extraordinary virtues is divine, that moment he becomes invisible even to those standing within arm's length — just as a medicinal herb by the exceeding power of its nature will utterly kill pain, and put an end to disease — just as fire burns by its exceeding heat, and water puts that fire out by its exceeding cold — just as by its exceeding purity a lotus remains undefiled by water or by mud — just as a (magic) gem by the extraordinary virtue inherent in it procures the granting of every wish— just as lightning by its marvellous quick sharpness cleaves asunder even the diamonds, pearls, and crystals — just as the earth by its exceeding size can support men, and snakes, and wild beasts, and birds, and the waters,

1 Atisa«£arena, which the Sinhalese merely repeats. The meaning is doubtful. The use of sa«Hra at Crataka II, 112 has suggested the above rendering. 2 The whole of this answer turns on the ambiguity of the prefix ati, which may mean either 'very much ' or 'too much.' 3 Yadisaw kidisaw. The meaning of this idiom cannot be controlled by parallel passages, as I know of none. Hina/i-kumbure (pp. 412-413) construes yadisaw as an accusative dependent on atidanadayi; 'Those who give away anything as a gift, acquire fame in the world as exceeding givers of that.' and rocks, and hills, and trees — just as the ocean by its exceeding greatness can never be quite filled — just as Sineru by its mighty weight remains immoveable, and space by the greatness of its wide extent is infinite, and the sun by its mighty glory dissipates the darkness — just as the lion in the greatness of its lineage is free from fear — just as a wrestler in the greatness of his might easily lifts up his foe — just as a king by the excellence of his justice becomes overlord, and a Bhikkhu by reason of his very righteousness becomes an object of reverence to Nagas, and Yakshas, and men, and Maras — just as a Buddha by the excellence of his supremacy is peerless — just so, O king, is exceeding generosity praised, applauded, and approved by the wise in the world ; and they who give away anything as a gift, just as it may occur to them, acquire in the world the fame of being nobly generous. And by his mighty giving Vessantara the king, O king, was praised, and lauded, and exalted, and magnified, and famous throughout the ten thousand world systems, and by reason, too, of that mighty giving is it that he, the king Vessantara, has, now in our days, become the Buddha, the chief of gods and men.

7. ' And now, O king, tell me — is there anything in the world which should be withheld as a gift, and not bestowed, when one worthy of a gift, one to whom it is one's duty to give ], is there ?' 1 Dakktmzeyya. We have no word in English to express the full meaning of this word. It was an idea that was common ground to our Buddhist apologist, and to the Brahman opponents whom he always has in view, that there were certain people to whom gifts ought to be given, and the being worthy was one of the conditions precedent to belonging to this class. Of course the IV, 8, 7- OF MILINDA THE KING. I 2 I 1 There are ten sorts of gifts, Nagasena, in the world that are commonly disapproved of as gifts. And what are the ten ? Strong drink, Nagasena, and festivals in high places1, and women, and buffaloes, and suggestive [279] paintings 2, and weapons, and poison, and chains, and fowls, and swine, and false weights and measures. All these, Nagasena, are disapproved of in the world as gifts, and those who give such presents become liable to rebirth in states of woe.'

' I did not ask you, O king, what kinds of gifts are not approved of. But this, O king, I asked : ' Is there anything in the world which ought to be withheld, and not bestowed as a gift, if one worthy of a gift were present ?" ' ' No, Sir. When faith arises in their hearts some give food to those worthy of gifts, and some give clothes, and some give bedding, and some give dwellings, and some give mats or robes, and some give slave girls or slaves, and some give fields or premises, and some give bipeds or quadrupeds, and Brahmans held that to be a Brahman was another condition, but the Buddhist, who inherited the idea from them, had discarded this part of the conception. See, for the Brahman view, Eggeling's »S'atapatha-Brahma«a II, 114, 344. 1 Sama^a-danaw. Childers under samara gives only the meaning 'assembly,' but it is clear from A'ullavagga V, 26; VI, 2, 7 ; the Sutta Vibhaftga II, 267, and Sumahgala I, 84, that the word, at least as a masculine (which it is here), has the technical sense of one of those orgies in high places which were common in so many parts of the world in very early times, and were due in India to Kolarian influences. The 'giving' (dan a) of such a samara would doubtless mean the providing of the necessary food, seats, cushions, &c.

2 ATitta-kammaw. See my note on Pa/ibhana-^ittaw at 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 172. some give a hundred 1 or a thousand or a hundred thousand, and some give the kingdom itself, and some give away even their own life.' ' But then, O king, if some give away even their own lives, why do you so violently attack 2 Vessantara, that king of givers, for the virtuous bestowal of his child and wife ? Is there not a general practice in the world, an acknowledged custom, according to which it is allowable for a father who has fallen into debt, or lost his livelihood, to deposit 3 his son in pledge, or sell him ?' ' Yes, that is so.' ' Well, in accordance therewith was it that Vessantara, O king, in suffering and distress at not having obtained the insight of the Omniscient Ones, pledged and sold his wife and children for that spiritual treasure. So that he gave away what other people had given away, he did what other people had done. Why then do you, O king, so violently attack him, the king of givers ?' 1 I. e. pieces of money, which it would be against the rules for a member of the Buddhist Order to accept. But the donees in all these cases are not necessarily Buddhists.

2 Paripatesi, not in Childers; but see (xataka II, 208; and below, p. 367 (of the Pali text). Hina/i-kumbure has here ninda karanne, and just below apasadanaya karanne. 3 AvapituOT, not in Childers. Dr. Morris, in the 'Journal of the Pali Text Society' for 1886, p. 157, compares the Sanskrit root vyap, but this does not help us much. Hina/i-kumbure (p. 414) has 'an tceneka cepaye hinduwanna/a,' which means, I think, ' to deposit as a pledge in some place or other.' At all events cepa, the ordinary word now in use in Ceylon courts for 'bail,' may very well be actually derived from vapa. And the passage at Gataka I, 321 is an exact parallel to our phrase here, for there the Bodisat, when an elephant, gives away his teeth and tusks as vapana for the insight of the Omniscient Ones. TV, 8, 9. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 23 8. ' Venerable Nagasena, I don't blame him for giving, but for not having made a barter a with the beggar, and given away himself rather, instead of his wife and children.' [280] ' That, O king, would be an act of a wrong doer, to give himself when he was asked for his wife and children. For the thing asked for, whatever it is, is that which ought to be given. And such is the practice of the good. Suppose, O king, a man were to ask that water should be brought, would any one who then brought him food have done what he wanted ?'

' No, Sir. The man who should have given what he first asked to be brought would have done what he wanted.' ' Just so, O king, when the Brahman asked Vessantara the king for his wife and children, it was his wife and children that he gave. If the Brahman, O king, had asked for Vessantara's body, then would Vessantara have not saved his body, he would neither have trembled nor been stained (by the love of self), but would have given away and abandoned his own body. If, O king, any one had come up to Vessantara the king, and asked of him, saying : ' Become my slave," then would he have given away and abandoned his own self, and in so giving would he have felt no pain. 9. ' Now the life of king Vessantara, O king, was a good thing shared in by many — just as meats when cooked are shared in by many, or as a tree covered with fruit is shared in by many flocks of 1 Niminitva, also not in Childers; but see Crataka III, 63, 221. 1 24 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 10. birds. And why so ? Because he had said to himself : " Thus acting may I attain to Buddhahood." As a man in need, O king, who is wandering about in his search after wealth, will have to pass along goat-tracks, and through jungles full of stakes and sticks \ and doing merchandise by sea and land, will devote his actions, words, and thoughts to the attainment of wealth — just so, O king, did Vessantara, the king of givers, who was longing for the treasure of Buddhahood, for the attainment of the insight of the Omniscient Ones, by offering up to any one who begged of him his property and his corn, his slave girls and his slaves, his riding animals and carriages, all that he possessed, his wife and children and himself, seek after the Supreme Enlightenment. Just, O king, as an official who is anxious for the seal 2, and for the office of the custody thereof [281], will exert himself to the attainment of the seal by sacrificing everything in his house— property and corn, gold and silver, everything — just so, O king, did Vessantara, the king of givers, by giving away all that he had, inside his house and out 3, by giving even his life for others, seek after the Supreme Enlightenment.

10. ' And further, O king, Vessantara, the king of givers, thought thus : " It is by giving to him precisely what he asks for, that I shall be of service 1 A^apatha?/z sahkupatha;w vettapatha/« ga.fcftka.ti. Hina/i-kumbure, at p. 416, repeats the words with a gloss on the two last words, which I have followed. 2 Mudda-kamo; mudra-nara ganam perekkuwa, says Hina/i-kumbure, p. 416. 3 Bahirabbhantaraffz dhanaw datva. I am not sure that I have rightly understood this phrase, which the Sinhalese merely repeats. IV, 8, io. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 25 to the Brahman:" and therefore did he bestow upon him his wife and children. It was not, O king, out of dislike to them that he gave them away, not because he did not care to see them more, not because he considered them an encumbrance or thought he could no longer support them, not (in annoyance) with the wish of being relieved of what was not pleasant to him — but because the jewel treasure of omniscience was dear to him, for the sake of the insight of the Omniscient Ones, did he bestow that glorious gift, — immeasurable, magnificent, unsurpassed— of what was near and dear to him, greatly beloved, cherished as his own life, his own children and his wife ! For it has been said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god of gods, in the A'ariya Pi/aka 1 :

" 'Twas not through hatred 2 of my children sweet, 'Twas not through hatred of my queen, Maddi, Thraller of hearts 3 — not that I loved them less — But Buddhahood more, that I renounced them all." 1 A'ariya Pi/aka I, 9, 53. 2 Dessa, that is dreshya, from dvish. Compare diso, 'an enemy.' It occurs also at A'ariya Pi/aka I, 4, 7; 5, 3; 8, 16 (quoted Gataka IV, 406); II, 4, 11; III, 1, 6 (quoted Cataka I, 46); III, 2, 16; 3, ro ; 6, 18. The effect of the use of this rare poetical word is lost in the English version. 3 Maddi and Kawha^ina, the names of Vessantara's wife and daughter, mean respectively ' enthraller (of men's minds),' and 'the dark conquerors (of hearts).' As Vessantara is used in the Ma£g7/ima (I, 386, line 5) as an adjective, not a name, and is applied to the Buddha, it too must have a special meaning. But it can scarcely be connected with Vaijya, while we have a very famous epithet in vaijvanara, so often applied to the sacred fire as ' common good to all men.' The insertion of the t would explain the shortening of the a, and though there seems to be no sufficient reason for any alteration at all of the older term, this is

ii.' Now at that time, O king, Vessantara, when he had given away his wife and children, entered the leaf hut, and sat down there. And heavy grief fell upon him distressed by his exceeding love for them, and his very heart 1 became hot, and hot breath, too much to find its way through the nose, came and went through his mouth, and tears rolled in drops of blood from his eyes. Such was the grief, O king, with which Vessantara gave to the Brahman his wife and children in the thought that his practice of giving should not be broken in upon. But there were two reasons, O king, why he thus gave them away. What are those two ? That his practice of giving should not be interrupted was one ; the other was that as a result of his so doing his children, distressed by living with him only on wild roots and fruits, should eventually be set free by their new master. [282] For Vessantara knew, O king : " No one is capable of keeping my children as slaves. Their grandfather will ransom the children, and so they will come back to me." These are the two reasons why he gave his children away to the Brahman.

