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

V, 24. OF MILINDA THE KING. 24 1

(4) " As men, seeing the footprint of an elephant king, Can judge, by inference : ' How great his size must be !' So when they see the footprint of the elephant of men, Buddha, the wise, upon the path that men have trod, They know, by inference : * How glorious

Buddha was l ! '

(5) " As when they see all living things crouching in fear, Men know : ' 'Tis the roar of the king of the beasts that frightens them.' So, seeing other teachers break and fly in fear, They know : ' 'Tis a king of the truth hath uttered words sublime ! '

(6) " Seeing the earth smiling, well watered, green with grass, Men say: 'A great and pleasant rain hath fallen fast.' So when they see this multitude rejoicing, peaceful, blest, Men may infer : ' How sweet the rain that stilled their hearts ! '

(7) " Seeing the wide earth soaked, boggy, a marsh of mud, Men say : * Mighty the mass of waters broken loose/

1 It is perhaps such poetical figures as this that have afforded foundation for the legend of Buddha's footprint.

[36] R

p. 242

So, when they see this mighty host, that once were dazed With the mud of sin, swept down in Dhammas stream, and left In the wide sea of the Good-Law, some here, some there, All, gods and men alike, plunged in ambrosial waves, They may infer, and say: 'How great that

Dhamma is ! '

(8) [347] " As when men, travelling, feel a glorious perfume sweet n^

Pervading all the country side, and gladdening them, infer at once,

'Surely, 'tis giant forest trees are flowering now ! '

So, conscious of this perfume sweet of righteousness

That now pervades the earth and heavens, they may infer :

' A Buddha, infinitely great, must once have lived ! ' "

25. 'And it would be possible, O king, to show forth the Buddha's greatness, by a hundred or a thousand such examples, such reasons, such arguments, such metaphors. Just, O king, as a clever garland maker will, from one heap of all kinds of flowers, both following the instruction of his teacher, and also using his own individuality as a man, make many variegated and beautiful bouquets, — just so, O king, that Blessed One is, as it were, an infinite, immeasurable, heap of variegated flowers of virtue. And I now, a garland maker, as it were in thep. 243 church of the Conqueror, stringing those flowers together, — both following the path of our teachers of old, and also using such power of wisdom as in me is, — could show forth by inference the power of the Buddha in innumerable similes. But you, on the other hand, must show a desire to hear them V ' Hard would it be, Nagasena, for any other men thus to have shown by inference, drawn from such examples, the power of the Buddha. I am filled with satisfaction, venerable Nagasena, at your so perfectly varied exposition of this problem/

Here ends the problem of Inference1

1 The Sinhalese is here much expanded.

I am filled with satisfaction, venerable Nagasena, at your so perfectly varied exposition of this problem/

Here ends the problem of Inference1

1 The Sinhalese is here much expanded.

2 Mr. Trenckner reads 'Anumana pa/zha/?z/ the Sinhalese has ' Maha Anumana Pra^nayayi/

R 2

p. 244

BOOK VI.

THE DHUTANGAS.

[348] J. The king saw Bhikkhus in the forest, lone
And far away from men, keeping hard vows.
And then he saw too householders, at home,
Eating the sweet fruits of the Noble Path \
Considering both of these, deep doubts he felt.
' If laymen also realise the Truth
Then surely vowing vows must be in vain.
Come ! let me ask that best of teachers, wise
In the threefold basket of the Buddha's words,
Skilled to o'erthrow the arguments of the foe.
He will be able to resolve my doubts ! '

2. Now Milinda the king went up to the place where Nagasena was, and bowed down before him, and took his seat on one side. And when so seated, he said to Nagasena : ' Venerable Nagasena, is there any layman living at home, enjoying the pleasures of sense, occupying a dwelling encumbered with wife and children, enjoying the use of sandal wood from Benares, and of garlands, perfumes, and ointments, accepting gold and silver, with an embroidered head-dress on, set with diamonds and pearls and gold — is there any such who has seen face to face the calm, the supreme good, Nirvana ?'

* Not one hundred only, O king, nor two nor

1 'Standing in the Fruit of the Anagamins/ So they had already reached the third stage in the Excellent Way.

p. 245

three nor five nor six hundred, not a thousand only, nor a hundred thousand, nor ten millions, nor ten thousand millions, not even only a billion laymen (have seen Nirvana) — not to speak of twenty or thirty or a hundred or a thousand who have attained to clear understanding (of the four Truths) 1. By

By

1 I take this to mean, ' Not to speak of comparatively small numbers who have experienced A b his am ay a, an innumerable host of laymen have reached Nirvana — that is, have reached, and during their lives remained in, the third stage of the Path, and attained Arahatship just before they died. Abhisamaya is used either absolutely or in composition. Manabhisamaya (A. IV> 38, 5 = M. I, 12) certainly, and perhaps Atthabhisamaya, is used of Arahats, but they do not occur in our author. He uses occasionally Dhammabhisamaya (see pp. 255, 350, &c, of the Pali) and ^atu-sa/£Mbhisamaya (see pp. 171, 334, &c), but more frequently Abhisamaya absolutely. Dhammabhisamaya, ' penetration into, clear understanding of, the Dhammas or Dhamma,' may refer to the four Dhammas of Ahguttara IV, 1 (= M. P. S., IV, 2, 3), or to the comprehension of the qualities (Dhammas) of things, or (what is very much the same) to the comprehension of the principal doctrine (Dhamma) of the impermanence of all things. In the last case it would be the same thing, looked at from a slightly different point of view, as the Dhamma-hkkhu, the Eye for the Truths (see Sumahgala Vilasini I, 237), or as that insight (Vipassana) which is the entrance to the Path. But the four Truths (as to sorrow, &c.) are also important Dhammas, and as the expression -Afatu-sa^Mbhisamaya clearly refers to them and them only, this may also be the meaning of dhammabhisamaya, or at any rate of abhisarjraya standing above. So at least I take the latter here. We know that the ' Eye for the Dhamma,' the perception of the first only of the tini lakkhawani (impermanence), implies and involves the entrance into the Path. Oddly enough there is as yet no evidence to show whether the perception of the cardinal doctrine of the four Truths necessarily does so too; or can do so alone, without the Dhamma- £akkhu. If the latter, then there are two gates to the Path. And this is not only quite possible, but is the inference one might fairly draw from the constant phrase ' After the exposition of the Truths had concluded so and so attained to' one or other of the phalani.

p. 246

what kind of exposition shall I lay before you evidence showing that I know this x ? '

1 Do you yourself tell me V