The Questions of King Milinda, Part II — SBE Vol. 36 (trans. T. W. Rhys Davids, 1894)

See above, p. 229 of the Pali.

2 Compare Sigalovada Sutta, p. 365, and Dhammapada, verse 49: 'As a bee, injuring not the flower or its colour or its scent, flies away, taking the nectar, so let a sage go through the village/

3 That is the fall of beings from one state of existence — their death in that state in other words — and their rise, their rebirth, in another.

4 Gotaka, as a city official, is something akin to torchbearer, lamplighter.

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longs and short, as to lightness and heaviness 2, those who know by heart the ninefold word — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " The peace officers 2 in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness."

* And furthermore, O king, those of the Bhikkhus who are learned in the Vinaya (Rules of the Order, Canon Law), wise in the Vinaya, skilled in detecting the source of offences 3, skilled in deciding whether any act is an offence or not, whether an offence is grievous or slight, whether it can be atoned for or not, skilled in deciding questions as to the rise, the acknowledgment, the absolution, or the confession of an offence4 ; as to the suspension, or the restoration, or the defence of an offender 5, who are perfect masters in the Vinaya — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, "The Rupa-dakshas 6 in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness."

' And furthermore, O king, those of the Bhikkhus who wear on their brows the lotus garland of that noble Emancipation, who have attained to thatp. 237 highest and best and most exceeding excellent of all conditions, who are loved and longed for by the great multitudes — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " Flower-sellers in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness.,,

1 These are six out of the ten divisions ofVya^ana-vuddhi, mentioned in the verse at Sumahgala Vilasini I, 177. Hina/ikumbure, p. 501, merely repeats the words.

2 Dhamma-rakkha, 'dharmikawu araksha-graha^ayehi niyuktawu' in the Sinhalese.

3 Nidana-paMana-kusala; 'Apatti ge«a hoera dcekwimehi dakshawu/ says the Sinhalese.

4 One word, vu//Mna, is here doubtful.

5 See Mahavagga IX, 4, 9. 10, &c.

6 Literally ' skilled in form, shape, beauty/ The Sinhalese repeats this ambiguous expression, adding the qualification amatyayo, l ministers, officials/ One would think that these would have been the judges, but our author has already made the Arahats the judges in his Dhamma-nagara. This only leaves him some minor official post to give away to those learned in Canon Law, and he has chosen one as unintelligible in Ceylon as it is to me.

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highest and best and most exceeding excellent of all conditions, who are loved and longed for by the great multitudes — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " Flower-sellers in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness.,,

* And furthermore, O king, those of the Bhikkhus who have penetrated to the comprehension of the four Truths, and have seen them with their eyes, who are wise in the teaching, who have passed beyond doubt as to the four fruits of Sama/zaship, who having attained to the bliss thereof, share those fruits with others who have entered the paths l — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " Fruit-dealers in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness."

' And furthermore, O king, those of the Bhikkhus who, being anointed with that most excellent perfume of right conduct, are gifted with many and various virtues, and are able to dispel the bad odour of sin and evil dispositions — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " Perfume dealers in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness."

* And furthermore, O king, those of the Bhikkhus whose delight is in the Dhamma, and whose converse is pleasant, who find exceeding joy in the higher subtleties of the Dharma and the Vinaya 2, who either in the forest, or at the foot of trees, or in empty

1 Pa Zip anna, which Hina/i-kumbure takes here to mean Arahats, but see the note above, V, 20 (p. 341 of the Pali).

2 Abhidhamme abhivinaye. A phrase very instructive as to the correct rendering of the much misunderstood word abhidhamma. As I pointed out already in the ' Hibbert Lectures' for 1 88 1, it is a blunder to translate it, as is usually done, by ' metaphysics/ The whole context is taken from the Sangiti Sutta.

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places, drink the sweet sap of the Dharma, who plunging themselves, as it were, in body, speech, and mind into the sweet juice 1 of the Dharma, excel in expounding it, in seeking and in detecting the deeper truths in the various doctrines, who — wheresoever and whensoever the discourse is of wishing for little, of contentment, of solitude, of retirement, of the exertion in zeal, of right conduct, of meditation, of knowledge, of emancipation, of the insight arising from the assurance of emancipation — [345] thither do they repair, and drink in the sweet savour of that discourse — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " Thirsty and drunkards in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness/'

' And furthermore, O king, those of the Bhikkhus who are addicted to the habit of wakefulness from the first watch of the night to the last, who spend day and night in sitting, standing, or walking up and down in meditation, who, addicted to the habit of contemplation, are devoted to their own advancement by the suppressing of evil dispositions — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " Watchmen in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness."

' And furthermore, O king, those of the Bhikkhus who in the spirit and in the letter, in its arguments and explanations, in its reasons and examples, teach and repeat, utter forth and recapitulate the ninefold word of the Buddha — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " Lawyers (dealers in Dharma") in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness."

1 'The ambrosia of the Saddharma/ says Hina/i-kumbur6, p. 502.

2 Dhammapaflika. The Sinhalese has Dharmikapawikayo.

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' And furthermore, O king, those of the Bhikkhus who are wealthy and rich in the wealth of the treasures of the Doctrine, in the wealth of the traditions, and the text, and the learning thereof, who comprehend the signs, and vowels, and consonants thereof, in all their details, pervading all directions with their knowledge — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " Bankers of the Dhamma 1 in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness. "

' And furthermore, O king, those of the Bhikkhus who have penetrated to the sublimer teaching, who understand exposition and the divisions of objects of meditation to be practised, who are perfect in all the subtler points of training2 — such Bhikkhus are called, O king, " Distinguished masters of law in the Blessed One's City of Righteousness."

• 24. ' Thus well planned out, O king, is the Blessed One's City of Righteousness, thus well built, thus well appointed, thus well provisioned, thus well established, thus well guarded, thus well protected, thus impregnable by enemies or foes. And by this explanation, O king, by this argument, by this reason, you may by inference know that the Blessed One did once exist.
• (1) "As when they see a pleasant city, well planned out, Men know, by inference, how great the founder

was ; So when they see our Lord's * City of Righteousness' They know, by inference, that he did once exist.

1 Dhamma-se/Mino, which the Sinhalese repeats.

2 Adhisila, adhi/Htta, and adhipa/zna, says Hina/i-kumbure.

24O THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES V, 24.

[346] (2) "As men, seeing its waves, can judge, by inference, The great extent and power of the world-embracing sea ; So may they judge the Buddha when they see the waves That he set rolling through the world of gods and men — He who, unconquered in the fight, allays all griefs, Who rooted out, in his own heart, Craving's dread power, And set his followers free from the whirlpool of rebirths — ' Far as the waves of the Good-Law extend and roll, So great, so mighty, must our Lord, the Buddha, be.'

(3) "As men, seeing its mighty peaks that tower aloft, Can judge, by inference, Himalaya's wondrous height ; So when they see the Buddha's Mount-of-Righteousness — Stedfast, unshaken by fierce passion's stormy blasts, Towering aloft in wondrous heights of calm and peace, Where lusts, evil, and Karma cannot breathe or live, — They draw the inference : ' Great as this mountain high That mighty Hero's power upon whose word it stands.'