12. 'And further, O king, Vessantara knew: " This Brahman is worn out, aged, well stricken in years, weak and broken, leaning on a stick, he has drawn near the end of his days, his merit is small, he will not be capable of keeping my children as probably the real derivation of Vessantara. And the whole legend may well be due to previous stories of the world-wide beneficence of Agni Vairvanara, or of the sun as Vawvanara. 1 Hadaya-vatthu, 'like a broth-pot foaming over,' is Hina/ikumbure's explanation of this phrase (pena noegena mas sceliyak men hrzdaya wastuwa, p. 417). IV, 8, 12. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 27 slaves." Would a man be able, O king, by his ordinary power, to seize the moon and the sun \ 1 A'andima-suriye. We should say 'the sun and the moon,' and I cannot think the difference of phraseology is entirely without significance. While the Brahmans put their own caste and order first, the Buddhist texts talk of ' Samaras and Brahmans,' ' Khattiyas and Brahmans.' This has, and no doubt rightly, been held significant of the opinion of the authors. Why should the fact of their always referring, in similar compounds, to the moon before the sun, and to women before men, be less so ? Now it is almost always taken for granted that the Buddhists were reformers, as opposed to the Brahmans, who wanted to run still in the ancient grooves. But there is another side of the question that has been entirely overlooked. There is ample evidence in their literature that (at least in certain directions, more especially of religious thought) the Brahmans had been constantly progressive, and their Brahmawas are really the result of reform following on reform. To use a parallel drawn from modern politics, Buddhists are to Brahmans much more like Socialists to Liberals than like Liberals to Conservatives. The Brahmans had worked out in their minds no new complete system, and when they reformed they left the roots of the old order of things in the ground. But in the momentous change from matriarchate to patriarchate they threw all their power and influence on the side of the newer conception. And when, like Kronos to Jupiter, the old gods gave place to the new, it was they who worked out the newer set of ideas — more especially heaven or sun-worship as against moon-worship and all that it involved. We must not forget that a change of dynasty, or of precedence, among the gods was of more importance to men in those times than a change of dynasty among earthly kings. And though the Buddhists it is true, as we ourselves now, cared for none of these things, and were busied with other discussions than the precedence of the sun and moon, they quite quietly and naturally, when they had to choose, adopted the form of words which did not imply an acceptance of the Brahman position, whose system in other matters they were trying, if not to storm, at least to turn.

We are here in the midst of questions too vast to be discussed with profit in a note. But Buddhism certainly arose among those sections of the community least influenced by the reforms the Brahmans supported. And there is evidence, in the precedence the mighty and powerful as they are, keeping them in a basket or a box, to use them, deprived of their light, as plates ?' ' Certainly not, Sir.' ' Neither, O king, could any one whatever keep in use, as his slaves, the children of Vessantara, who were to the world like the moon and the sun in glory. 1 3. ' And hear another reason, O king, for the same thing1. That wondrous gem, O king, of a sovran overlord, bright and beautiful, with its eight facets so well cut, four cubits in thickness, and in circumference2 as the nave of a cart-wheel, could no man, wrapping it up in a cloth and putting it into a basket, keep and use as a hone 3 to grind his scissors 4 upon. And neither, O king, could any one soever keep in use, as his slaves, the children of Vessantara, like to the jewels of the lord of the world in glory.

14. 'And hear, O king, another reason. Just as the elephant king Uposatha5, gentle and handsome, eight cubits in height and nine in girth and length, showing the signs of rut in three places on his body, all white, sevenfold firm °, could never by any one Buddhists gave to women and to the moon, that the older ideas had not, even then, died out. 1 These words are repeated before each of the following similes. 2 Parircaha, which Childers is wrong in rendering 'breadth,' when not qualified by ayaraa (wa/a cettawu, says the Sinhalese, p. 418). 3 Nisana; karagal, says Hina/i-kumbure. 4 Satthaka, see iTullavagga V, 11, 1. 5 The mythic fairy elephant of the ^Takkavatti (not a snake king as Prof. E. Miiller has it, 'Journal of the Pali Text Society,' 1888, p. 16). See my note at 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 254. 6 Sattappati/Mito. The Sinhalese merely repeats this ambiguous word (compare IV, 8, 57). IV, 8, i6. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 29 be covered up with a saucer ' or a winnowing fan \ could never be put into a cowpen like a calf, or made use of as one [283] ; just so could no one whatever keep in use, as his slaves, the children of Vessantara, who were, in the world, like Uposatha the elephant king.

15. 'And hear, O king, another reason. Just, O king, as the mighty ocean is great in length and breadth, and deep, not to be measured, and hard to cross, impossible to fathom or to cover up, and no one could close it in and make use of it as a single ferry, just so could no one whatever keep in use, as his slaves, the children of Vessantara, as esteemed in the world as the mighty ocean. 16. 'And hear another reason, O king. Just as the Himalaya, the king of the mountains, five leagues high, and three thousand leagues in extent at the circumference, with its ranges of ei^ht and forty thousand peaks, the source of five hundred rivers, the dwelling-place of multitudes of mighty creatures2, the producer of manifold perfumes, enriched with hundreds of magical dru^s, is seen to rise aloft, like a cloud, in the centre (of the earth) ; like it, O king, could no one whatever keep in use, as his slaves, the children of Vessantara, as esteemed in the world as Himalaya, the mountain king. 'And hear another reason, O king. Just as a 1 Suppena va saravena va. Hina/i-kumbure renders the first of these words bykullaka, which is a winnowing-basket ; and the second by malawaka, which I do not understand. But the use of sarava at Gataka I, 8, 14 and Sumahgala I, 298 seems to me to confirm Childers's rendering.

2 Mahabhuta: 'Yakshas' says Hina/i-kumbure, p. 419. Compare above, p. 250 (of the Pali). mighty bonfire burning on a mountain top would be visible afar off in the darkness and the gloom of nig^ht, so was Vessantara the kinorwell known among; men, and therefore could no one whatever keep in use, as his slaves, the children of so distinguished a man — for just as at the time of the flowering of the Naga trees1 in the Himalaya mountains, when the soft winds (of spring) 2 are blowing, the perfume of the flowers is wafted for ten leagues, or for twelve [284], so was the sound of the fame of king Vessantara noised abroad, and the sweet perfume of his righteousness wafted along for thousands of leagues, even up to the abodes of the Akani///£a, (the highest of all) gods, passing on its way the dwelling places of the gods and A suras, of the Garu^as and Gandhabbas, of the Yakshas and Rakshasas, of the Mahoragas and Kinnaras, and of Indra the monarch of the gods 3 ! Therefore is it that no one could keep his children as slaves. 1 Naga-puppha-samaye. Hina/i-kumbure says, ' at the time when the Na trees bloom.' The Na or Naga is the Mesua fere a, whose lovely flowers, like those of the Champak, are still in special request for laying before the images of the Buddha in Buddhist temples. I am told that these so-called flowers are not flowers at all, botanically speaking, but young shoots. But it is one of the most beautiful sights in a Ceylon landscape to see this splendid forest tree, lofty and wide-spreading as it is, one mass of what look like red blossoms from crown to root. For at the ' bloom time ' it casts all its green leaves, and has the appearance of a scarlet bell. No wonder that this was thought supernatural, and that the tree should be called the Naga tree. Its timber is so valuable that in Anglo-Indian the tree is called the ' Iron-wood ' tree. But it may be regretted that the commercial spirit of the European has substituted this hard name for the ' Fairy tree ' of the native languages.

2 U^u-vata, which the Sinhalese repeats. 3 Compare vol. i, pp. 38, 175. IV, 8, i7. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 3 1 17. 'And the young prince t7ali, O king, was instructed by his father, Vessantara, in these words : " When your grandfather, my child, shall ransom you with wealth that he gives to the Brahman, let him buy you back for a thousand ounces of gold1, and when he ransoms your sister Ka^ha^ina let him buy her back for a hundred slaves and a hundred slave girls and a hundred elephants and a hundred horses and a hundred cows and a hundred buffaloes and a hundred ounces of gold. And if, my child, your grandfather should take you out of the hands of the Brahman by word of command, or by force, paying nothing, then obey not the words of your grandfather, but remain still in subjection 2 to the Brahman." Such was his instruction as he sent him away. And young C7ali went accordingly, and when asked by his grandfather, said : " As worth a thousand ounces, Sir, My father gave me to this man ; As worth a hundred elephants, He gave the girl Kawha^ina."

' Well has this puzzle, Nagasena, been unravelled, well has the net of heresy been torn to pieces, well has the argument of the adversaries been overcome and your own doctrine been made evident, well has the letter (of the Scriptures) been maintained while 1 Nikkha-sahassaw. See my ' Ancient Coins and Measures/ pp. 6, 14; Sa/wyutta Nikaya II, 3, 9, 9 (Gataka I, 375, IV, 97; Anguttara III, 73, 3). 2 Anuyayino. Not found elsewhere, and not in Childers. But anuyayati occurs below (p. 391 of the text) and an anuyayin at Sutta Nipata V, 7, 3, 4 and Tela-ka/aha-gatha 25 (compare 41). Hina/i-kumbure (p. 420) has anuwa hcesirew. you have thus explained its spirit ! That is so, and I accept it as you say.' [Here ends the dilemma as to Vessantaras gift of his wife and children.] 1 8. ' Venerable Nagasena, did all the Bodisats go through a period of penance, or only Gotama?' ' Not all, O king, but Gotama did.' ' Venerable Nagasena, if that be so, it is not right that there should be a difference between Bodisat and Bodisat.' [285] ' There are four matters, O king, in which there is such difference. And what are the four ? There is a difference as to the kind of family (in which they are born 1), there is a difference as to their place in the period (which has elapsed since the succession of Buddhas began 2), there

1 Kula-vemattata. Those Bodisats who are to become Buddhas in their then lives may be born euher in a Brahman or in a Kshatriya family, but in no other. 2 Addhana-vemattata, which is ambiguous, as 'perioddifference ' may mean different things according to the interpretation given to ' period.' Now the Bodisat theory has never been thoroughly worked out in detail. It is clear from the statements given in pp. 38-58 of my ' Buddhist Birth Stories ' that the Bodisat who became Gotama the Buddha was held to have been in existence throughout the whole period in which the former twenty-four Buddhas appeared, and this is probably the ' period ' intended. Hina/i-kumbure's version (p. 421) is as ambiguous as the Pali. Spence Hardy gives at p. 87 of his 'Manual of Buddhism' what purports to be a translation of our passage. But it is only a loose paraphrase, and he interprets this 'period-difference' as simply IV, 8, 18. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 33 is a difference as to the length of their individual lives1, there is a difference as to their individual size2. In these four respects, O king, there is a difference between Bodisat and Bodisat. But there is no difference between any of the Buddhas, who are alike in bodily beauty3, in goodness of character, in power of contemplation and of reasoning, in emancipation, in the insight arising from the knowledge of emancipation, in

identical with the next one in the list, the ' length-of-life-difference ' — which must be wrong. It must be remembered that the Bodisats referred to throughout this dilemma are exclusively men — not those mentioned in the Gatakas (who are all Bodisats of the historical Buddha), but only those Bodisats who became Buddhas in the same life — that is, the Buddhas themselves before they reached Buddhahood. 1 Ayu-vemattata. This may be due to either of two causes — in the first place they may be born as creatures whose allotted period of life varies. Thus the Bodisat was twenty times Sakka, the king of the gods ; and his life would then have lasted hundreds of thousands of years. But he was 106 times an animal of some kind, and then his life would have been of course much shorter. Again, in his births as a man (more than 350 times, see the table in my ' Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. ci), the average duration of men's lives will have varied, according to Buddhist theory, from many centuries down to only a few years. It is in this second sense only that (with Hina/i-kumbure) we must suppose the phrase ayuvemattata to be used — thus excluding all the Bodisats except such as were men. But in the Gataka stories the average age of man is (with one or two exceptions) normal.

2 Pama?za-vemattata, which we must also understand to refer only to the varying average size of mankind, which, according to Buddhist theory, is very great at the commencement, and very small at the close, of a Kalpa. For it is only the men-Bodisats. and only in each series the last man-Bodisat (just before he became ' Buddha '), concerning whom this question of penance could arise. 3 Rupe, which the Sinhalese repeats (p. 422), and which cannot here mean bodily form only. the four bases of confidence 1, in the ten powers of a Tathagata2, in the sixfold special know- 1 A'atu-vesara^e. They are the confidence that no one — Samawa or Brahman, God or Mara — can reprove him by saying : (i) 'The qualities which you maintain to be those of a Buddha have not been attained by you:' or (2) ' The Great Evils which you maintain to have ceased in an Arahat have not ceased in you ; ' or (3) 'The qualities which you say are dangerous (in the higher life) are not really dangerous to one who practises them ; ' or (4) ' The aim which you held before others in preaching your Dhamma will not lead him who follows it to the destruction of sorrow.' The list will be found in the Ahguttara Nikaya IV, 8 (where it is probably a quotation from one of the conversational Suttas). But the punctuation in Dr. Morris's edition should be corrected by putting full stops after each viharami. Childers gives a different explanation under vesara^a, but his interpretation must be altered to that here given, which is the only correct one.

2 These have not been found in any Pi/aka text, but Burnouf gives them in a note to the 'Lotus de la Bonne Loi' (p. 781) from the (rinalahkara. He says the expression dasabalo is found as applied to the Buddha ' a. chaque instant dans les textes,' but this is not the case, so far at least as the older texts are concerned. In one of the old verses preserved at the Mahavagga I, 22, 13, and quoted in the Gataka (vol. i, p. 84), dasabalo occurs as an epithet of the Buddha, but among the numerous epithets applied in the Buddhava/;/sa to the various Buddhas the term does not occur, nor have I been able to find it in the published portions of any of the great Nikayas. (Ten Naga-balas are ascribed to the Buddha in Buddhavawsa, p. 39, but these seem to be different.) Buddha-rakkhita, the author of the Crinalahkara, probably lived at about the eleventh or twelfth century a.d., and Hardy's paraphrase of his interpretations (in the 'Manual of Buddhism,' pp. 380, 381) is throughout inaccurate. As therefore it is precisely the growth of ideas about the Buddha that is of prime importance in the history of Buddhism, I give here Buddha-rakkhita's explanation, adding the Sanskrit names as given in the Mahavyutpatti, § 8 : —

1. 77;ana///ana-;/a«a-bala?;/ . Sthanasthana-^wana-balam . (1) 2. Sabbatha-gamini-patipada Karma-vipaka (5) 3. Aneka-dhatu-nana-dhatu . Nanadhimukti (4) 4. Sattanaz/2 nanadhimuttikata. Nanadhatu (3) IV, 8, 19. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 35 ledge1, in the fourteenfold knowledge of Buddha2, in the eighteen characteristics of a Buddha3 — in a word, in all the qualities of a Buddha. For all the Buddhas are exactly alike in all the Buddhaqualities.' ' But if, Nagasena, that be so, what is the reason that it was only the Gotama Bodisat who carried out the penance?' 4 Gotama the Bodisat had gone forth from the world, O king, when his knowledge 4 was immature, and his wisdom was immature. And it was wThen he was bringing: that immature knowledge to macs o o turity that he carried out the penance.' 19. 'Why then, Nagasena, was it that he thus went forth with knowledge and with wisdom immatured ? Why did he not first mature his knowledge, and then, with his knowledge matured, renounce the world?' ' When the Bodisat, O king, saw the women of his harem all in disorder5, then did he become dis- 5. Vipaka-vemattata . . . Indriya-parapara . . . . (7) 6. Sawkilesa-vodana-vatthu . Sarvatra-gamini-pratipad . . (2)

7. Indriya-paropariya . . . Sawkilesa-vyavada.na-vyu///;ana (6) 8. Pubbe-nivasanussate . . Purva-nivasanusmr/ti . . . (8) 9. Dibba-^akkhu .... A"yut-utpaUi (9) 10. Asava-kkhaya Asrava-kshaya (10) Some of these terms are found in the Dharma-sahgraha, Anecdota Oxoniensia, vol. i, part 5, pp. 16, 51. 1 A7;a-asadhara«a-#a«a, not yet found elsewhere. 2 Possibly the above ten with four others. 3 The details of these eighteen are given by Spence Hardy in the ' Manual of Buddhism,' p. 381, but he does not mention his authority. Hina/i-kumbure (p. 422) merely repeats the Pali. 4 ' Of the four Truths' is Hina/i-kumbure's gloss. 5 See Gataka I, 61. But the whole episode is told in the Pi/akas, not of the Bodisat, but of Yasa (Mahavagga I, 7). gusted, and in him thus disgusted discontent sprang up. And on perceiving that his heart was filled with discontent, a certain god of those that wait on Death (Mara) thought : " This now is the time to dispel that discontent of his heart," and standing in the air he gave utterance to these words : " O honourable one ! O fortunate one ! Be not thou distressed. On the seventh day from this the heavenly treasure of the Wheel shall appear to thee, with its thousand spokes, its tire, and its nave, complete and perfect ; and the other treasures, those that walk on earth and those that travel through the sky, shall come to thee of their own accord ; and the words of command of thy mouth shall bear sway over the four great continents and the two thousand dependent isles ; and thou shalt have above a thousand sons, heroes mighty in strength to the crushing out of the armies of the foe ; and with those sons surrounding thee thou, master of the Seven Treasures, shalt rule the world ! " [286] But even as if a bar of iron, heated the livelong day and glowing throughout, had entered the orifice of his ear, so was it that those words, O king, entered the ear of the Bodisat. And to the natural distress he already felt there was added, by that utterance of the god, a further emotion, anxiety, and fear. Just as a mighty fiery furnace, were fresh fuel thrown on it, would the more furiously burn — just as the broad earth, by nature moist, and already swampy through the water dripping on it from the vegetation and the grass that have arisen on it, would become more muddy still when a great rain cloud had poured out rain upon it — so to the distress that he already felt there was

IV, 8, 20. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 37 added, by that utterance of the god, a further emotion, anxiety, and fear.' 20. ' But tell me, Nagasena, if the heavenly Wheel-treasure had, on the seventh day, appeared to the Bodisat, would he, the Wheel having appeared, have been turned back from his purpose ? ' ' No Wheel-treasure appeared, O king, on the seventh day to the Bodisat. For rather that was a lie that was told by that god with the object of tempting him. And even had it appeared, yet would not the Bodisat have turned aside. And why not? Because the Bodisat, O king, had firmly grasped (the facts of) the impermanence (of all things, of) the suffering (inherent in existence as an individual, of) the absence of a soul (in any being made up of the five Skandhas), and had thus arrived at the destruction of the attachment (to individuality which arises from lust, or from heresy, or from dependence upon outward acts, or from delusions as to the possession of a permanent soul) 1. The water, O king, which flows into the river Ganges from the Anottata lake, and from the Ganges river into the great ocean, and from the great ocean into the openings into the

1 Upadanakkhaya;« patto. Childers says that the destruction of these upadanas 'constitutes Arahatship.' I know of no authority for this, and it is incompatible with the Buddhist theory of Arahatship that any Arahat should go through such a period of penance as our author supposes the Bodisat to have done after he had reached this ' destruction of the upadanas.' The perception of the first of the above facts, the impermanence of all things and beings (aniMam), constitute indeed the 'entrance upon the path' (see above, p. 25), and of course the upadanas are destroyed in every Arahat, but that is very different from Childers's conclusion, which would make the terms convertible. 1 38 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 20. regions under the earth1 — would that water, after it had once entered that opening, turn back and flow again into the great ocean, and from the great ocean into the Ganges river, and from the Ganges river into the Anottata lake ? ' [287] ' Certainly not, Sir.' 4 In the same way, O king, it was for the sake of that last existence of his that the Bodisat had matured merit through the immeasurable aeons of the past. He had now reached that last birth, the knowledge of the Buddhas had grown mature in him, in six years he would become a Buddha, all-knowing, the highest being in the world. Would then the Bodisat, for the sake of the Wheeltreasure, turn back ?'

' Certainly not, Sir.' ' No! Though the great earth, O king, with all its peaks and mountain ranges, should turn back, yet the Bodisat would not before he had attained to Buddhahood. Though the water of the Ganges should flow backwards up the stream, yet the Bodisat would not turn back before he had attained to Buddhahood. Though the mighty ocean with its immeasurable waters2 should dry up like the water in the footprint of a cow3, yet would not the Bodisat turn back before he had attained to Buddhahood. Though Sineru, the king of the moun- 1 Patala-mukha;«, which the Sinhalese repeats. There is a similar sequence in the Sa/wyutta I, 5, 4. 2 Aparimita-£-ala-dharo. Hina/i-kumbure, p. 424, has dhari, which may either be the same in meaning as dharo, or refer to the d h a r a, the streams of water. 3 Gopade ; not in Childers, but compare Gopadaka, ' puddle,' in a similar connection at Sumahgala Vilasini I, 147 (where one MS. reads Gopade). IV, 8, 22. OF MILINDA THE KING. 1 39 tains, should split up into a hundred or a thousand fragments, yet would not the Bodisat turn back before he had attained to Buddhahood. Though the sun and moon with all the stars should fall, like a clod, upon the ground, yet would not the Bodisat turn back before he had attained to Buddhahood. Though the expanse of heaven should be rolled up like a mat, yet would not the Bodisat turn back before he had attained to Buddhahood ! And why not ? Because he had torn asunder every bond.'

21. 'Venerable Nagasena, how many bonds are there in the world ?' 1 There are these ten bonds in the world, O king, bound by which men renounce not the world, or turn back again to it. And what are the ten ? A mother, O king, is often a bond, and a father, and a wife, and children, and relations, and friends, and wealth, and easy income, [288] and sovranty, and the five pleasures of sense. These are the ten bonds common in the world, bonds bound by which men renounce not the world or turn back to it. And all these bonds had the Bodisat, O king, burst through. And therefore could he not, O king, turn back.' 22. 'Venerable Nagasena, if the Bodisat, on discontent arising in his heart at the words of the god, though his knowledge (of the four Truths) was yet imperfect, and his insight of a Buddha not mature, did nevertheless go forth into renunciation of the world, of what advantage was penance to him then ? Ought he not rather, awaiting the maturity of his knowledge, to have lived in the enjoyment of all (suitable) foods ? ' ' There are, O king, these ten sorts of individuals who are despised and contemned in the world,

thought shameful, looked down upon, held blameworthy, treated with contumely, not loved. And what are the ten ? A woman without a husband, O king, and a weak creature, and one without friends or relatives, and a glutton, and one dwelling in a disreputable family, and the friend of sinners, and he whose wealth has been dissipated, and he who has no character, and he who has no occupation l, and he who has no means. These are the ten despised and contemned in the wrorld, thought shameful, looked down upon, held blameworthy, treated with contumely, not loved 2. It was on calling these conditions to mind, O king, that this idea occurred to the Bodisat : " Let me not incur blame anions o^ods and men as being without occupation or without means ! Let me as a master in action, held in respect by reason of action, one having the supremacy which arises from action, one whose conduct is based upon action, one who carries action (into every concern of life):!, one who has his dwelling in action, be constant in earnestness 4." That was the spirit, O king, in which the Bodisat, when he was bringing his knowledge to maturity, undertook the practice of penance.'

23. 'Venerable Nagasena, the Bodisat, when he was undergoing penance, said thus to himself: 1 Kamma is here explained by Hina/i-kumbure by karmanta (' such as husbandry or merchandise '). 2 On this list of epithets compare above, p. 229 (of the Pali). 3 Kamma-dhoreyyo. The latter word is not in Childers. Hina/i-kumbure (p. 427) has karmayama usulanna wu. It is the Sanskrit dhaureya, and the whole might be rendered 'like a beast of burden whose load is action/ 4 Appamado— that constant theme of praise and exhortation in the early Buddhist books. [289] " But it is not by this penance severe that I shall reach the peculiar faculty of the insight arising from the knowledge of that which is fit and noble — that insight beyond the powers of ordinary men. May there not be now some other way to the wisdom (of Buddhahood)1 ?" ' Was then the Bodisat, at that time, confused in his mind about the way2?' ; There are twenty-five qualities, O king, which are causes of weakness of mind, weakened by which the mind cannot successfully be devoted to the destruction of the Asavas (the Great Evils — lust, becoming, delusion, and ignorance)3. And what are the twentyfive? Anger, O king, and enmity, and hypocrisy4, and conceit5, and envy, and avarice, and deceit G,

1 These words, already quoted above, IV, 6, 20 (p. 244 of the Pali), are put into the mouth of the Bodisat, after the conclusion of the ' penance,' in the Maha Sa/Waka Sutta (M. I, 246), which is the chief Pi/aka text on the penance (the Dukkha-karika). The Sinhalese version here (p. 427) has already been given in the note on the former passage. 2 The way to Buddhahood (not the way to Arahatship). This is Hina/i-kumbure's explanation, which agrees with the context. 3 It will be noticed that (the destruction of the Asavas being Arahatship, not Buddhahood) this is really no reply. 4 Makkho, 'depreciation of the good qualities of others,' says Hina/i-kumbure, pp. 427, 564. But the use of the word at Gataka I, 385 ; Mahavagga I, 15, 4 ; A'ullavagga III, 34, 2 ; Maxima Nikaya I, 15, shows that concealing one's own faults is rather the meaning. 5 Palaso; not in Childers. But see Ahguttara Nikaya II, 6, 12; Puggala Pa/watti II, 2; Maxima Nikaya I, 15, &c. This and the last are usually mentioned together (see for instance below, VII, 2, 18), and the contrast is ' concealing the faults one has, and laying claim to virtues one has not.'

6 Maya. It is noteworthy that this famous word, which plays so great a part in the later philosophies, and which is often sup- and treachery, and obstinacy1, and perverseness 2, and pride, and vainglory, and the intoxication (of exalted ideas about birth or health or wealth), and negligence in (well-doing), and intellectual inertness or bodily sloth3, and drowsiness4, and idleness, and friendship with sinners, and forms, and sounds, and odours, and tastes, and sensations of touch, and hunger, anc] thirst5, and discontent6. These are the posed to express a fundamental conception of the Buddhists, has not yet been traced, and will probably never be found, in the Pi/akas, in any other than this subordinate and purely ethical sense. So when Mr. Gough in his ' Philosophy of the Upanishads ' says, p. 186, that 'pessimism, metempsychosis, and maya (the primitive world fiction) are retained in Buddhism' he is as wrong about maya as he is about metempsychosis. He is evidently still under the delusion that Buddhism teaches the transmigration of souls, and that it has inherited from such schoolmen as .SankaraX'arya the theory of the maya. This is as funny as the astounding blindness which makes him say (pp. 267, 268) 'there is no quest of verity, of an active law of righteousness (in Buddhism), but only a yearning after a lapse into the void ' (!). The converse proposition would be nearer to the actual fact, and the Buddhist Avi^a is quite different from the Maya of the later Vedantists. How absolutely different is the world in which the thoughts of a Buddhist would move is shown by Hina/i-kumbure's gloss : ' The maya of concealing faults one has' (tamage ceti agU7*a samgawana maya).

1 Thambho (not ' stupor,' as Childers has it). ' That obstinacy of mind (drzdhawu sit ceti bawa) which will not bend to the exhortation of the great,' says the Sinhalese. 2 Sarambho; not merely 'clamour, angry talk,' as Childers has it. See the commentary on the word sarambhi at Cataka III, 259, with which Hina/i-kumbure here agrees. ' Contrariness ' would be perhaps a better rendering. 3 Thinamiddhawz; so Hina/i-kumbure (but he takes them as two) . * Tandi, as Hina/i-kumburS reads (for Mr. Trenckner's nandi). 5 Khuda pipasa, which must be taken separately to make up the twenty-five. The Sinhalese takes them as two. 6 A rati, which the Sinhalese (taking thin a and middha separately) omits. twenty-five qualities, O king, which are causes of weakness of mind, weakened by which the mind cannot successfully be devoted to the destruction of the Asavas. (And of these it was) hunger and thirst, O king, which had then seized hold of the body1 of the Bodisat. And his body being thus, as it were, " possessed," his mind was not rightly devoted to the destruction of the Asavas. Now the Bodisat, O king, through the immeasurable aeons of the past, had followed after the perception of the Four Noble Truths through all of his successive births. Is it then possible that in his last existence, in the birth in which that perception was to arise, there should be any confusion in his mind as to the way ? But nevertheless there arose, O king, in the Bodisat's mind the thought: "May there not now be some other way to the wisdom (of a Buddha) ? " And already before that, O king, when he was only one month old, when his father the Sakya was at work (ploughing), the Bodisat, placed in his sacred cot for coolness under the shade of the Cambu tree, sat up crosslegged, and putting away passion, free from all evil conditions of heart, he entered into and remained in the first 67/ana — a state of joy and ease, born of seclusion, full of reflection, full of investigation, [290] and so into the second, and so into the third, and so into the fourth GMna2.'

1 Pariyadiyiwzsu ; literally 'were suffused as to the body of (Hina/i-kumbure has jarirayehi vyapta wu). The passive forms of this verb are always difficult to translate. See above, p. 254, and below, pp. 296, 297 (of the Pali), and .Aaillavagga VI, 2, 6; VII, 2, 1. 2 This passage follows in the Maha SaH'aka Sutta immediately after the passage quoted above (Magg/iima. Nikaya I, 246), and the ' Very good, Nagasena ! That is so, and I accept it as you say. It was whilst he was bringing his knowledge to maturity that the Bodisat underwent the penance.' [Here ends the dilemma as to the penance undergone by the Bodisat.] [dilemma the seventy-third, virtue stronger than vice.] 24. ' Venerable Nagasena, which is the more powerful, virtue or vice ? ' ' Virtue, O king1.' ' That is a saying, Nagasena, which I cannot believe — that virtue is more powerful than vice. For there are to be seen here (in the world) men who destroy living creatures, who take to themselves what has not been given, who walk in evil in their lusts, who speak lies, who commit gang robberies on whole villages, who are highwaymen, sharpers, and swindlers, and these all according to their crime suffer the cutting off of their hands, or their feet, or their hands and feet, or their ears, or

incident is also related at Gataka I, 57. But in both these books there is reference only to the first — not to the second, third, and fourth C7/;anas. As this is therefore only another instance of the difference between the Pi/akas and the more advanced views of our author, I have not translated the remaining GMnas. As will be seen from the version of them in my ' Buddhist Suttas from the Pali' (S. B. E., vol. xi, p. 272), the idea that a mere baby could have practised these higher meditations would only become possible after the Buddha theory had been much more developed than it is in the Pi/akas. 1 Kusalaw. So it has been already laid down at III, 7, 7 (pp. 83, 84 of the Pali), that merit (pu;7/7a?«) is more than demerit. their nose, or their ears and nose, or the Gruel Pot, or the Chank Crown, or the Rahu's Mouth, or the Fire Garland, or the Hand Torch, or the Snake Strips, or the Bark Dress, or the Spotted Antelope, or the Flesh Hooks, or the Penny Cuts, or the Brine Slits, or the Bar Turn, or the Straw Seat, or they are anointed with boiling oil, or eaten by dogs, or are impaled alive, or are beheaded with a sword1. Some of them sin one night and that night experience the fruit of their sin, some sinning by night experience the next day, some sinning one day experience that day, some sinning by day experience that night, some experience when two days or three have elapsed. But all experience in this present visible world the result of their iniquity. And is there any one, Nagasena, who from having provided a meal with all its accessories2 for one, or two, or three, or four, or five, or ten, or a hundred, or a thousand (members of the Order), has enjoyed in this present visible world wealth or fame or happiness— (is there any one who) from righteousness of life, or from observance of the Uposatha, (has received bliss even in this life3)?'

25. 'There are [291], O king, four men who by giving gifts, and by the practice of uprightness, and by the keeping of Uposatha, even in their earthly bodies attained to glory in Tidasapura (the city of the gods).' 1 This is a repetition of the list given above (I, 276-278), where the technical terms are explained. Compare Mr. William Andrews's book, ' Punishments in the Olden Time.' 2 Saparivaraw danawi. Pirikara-sahita-wu maha dan di, says the Sinhalese, p. 430. 3 The words in brackets are supplied from Hina/i-kumbure. 'And who, Sir, were they1?' ' Mandhata the king, and Nimi the king, and Sadhina the king, and Guttila the musician2.' ' Venerable Nagasena, this happened thousands of births ago, and is beyond the ken of either of us two. Give me, if you can, some examples from that period (of the world) which is now elapsing in which the Blessed One has been alive.' ' In this present period, O king, the slave Puwzaka, on giving a meal to Sariputta the Elder, attained that day to the dignity of a treasurer {S&tth\), and he is now generally known as Pu/2naka the Sett/ii. The queen, the mother of Gopala, who (being the daughter of poor peasant folk) sold her hair for eight pennies, and therewith gave a meal to Maha Ka/£v£ayana the Elder and his seven companions, became that very day the chief queen of king Udena. Suppiya, the believing woman, cut flesh from her own thigh to provide broth 3 for a sick Bhikkhu, and on the very next day the wound closed up, and the place became cured, with skin grown over it. Mallika, the queen who (when a poor flower girl) gave the last night's gruel (she had reserved for her own dinner) to the Blessed One, became that very day the chief queen of the king of Kosala4. Sumana, the garland maker, when he had

1 The king himself has already mentioned them, in reverse order, above, I, 172. 2 The legends will be found in full in the Gataka stories numbered respectively, in Professor Fausboll's edition, 258, 533, 494, and 243. 3 Pa/i^Mdaniyaw. See the note on Mahavagga VI, 23, where this curious story is given in full. 4 See Crataka III, 495, 496 for this story. Abhidosikawz is not in Childers, but see the Sutta Vibhahga, Para^ika I, 5, 6. IV, 8, 26. OF MILINDA THE KING. 1 47 presented to the Blessed One eight bunches of jessamine flowers, came that very day into great prosperity. Eka-sa/aka the Brahman, who gave to the Blessed One his only garment, received that very day the office of Sabbaz7/£aka (Minister in general) 1. All these, O king, came into the enjoyment of wealth and glory in their then existing lives.' 'So then, Nagasena, with all your searching and enquiry you have only found six cases2?' ' That is so, O king.' 26. ' Then it is vice, Nagasena, and not virtue which is the more powerful. For on one day alone I have seen ten men expiating their crimes by being impaled alive, and thirty even, and forty, and fifty, [292], and a hundred, and a thousand. And further, there was Bhaddasala, the soldier in the service of the royal family of Nanda3, and he waged war against king A'andagutta4. Now in that war, Nagasena, there were eighty Corpse Dances. For they say that when one great Head Holocaust has taken place (by which is meant the slaughter of ten thousand elephants, and a lac of horses, and five thousand charioteers, and a hundred ko/is of soldiers on foot), then the headless corpses arise and dance in frenzy over the battle-field. And all the men

1 'Received from the king the great honour (sammana) called sabba////aka,' says Hina/i-kumbure, p. 431. But we find a particular office so called at Gataka II, 57. (It is true the reading there is sabbatthaka, but Mr. Trenckner's reading is doubtless preferable.) 2 All these cases have already been referred to above, I, 172. 3 ' Nandagutta of the Brahman caste,' says the Sinhalese, p. 431. 4 ' Descended from the .Sakya race/ adds Hina/i-kumbure. thus slain came to destruction through the fruit of the Karma of their evil deeds1. And therefore, too, do I say, Nagasena, that vice is more powerful than virtue. And have you heard, Nagasena, that in all this dispensation (since the time of Gotama the Buddha) the giving by the Kosala king has been unequalled ? ' ' Yes, I have heard so, O king.' ' But did he, Nagasena, on account of his having given gifts so unequalled, receive in this present life wealth, or glory, or happiness ? ' ' No, O king, he did not.' ' Then, in that case, surely, Nagasena, vice is more powerful than virtue ? ' 27. ' Vice, O king, by reason of its meanness, dies quickly away. But virtue, by reason of its grandeur, takes a long time to die. And this can be further examined into by a metaphor. Just, O king, as in the West Country 2 the kind of corn called Kumudabha/^ika, ripening quickly and being garnered in a month, is called Masalu (got in a month)3, but the rices only come to perfection in six months or five. What then is the difference, what the distinction herein between Kumuda-bha;^ika and rice ?

' The one is a mean plant, O king, the other a grand one. The rices are worthy of kings, meet for 1 The Pali being otherwise unintelligible, the above version has been expanded in accordance with the Sinhalese interpretation. Kavandha as a living headless trunk occurs already in the Sutta Vibhahga, Para^ika IV, 9, 3. 2 Aparante. This may mean merely the western country (as at Gataka I, 98), or may be a specific place name as Aparantika is in the ' Indian Antiquary,' VII, 263. 3 So the Sinhalese, which seems to follow a slightly different reading. IV, 8, 28. OF MILINDA THE KING. 1 49 the king's table ; the other is the food of servants and of slaves. [293] 'Just so, O king, it is by reason of its meanness that vice dies quickly away. But virtue, by its grandeur, takes a long time to die.' 28. ' But, Nagasena, it is just those things which come most quickly to their end which are in the world considered the most powerful. And so still vice must be the more powerful, not virtue. Just, Nagasena, as the strong man who, when he enters into a terrible battle, is able the most quickly to get hold of his enemies' heads under his armpit \ and dragging them along to bring them prisoners to his lord, that is the champion who is regarded, in the world, as the ablest hero — just as that surgeon who is able the most quickly to extract the dart, and allay the disease, is considered the most clever — just as the accountant who is able with the greatest speed to make his calculations, and with most rapidity to show the result, is considered the cleverest counter — just as the wrestler who is able the most quickly to lift his opponent up, and make him fall flat on his back, is considered the ablest hero — just so, Nagasena, it is that one of these two things — virtue and vice — which most quickly reaches its end that is, in the world, the more powerful of the two.'

1 The Karma of both the two, O king, will be made evident in future births ; but vice besides that will by reason of its guilt be made evident at once, and in this present life. The rulers (Kshatriyas) 1 Upaka^/fc^ake. The word is not in the Pali dictionaries, but I follow Hina/i-kumbure, p. 432, who renders it Kisilla, and the context at the parallel passage, Gataka I, 63 (see also Gataka I, 158, and the Sutta Vibhahga II, 260). 1 50 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 28. of old, O king, established this decree : " Whosoever takes life shall be subject to a fine, and whosoever takes to himself what has not been given, and whosoever commits adultery, and whosoever speaks lies, and whosoever is a dacoit, and whosoever is a highwayman, and whosoever cheats and swindles. Such men shall be liable to be fined or beaten or mutilated or broken1 or executed." And in pursuance thereof they held repeated enquiry, and then adjudged one or other punishment accordingly. But, O king, has there ever been by any one a decree promulgated : " Whosoever gives gifts, or observes a virtuous life, or keeps Uposatha, to him shall wealth be given, or honours ? " And do they make continued enquiry, and bestow wealth or honours accordingly, as they do stripes or bonds upon a thief ? '

' Certainly not, Sir.' ' Well, if they did so then would virtue too be made evident even in this life. [294] But as they neither make such enquiry concerning givers, nor bestow wealth and honours upon them, therefore is virtue not manifested now. And this is the reason, O king, why vice is made known in this life, whereas he (the giver) receives the more abundantly in the lives to come. And therefore it is virtue which, through the destructions brought about by Karma, is by far the more powerful of the two2.' 'Very good, Nagasena ! Only by one wise as you could this puzzle have been so well solved. 1 Bhettabbo, ' have their arms or legs broken.' 2 In this sentence the translation follows Hma/i-kumbure, who has apparently had a different, and fuller, reading before him. IV, 8, 29. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 5 I The problem put by me in worldly sense have you in transcendental sense made clear.' [Here ends the dilemma as to virtue and vice.] [dilemma the seventy-fourth, offerings to the dead.] 29. ' Venerable Nagasena, these givers when they bestow their offerings, devote them specifically to former (relatives) now departed 1, saying : " May this gift benefit such and such." Now do they (the dead) derive any benefit therefrom ? '

' Some do, O king, and some do not.' ' Which then are they that do, and which do not?' ' Those who have been reborn in purgatory, O king, do not ; nor those reborn in heaven ; nor those reborn as animals. And of those reborn as Pretas three kinds do not — the Vantasika (who feed on vomit), the Khuppipasino (who hunger and thirst), the Ni^/^ama-ta^hika (who are consumed by thirst). But the Paradattupa^ivino (who live on the gifts of others) they do derive profit, and those who bear them in remembrance do so too.' ' Then, Nagasena, offerings given by the givers have run to waste 2, and are fruitless, since those 1 Peta; which are not ghosts, disembodied 'souls,' but newbeings whose link of connection with the departed is, ' not soul,' but Karma. 2 Vissotaw?, from sru. The Sinhalese, p. 434, has asthana gata wanneya (for asthana). for whose benefit they are given derive no profit therefrom.' ' No, O king. They run not to waste, neither are fruitless. The givers themselves derive profit from them.' ' Then convince me of this by a simile.' 1 Suppose, O king, people were to get ready fish and meat and strong drinks and rice and cakes, and make a visit on a family related to them. If their relatives should not accept their complimentary present, would that present be wasted or fruitless?' ' No, Sir, it would go to the owners of it.' 4 Well, just so the givers themselves derive the profit. Or just, O king, [295] as if a man were to enter an inner chamber, and there were no exit in front of him, how would he get out ? ' ' By the way he entered.'

' Well, just so the givers themselves derive the profit.' 30. ' Let that pass, Nagasena. That is so, and I accept it as you say. We will not dispute your argument. But, venerable Nagasena, if the offerings made by such givers do advantage certain of the departed, and they do reap the result of the gifts, then if a man who destroys living creatures and drinks blood and is of cruel heart, were after committing murder or any other dreadful act, to dedicate it to the departed, saying : " May the result of this act of mine accrue to the departed " — would it then be transferred to them ? ' 4 No, O king.' ' But what is the reason, what is the cause, that a good deed can accrue to them, and not an evil one ? ' IV, 8, 30. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 53 ' This is really not a question you should ask, O king. Ask me no foolish question, O king, in the idea that an answer will be forthcoming You will be asking me next why space is boundless, why the Ganges does not flow up stream, why men and birds are bipeds, and the animals quadrupeds !'

'It is not to annoy you that I ask this question, Nagasena, but for the sake of resolving a doubt. There are many people in the world who are lefthanded or squint 1. I put that question to you, thinking : " Why should not also these unlucky ones have a chance 2 of bettering themselves ? " ' 'An evil deed, O king, cannot be shared with one who has not done it, and has not consented to it. People convey water long distances by an aqueduct. But could they in the same way remove a great mountain of solid rock ? ' ' Certainly not, Sir.' ' Well, just in that way can a good deed be shared, but a bad one cannot. And one can light a lamp with oil, but could one in the same way, O king, light it with water ? ' [296] ' Certainly not, Sir.' ' Well, so is it that a good deed can be shared, but not an evil one. And husbandmen take water from a reservoir to bring their crops to maturity, but could they for the same purpose, O king, take water from the sea ? ' 1 Vamagahino vi/fcakkhuka. Neither of these words are in the dictionaries. Hina/i-kumbure, p. 436, says, 'who spoil what they take hold of, and whose eyes have lost their cunning.'

2 Otara, which the Sinhalese renders awakajaya; and in that sense the word is used at Nagg/rima Nikaya I, 334. ' Certainly not, Sir.' 1 So again is it that though a good deed can be shared, an evil one cannot.' 31. 'But, venerable Nagasena, why is that? Convince me of this by a reason. I am not blind, or unobservant. I shall understand when I have heard.' ' Vice, O king, is a mean thing, virtue is great and grand. By its meanness vice affects 1 only the doer, but virtue by its grandeur overspreads the whole world of gods and men.' ' Show me this by a metaphor.' ' Were a tiny drop of water to fall on the ground, O king, would it flow on over ten leagues or twelve ? ' ' Certainly not. It would only have effect2 on that very spot of ground on which it fell.' ' But why so ? ' ' Because of its minuteness.' ' Just so, O king, is vice minute. And by reason of its littleness it affects the doer only, and cannot possibly be shared. But if a mighty rain cloud were to pour out rain satisfying the surface of the earth, would that water spread round about ? '

' Certainly, Sir. That thunderstorm would fill up the depressions in the ground and the pools and ponds, and the gullies and crevices and chasms, and the lakes and reservoirs and wells and lotus-tanks, and the water would spread abroad for ten leagues or for twelve 3.' 1 Pariyadiyati. See the note above at IV, 8, 23. 2 A similar metaphor is used below, IV, 8, 55 (p. 311 of the Pali). 3 This long list is made up of the two given above at pp. 35, IV, 8,3r. OF MILINDA THE KING. I 55 ' But why so, O king ? ' ' Because of the greatness of the storm.' ' Just so, O king, is virtue great. And by reason of its abundance it can be shared by gods and men.' ' Venerable Nagasena, why is it that vice is so limited, [297] and virtue so much more widereaching ? ' ' Whosoever, O king, in this world gives gifts, and lives in righteousness, and keeps Uposatha1, he, glad, right glad, joyful, cheerful, happy, becomes filled with a sweet sense of trust and bliss, and bliss ruling in his heart his goodness grows still more and more abundantly. Like a deep pool of clear water, O king, and into which on one side the spring pours, while on the other the water flows away; so as it flows away it comes again, and there can be no failure there — so, O king, does his goodness grow more and more abundantly. If even through a hundred years, O king, a man were to keep on transferring - to others (the merit of) any good he

259 of the Pali (Paragraphs II, 1, 10 and IV, 6, 55 of the translation). 1 The Buddhist Sabbath. See 'Buddhism,' pp. 140, 141. Ava^eya, which the Sinhalese, p. 437, merely repeats, is ambiguous (literally 'cause to bend towards'). Compare Cataka I, 74, 89, 108, 171 ; II, 243. In most places the meaning 'bend back or towards ' comes to have the secondary sense of ' re-flect.' But throughout this discussion there is an underlying reference to a very beautiful Buddhist conception that a man can transfer to others the merit of any good deed he has done. Thus at the end of a palm-leaf manuscript the copyist often adds the pious wish : ' May the merit of my having made this copy redound to the advantage of all men,' or words to that effect. And the preceding metaphor would seem to show that this must be the secondary sense here attached to 'causing to bend towards;' — the more he had done, the more he gave it away the more would his goodness grow, and he would still be able to share it with whomsoever he would. This, O king, is the reason why virtue is so much the greater of the two.

32. ' But on doing evil, O king, a man becomes filled with remorse 1, and the heart of him who feels remorse cannot get away (from the thought of the evil he has done), it is forcibly bent back on it, thrown back on it, obtains no peace 2 ; miserable, burning, abandoned of hope, he wastes away, and gaining no relief from depression 3, he is, as it were, possessed with his woe ! Just, O king, as a drop of water, falling on a dry river bed with its mighty sandbanks rising: and falling; in undulations along- its crooked and shifty course, gains not in volume, but is swallowed up on the very spot where it fell, just so, O king, is a man, when he has done wrong, overcome with remorse, and the heart of him who feels remorse cannot get away from the thought of the evil he has done, it is forcibly bent back on it, thrown back on it, obtains no peace ; miserable, burning, abandoned of hope, he wastes away, and gaining no release from his depression, he is, as it spends (as it were) his virtue, the more remains, just as however much the water flows away from the spring, still quite as much remains, and he can still share with others that which is left. The doctrine of imputed righteousness is not confined to Buddhists, but the Buddhist theory is really quite different from the corresponding Western ideas, even from the Catholic doctrine of the transference of the righteousness of saints.

1 So already above, III, 7, 7 (I, 128). 2 Patiliyati patiku/ati pativa//ati na sampasariyati. None of these words are in the dictionaries. s Na pariva^/^ate; literally ' is not dilated.' IV, 8, 33- OF MILINDA THE KING. I 57 were, swallowed up of his woe. This is the reason, O king, why vice is so mean.' ' Very good, Nagasena ! That is so, and I accept it as you say.' [Here ends the problem as to virtue and vice.] 33. ' Venerable Nagasena, men and women in this world see dreams pleasant and evil, things they have seen before and things they have not, things they have done before and things they have not, [298] dreams peaceful and terrible, dreams of matters near to them and distant from them, full of many shapes and innumerable colours. What is this that men call a dream, and who is it who dreams it ? ' ' It is a suggestion1, O king, coming across the path of the mind which is what is called a dream. And there are six kinds of people who see dreams — the man who is of a windy humour 2, or of a bilious one, or of a phlegmatic one, the man who dreams dreams by the influence of a god, the man who does so by the influence of his own habits, and the man who does so in the way of prognostication 3. And

1 Nimittam, aramunuwa in the Sinhalese, p. 438. 2 Vatiko, which Childers renders wrongly rheumatic. Wat a prakr/ti wu, says the Sinhalese, p. 438. 3 The Sinhalese gives the different kinds of dreams seen by each of these six — the first dreams of journeys through space, the second of fire and conflagrations, the third of water, the fourth of these, O king, only the last kind of dreams is true ; all the rest are false.' 34. ' Venerable Nagasena, when a man dreams a dream that is a prognostication, how is it ? Does his own mind set out itself to seek the omen, or does the prognostication come of its own accord into the path of his mind, or does some one else come and tell him of it ? ' ' His own mind does not itself seek the omen, neither does any one else come and tell him of it. The prognostication comes of its own accord into his mind. It is like the case of a looking-glass, which does not go anywhere to seek for the reflection ; neither does any one else come and put the reflection on to the looking-glass. But the object reflected comes from somewhere or other across the sphere over which the reflecting power of the looking-glass extends.'

35. ' Venerable Nagasena, does the same mind which sees the dream also know : " Such and such a result, auspicious or terrible, will follow ? ' ' No, that is not so, O king. After the omen has occurred he tells others, and then they explain the meaning of it.' ' Come, now, Nagasena, give me a simile to explain this.' ' It is like the marks, O king, and pimples, and cutaneous eruptions which arise on a man's body to his profit or loss, to his fame or dishonour, to his praise or blame, to his happiness or woe. [299] Do of good or bad things according as the god is kindly or malignant, the fifth of what he has himself seen or heard, and the last of his future gain or loss. IV, 8, 36. OF MILINDA THE KING. J 59 in that case the pimples come because they know : " Such and such is the event which we shall bring about ? '" ' Certainly not, Sir. But according to the place on which the pimples have arisen, the fortune-tellers, making their observations, give decision, saying : " Such and such will be the result." '

' Well, in the same way, O king, it is not the same mind which dreams the dream which also knows : " Such and such a result, conspicuous or terrible, will follow." But after the omen has occurred he tells others, and they then explain the meaning of it.' 36. ' Venerable Nagasena, when a man dreams a dream, is he awake or asleep?' ' Neither the one, O king, nor yet the other. But when his sleep has become light l, and he is not yet fully conscious 2, in that interval it is that dreams are dreamt. When a man is in deep sleep, O king, his mind has returned home (has entered again into the Bhavahga) 3, and a mind thus shut in does not act, and a mind hindered in its action knows not the evil and the good, and he who knows not 4 has no dreams. It is when the mind is active that dreams are dreamt. Just, O king, as in the darkness and gloom, where no light is, no shadow will fall even on the most burnished mirror, so when a man is in deep sleep his mind has returned into itself, and

1 Okkante middhe; 'like a monkey's sleep,' says Hina/ikumbure. 2 On bhavanga compare Abhidhammattha Sangaha III, 8. 8 ' Like a bird that has re-entered its nest ' is Hina/i-kumbures gloss. 4 Appa/ivig-anantassa, ' does not know the distinctions between bliss and woe (sukha dukkha vibhaga),' says the Sinhalese, p. 440. l6o THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 37. a mind shut in does not act, and a mind inactive knows not the evil and the good, and he who knows not does not dream. For it is when the mind is active that dreams are dreamt. As the mirror, O king, are you to regard the body, as the darkness sleep, as the light the mind. Or again, O king, just as the glory of a sun veiled in fog is imperceptible, as its rays, though they do exist, are unable to pierce through, and as when its rays act not there is no light, so when a man is in deep sleep his mind has returned into itself, and a mind shut in does not act, and a mind inactive knows not the evil and the good, and he who knows not does not dream. For it is when the mind is active that dreams are dreamt. As the sun, O king, are you to regard the body, as the veil of fog sleep, [300] as the rays the mind.

37. ' Under two conditions, O king, is the mind inactive though the body is there — when a man being in deep sleep the mind has returned into itself, and when the man has fallen into a trance 1. The mind of a man who is awake, O king, is excited, open, clear, untrammelled, and no prognostication occurs to one whose mind is so. Just, O king, as men seeking concealment avoid the man who is open, candid, unoccupied, and unreserved, — just so is it that the divine intention is not manifested to the wakeful man, and the man who is awake therefore sees no dream. Or again, O king, just as the qualities which lead to wisdom are found not in that brother whose mode of livelihood and conduct are wrong, who is the friend of sinners, wicked, insolent, devoid 1 Nirodha, which the Sinhalese repeats. Probably the fourth Ghana, is here referred to. IV, 8, 38. OF MILINDA THE KING. l6l of zeal, — just so is it that the divine intention is not manifested to the wakeful man, and the man who is awake, therefore, sees no dream.' 38. ' Venerable Nagasena, is there a beginning, a middle, and an end in sleep ?'

' Yes, O king, there is.' ' Which then is the beginning, which the middle, and which the end ? ' ' The feeling of oppression and inability1 in the body, O king, of weakness, slackness, inertness — that is the beginning of sleep. The light " monkey's sleep" in which a man still shards his scattered thoughts2 — that is the middle of sleep. When the mind has entered into itself — that is the end of sleep. And it is in the middle stage, O king, in the "monkey's sleep " that dreams are dreamt. Just, O king, as when a man self-restrained with collected thoughts, stedfast in the faith, unshaken in wisdom, plunges deep into the woods far from the sound of strife, and thinks over some subtle matter, he there, tranquil and at peace, will master the meaning of it — just so a man still watchful, not fallen into sleep, but dozing in a " monkey's sleep," will dream a dream. [301] As the sound of strife, so, O king, are you to regard wakefulness, and as the lonely wood the " monkey's sleep." And as that man avoiding the sound of strife, keeping out of sleep, remaining in the middle stage, will master the meaning of that subtle matter, so the still watchful man, not fallen into sleep, but dozing in a " monkey's sleep," will dream a dream.'

1 Onahopariyonaho, 'obstruction, covering.' See the Tevi^a Sutta, § 58. 2 Voki««aka;;z jaggati. ' Destroys sleep by scattered thoughts/ says the Sinhalese, p. 441. 1 62 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 39. ' Very good, Nagasena ! That is so, and I accept it as you say.' [Here ends the dilemma as to dreams1.] 39. ' Venerable Nagasena, when beings die, do they all die in fullness of time, or do some die out of due season ? ' ' There is such a thing, O king, as death at the due time, and such a thing as premature death.' ' Then who are they whose decease is at the due time, and who are they whose decease is premature ?' ' Have you ever noticed, O king, in the case of mango trees or c7ambu trees or other fruit-bearing trees, that their fruits fall both when they are ripe and when they are not ripe ? ' ' Yes, I have.' ' Well, those fallen fruits, do they all fall at the due time, or do some fall prematurely ? ' ' Such of those fruits, Nagasena, as are ripe and mature 2 when they fall, fall in fullness of time. But of the rest some fall because they are bored into by worms, some because they are knocked down by a

1 It is not known whether the whole of this theory of dreams is taken from the Pi/akas, or whether it is an expansion of views there suggested. But the germs of the theory are certainly in the Pi/akas. Thus the Buddha is made at MaggMma. Nikaya I, 249, 250 to say of himself that in his midday sleep he was neither stupefied nor the contrary (neither sammulho nor asammulho), which comes very near to the ' monkey's sleep ' referred to throughout this dilemma. 2 Vilinani, wilikun wu says Hina/i-kumbure (p. 442). IV, 8, 4o. OF MILINDA THE KING. 1 63 long stick, some because they are blown down by the wind, some because they have become rotten — and all these fall out of due season1.' 'Just so, O king, those men who die of the effect of old age, they die in fullness of time. But of the rest some die of the dire effect of the Karma (of evil deeds), some of excessive journeying2, some of excessive activity.' 40. 'Venerable Nagasena, those who die of Karma, or of journeying, or of activity, or of old age, they all die in fullness of time : and even he who dies in the womb, that is his appointed time, so that he too dies in fullness of time ; and so of him who dies in the birth chamber [302], or when he is a month old, or at any age up to a hundred years. It is always his appointed time, and it is in the fullness of time that he dies. So, Nagasena, there is no such thing as death out of due season. For all who die, die at the appointed time.'

' There are seven kinds of persons, O king, who, there being still a portion of their appointed age to run, die out of time. And which are the seven ? The starving man, O king, who can get no food, whose inwards are consumed 3 — and the thirsty man who can get no water, whose heart is dried up — and the man bitten by a snake, who, when consumed by the fierce energy of poison, can find no cure — and he who has taken poison, and when all his limbs are 1 This simile has already been used above, IV, 3, 7 (I, 235). 2 Gati-patiba/M, gamana bahulyatawen says the Sinhalese. 3 Upahat-abbhantaro, 'whose interior is burnt by the fierceness of the stomach fire' (^a/^aragni-gaha/zi), says Hina/i-kumbure, p. 443. 1 64 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 41. burning, is unable to procure medicine — and one fallen into fire, who when he is aflame, can find no means of putting out the fire — and he who having fallen into water can find no firm ground to stand on — and the man wounded by a dart, who in his illness can find no surgeon — all these seven, there being still a portion of their appointed time to run, die out of due season. And herein (in all these seven cases) I declare that they are all of one nature \ In eight ways, O king, does the death of mortals take place — through excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, through the adverse union of these three, through variations in temperature, through inequality in protection, through (medical) treatment, and through the working of Karma 2. And of these, O king, it is only death by the working of Karma that is death at the due season, all the rest are cases of death out of due season. For it is said :

" By hunger, thirst, by poison, and by bites, Burnt, drowned, or slain, men out of time do die ; By the three humours, and by three combined, By heats, by inequalities, by aids, By all these seven men die out of time 3." 41. [303] ' But there are some men, O king, who die through the working of some evil deed or other they have committed in a former birth. And of 1 Hma/i-kumbure had apparently a different reading (perhaps ekarase na vadami). For he translates, p. 444, 'In this death I do not say that there is one cause.' 2 As was noticed above on p. 112 (of the Pali), some of these medical terms are very uncertain, and the Sinhalese gives no help. 3 Not traced in the Pi/akas. IV, 8, 4i. OF MILINDA THE KING. 165 these, O king, whosoever has starved others to death, after having been himself through many hundreds of thousands of years tormented by hunger, famished, exhausted, emaciated, and withered of heart, dried up, wasted away, heated, and all on fire within, will, either as youth or man or old man, die of hunger too. And that death will be to him a death at the appointed time 1. Whosoever has put others to death by thirst, after having through many hundreds of thousands of years become a Preta consumed by thirst, thin and miserable, will himself too, either as youth or man or old man, die of thirst. And that death will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by having them bitten by snakes, will, after wandering through many hundreds of thousands of years from existence to existence, in which he is constantly bitten by boa constrictors and black snakes, himself too, either as youth or man or old man, die of snake bite. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by poison will, after existing for many hundreds of thousands of years with burning limbs and broken body, and exhaling the odour of a corpse, himself too, either as youth or man or old man, die of poison. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by fire, he having wandered from purgatory2 to purgatory, from one mass of burning charcoal to

1 Samayiko, 'timely,' but Childers says 'temporary,' and we have had the word above (p. 22 of the Pali) in the sense of ' religious.' The Sinhalese, p. 445, repeats the word. a Yama-visaya, ' abode of the god of death.' 1 66 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 42. another, with burning and tortured limbs, for many hundreds of thousands of years, will himself too, either as youth or man or old man, be burnt to death. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by drowning, he having suffered many hundreds of thousands of years as a being disabled, ruined, broken, weak in limb, and anxious in heart, will himself too, either as youth or man or old man, die by drowning. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time. Whosoever has put others to death by the sword, [304] he having suffered for many hundreds of thousands of years (in repeated births as an animal) from cuts and wounds and blows and bruises, or (when born as a man) ever destroyed by weapons \ will himself too, either as youth or man or old man, perish by the sword. And that will be to him a death at the appointed time.'

42. ' Venerable Nagasena, the death out of due time that you also speak of — come now, tell me the reason for that.' 1 As a great and mighty fire, O king, on to which dry grass and sticks and branches and leaves have been heaped, will nevertheless, when this its food has been consumed, die out by the exhaustion of the fuel. Yet such a fire is said to have gone out in fullness of time, without any calamity or accident (having happened to it). Just so, O king, the man who, when he has lived many thousands of days, when he is old and stricken in years, dies at last of 1 Sarnahato. Compare above, pp. 181, 254 of the Pali, and Mag^ima Nikaya I, 337. IV, 8, 43- OF MILINDA THE KING. l6j old age, without any calamity or accident havin happened to him, is said to have reached death in the fullness of time. But if there were a great and mighty fire, O king, on to which dry grass and sticks and branches and leaves had been heaped, then if a mighty rain cloud were to pour out rain upon it, and it were thus to be put out, even before the fuel was consumed, could it be said, O king, that that great fire had gone out in fullness of time ? '

' No, Sir, it could not.' 1 But wherein would the second fire differ, in its nature, from the first ? ' ' The second one, Sir, which suffered from the onset of the rain — that fire would have gone out before its time.' 'Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease, — from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one's time. 43. ' Or again, O king, it is like a mighty storm cloud which, rising up into the heavens, should pour out rain, filling the valleys and the plains. That cloud would be said to have rained without calamity or accident. Just so, O king, the man who after having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, is said to have

1 68 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 44. reached death in the fullness of time. [305] But if, O king, a mighty storm cloud were to rise up into the heavens, and as it did so were to be dissipated by a mighty wind, could it be said, O king, that that cloud had perished in due time ?' 4 No, Sir, it could not.' ' But wherein would the second cloud differ, in its nature, from the first ? ' ' The second one, Sir, which suffered from the onset of the whirlwind, would have been dissipated before its time.' ' Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease, — from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one's time. 44. ' Or again, O king, it is like a powerful and deadly snake, which being angered should bite a man, and to him that poison, no impediment and no accident happening to it, should bring death. That poison would be said, without impediment or accident, to have reached its aim. Just so, O king, the man who, having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, he is said to have reached, unimpeded and uninterrupted, to the goal of his life, to have died in the fullness of time. But if a snake charmer were to give a drug to the man while he was suffering from

IV, 8, 45- OF MILINDA THE KING. 1 69 the bite, and thus get rid of the poison, could it be said that the poison was removed in the fullness of time?' ' No, Sir, it could not.' ' But wherein, O king, would the second poison differ, in its nature, from the first?' ' The second one, Sir, which was acted upon by the introduction of the drug, would have been removed before its end was attained.' 'Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease, — from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one's time. 45. ' Or again, O king, it is like the arrow discharged by an archer. [306] If that arrow should go to the very end of the line of the path along which it was natural for it to go, then it would be said to have reached that aim, without let or hindrance. Just so, O king, the man who, having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, is said to have reached death, unimpeded and uninterrupted, in the fullness of time. But if, at the moment when the archer was discharging the arrow, some one should catch hold of it, could that arrow be said to have reached the end of the line of the path along which it was shot ? '

I 70 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 46. ' No, Sir, it could not.' ' But wherein, O king, would the second arrow differ, in its nature, from the first ? ' ' By the seizure which intervened, Sir, the course of the second arrow was arrested.' 'Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease, — from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one's time. 46. ' Or again, O king, it is like the brazen vessel which a man should strike. And by his striking thereof a note should be produced, and sound to the very end of the line of the path along which it was its nature to sound. It would then be said to have reached that aim without let or hindrance. Just so, O king, the man who, having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, is said to have reached death, without let or hindrance, in the fullness of time. But if a man were to strike a brazen vessel, and by his striking thereof a note should be produced, but some one, before it had reached any distance, were to touch the vessel, and at his touching thereof the sound should cease, could then that sound be said to have reached the end of the line of the path along which it was its nature to sound ?'

' No, Sir, it could not.' ' But wherein, O king, would the second sound differ, in its nature, from the first ? ' ' By the touching which intervened, Sir, that sound was suppressed V [307] ' Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease, — from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one's time. 47. ' Or again, O king, it is like the corn seed which had sprung up well in the field, and by means of a plentiful downpour of rain had become well laden far and wide 2 with many seeds, and had survived in safety to the time of standing crops, that corn would be said to have reached, without let or hindrance, to its due season. Just so, O king, the man who, having lived long, dies at last, when he is old and well stricken in years, without any calamity or accident having happened to him, of old age, is said to have reached death, without let or hindrance, in the fullness of time. But if that corn, after it had sprung up well in the field, should, deprived of water, die, could it be said to have reached its due season ? '

1 Uparato, for which Hina/i-kumbure, p. 449, has upahata wiyceyi. 2 Otaka-vitaka-aki««a. Ghawayawu pata/awu akir«»a- \vu says the Sinhalese. ' No, Sir, it could not' ' But wherein, O king, would the second crop differ, in its nature, from the first ? ' ' Oppressed by the heat which intervened, that crop, Sir, perished.' 'Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease, — from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before ones time. 48. ' And have you ever heard, O king, of a young crop that, after it had come to ear, worms sprung up and destroyed down to the roots ? ' ' We have both heard of such a thing, Sir, and have seen it, too.' 4 Well, O king, was that crop destroyed in season, or out of season ? '

' Out of season, Sir. For surely if worms had not destroyed the crop it would have survived to harvest time.' ' What then, O king ! on a disaster intervening the crop is lost, but if no injury is done it, it survives to the harvest ? ' ' That is so, Sir.' [308] ' Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease, — from excess ofwindyhumoui, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in IV, 8, 49- 0F MILINDA THE KING. I 73 temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one's time. 49. ' And have you ever heard, O king, of a crop that had grown, and was bent down by the weight of the grains of corn, the ears having duly formed \ when a so-called Karaka rain (hail-storm)2 falling on it, destroyed it ? ' ' We have both heard of such a thing, Sir, and have seen it, too.'

' Well, O king ! would you say the crop was destroyed in season or out of season ? ' ' Out of season, Sir. For if the hail-storm had not come the crop would have lasted to harvest time.' ' What then, O king ! on a disaster intervening the crop is lost, but if no injury is done it, it survives to the harvest ? ' 1 That is so, Sir.' ' Just so, O king, whosoever dies before his time does so in consequence of suffering from the attack of some disease, — from excess of windy humour, or of bilious humour, or of phlegmatic humour, or from the union of the three, or from variations in temperature, or from inequality in protection, or from treatment, or from hunger, or from thirst, or from fire, or from water, or from the sword. This, O 1 Ma^arita-patte, which the Sinhalese renders karal patra cettawu. 2 Karaka-vassa;« is pa^ana-warsha in the Sinhalese. If karaka originally meant 'hard shell,' it could have reached its ordinary meaning of ' water-pot,' from the fact that an empty half of a cocoa-nut shell is the most common form of cup. I 74 THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES IV, 8, 50.

king, is the reason why there is such a thing as dying before one's time.' 50. ' Most wonderful, Nagasena, most strange ! Right well have you explained, by reason and by simile, how it is that people die before their time. That there is such a thing as premature death have you made clear and plain and evident1. A thoughtless man even, Nagasena, a puzzle-headed fellow, could by any one of your comparisons have come to the conclusion that premature deaths do occur ; — [309] how much more an able man ! I was convinced already, Sir, by the first of your similes, that such deaths happen, but nevertheless, out of the wish to hear still further and further solutions, I would not give in.' [Here ends the dilemma as to premature 51. 'Venerable Nagasena, are there wonders at the /Tetiyas (the mounds raised over the ashes) of all who have passed entirely away (of all the Arahats deceased)2 ? ' ' Of some, O king, but not of others.' ' But of which, Sir, is this the case, and of which not ? ' 1 Vibhutara kataw is rendered prasiddha karawa laddeya in the Sinhalese, p. 451.