1. [414] 'Venerable Nâgasena, that one quality of the waterpot you say he ought to take, which is it?' 'Just, O king, as the waterpot when it is full gives forth no sound; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, even when he has reached the summit of Samanaship, and knows all tradition and learning and interpretation, yet should give forth no sound, not pride himself thereon, not show himself puffed up, but putting away pride and self-righteousness, should be straightforward, not garrulous of himself, neither deprecating others. This, O king, is the quality of the waterpot he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods, in the Sutta Nipâta: "What is not full, that is the thing that sounds, ____________________________ 2. 'Venerable Nâgasena, those two qualities of black iron you say he ought to take, which are they?' [415] 'Just, O king, as black iron even when
3. 'And again, O king, as black iron does not vomit up the water it has once soaked in 2; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, never give up the faith he has once felt in the greatness of the Blessed One, the Supreme Buddha, in the perfection of his Doctrine, in the excellence of the Order--never give up the knowledge he has once acquired of the impermanence of forms, or of sensations, or of ideas, or of qualities, or of modes of consciousness. This, O king, is the second quality of black iron he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods: "That man who is in insight purified, ____________________________ 4. 'Venerable Nâgasena, those three qualities of the sunshade 4 you say he ought to take, which are they?'
7. 'Venerable Nâgasena, those three qualities of the rice field you say he ought to have, which are they?' 'Just, O king, as the rice field is provided with canals for irrigation; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, be provided with the lists of the various duties incumbent on the righteous man--the canals that bring the water to the rice fields of the Buddha's doctrine 1. This, O king, is the first of the qualities of the rice field he ought to have. 8. 'And again, O king, just as the rice field is provided with embankments whereby men keep the water in, and so bring the crop to maturity; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, be provided with the embankments of righteousness of life, and shame at sin, and thereby keep his Samanaship intact, and gain the fruits thereof. This, O king, is the second quality of the rice field he ought to have. 9. 'And again, O king, just as the rice field is fruitful, filling the heart of the farmer with joy, so that if the seed be little the crop is great, and if the seed be much the crop is greater still; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, be fruitful to the bearing of much good fruit, making the hearts of those who support him to rejoice, so that where little is given the result is great, and where much is given the result is greater still.
____________________________ 10. [417] 'Venerable Nâgasena, those two qualities of medicine you say he ought. to take, which are they?' 'Just, O king, as vermin are not produced in medicine; just so, O king, should no evil dispositions be allowed to arise in the mind of the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort. This, O king, is the first of the qualities of medicine he ought to have. 11. 'And again, O king, just as medicine is an antidote to whatever poison may have been imparted by bites or contact, by eating or by drinking in any way; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, counteract in himself the poison of lusts, and malice, and dullness, and pride, and wrong belief, This, O king, is the second of the qualities of medicine he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all the gods: "The strenuous recluse who longs to see
12. 'Venerable Nâgasena, those three qualities of food you say he ought to take, which are they?' 'Just, O king, as food is the support of all beings, just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, be a handle, as it were, by which all beings may open the door of the noble eightfold path. This, O king, is the first of the qualities of food he ought to have. 13. 'And again, O king, just as food increases people's strength; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, grow in increase of virtue. This, O king, is the second of the qualities of food he ought to have. 14. 'And again, O king, just as food is a thing desired of all beings; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, be desired of all the world. This, O king, is the third of the qualities of food he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by Mahâ Moggallâna, the Elder: "By self-restraint, training, and righteousness, ____________________________ 15. [418] 'Venerable Nâgasena, those four qualities of the archer you say he ought to take, which are they?' Just, O king, as the archer, when discharging
16 . 4'And again, O king, as the archer carries a vice 5 for straightening out bent and crooked and
18. 'And again, O king, just as the archer practises early and late; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, practise meditation early and late. For it was said, O king, by Sâriputta, the Elder, the Commander of the Faith: "Early and late the true archer will practise, ____________________________ Here ends the fifth riddle, the riddle of the archer. ____________________________ Here end the two hundred and sixty-two questions of Milinda, as handed down in the book in its six parts, adorned with twenty-two chapters. Now those which have not been handed down are forty-
19. On the conclusion of this putting of puzzles and giving of solutions between the king and the Elder, this great earth, eighty-four thousand leagues in extent, shook six times even to its ocean boundary, the lightnings flashed, the gods poured down a rainfall of flowers from heaven, Mahâ Brahmâ himself signified his applause, and there was a mighty roar like the crashing and thundering of a storm in the mighty deep. And on beholding that wonder, the five hundred high ministers of the king, and all the inhabitants of the city of Sâgala who were there, and the women of the king's palace, bowed down before Nâgasena, the great teacher, raising their clasped hands to their foreheads, and departed thence 3. 20. [420] But Milinda the king was filled with joy of heart, and all pride was suppressed within him. And he became aware of the virtue that lay in the religion of the Buddhas, he ceased to have any doubt at all in the Three Gems 4, he tarried no longer in the jungle of heresy, he renounced all obstinacy; and pleased beyond measure at the high
Here ends the book of the puzzles and the solutions of Milinda and Nâgasena 3.
364:1 Sutta Nipâta III, 11, 43 (verse 721). 364:2 Kalâyasa. I suppose to distinguish it from bronze. 365:1 Suthito. 'Like a thin, strong creeper,' says the Simhalese. 365:2 There is no explanation in the Simhalese of this curious phrase. 365:3 Not traced as yet. Hînati-kumburê (p. 618) reads visesagunâ pavedhati, and mukhabhâvam eva so. 365:4 Khatta. As used by high officials, a circular sunshade supported, 367:1 As the pun on the two secondary meanings of mâtikâ, 'rule, line,' is untranslateable, I add here Hînati-kumburê's gloss on the simile. 368:1 Not traced as yet. 369:1 Not traced as yet. 370:1 Literally 'and his eyes.' 370:2 Nimittam ugum karoti. 'Keeps his mind directed,' says Hînati-kumburê, p. 621. 370:3 On other technical terms of archery, compare above, p. 352 (of the Pâli). 370:4 From this point to the end, Mr. Trenckner's text is taken from a MS. brought from Siam, as explained in his Introduction, pp. v, vi, and in my Introduction, I, xxiv. Hînati-kumburê gives no indication of any change here in the MSS. he used. 370:5 Âlaka, which Hînati-kumburê, p. 622, merely repeats. But see Dr. Morris, in the I journal of the Pâli Text Society,' 1886, p. 158. 371:1 Upâseti (only found here). Hînati-kumburê, p. 622, has abhyâsa karanneya. He gives the whole passage from katham maharâga yoginâ . . . . . . tatiyam angam gahetabbam in Pâli, and reads throughout upâsitabbam, without the omissions. 371:2 Parato, not in Childers, but see Magghima Nikâya, I, 435,500, where all these expressions occur together. 371:3 Palokato, from rug. 372:1 Vadhakato, 'untrustworthy as the man who assassinates his friend,' says Hînati-kumburê, p. 623. 372:2 Marâmisato, given by Hînati-kumburê both in the Pâli and Simhalese, but omitted by Mr. Trenckner. (Mrityu-mâra-klesa mârayanta âhâraya-wu-bœwim.) 372:3 Not traced as yet. 373:1 There are only thirty-eight in the list at VII, 1, r. 373:2 Before these last sentences (Now those . . . . . . Milinda), Hînati-kumburê has: 'Here ends that mirror of the good law called, "The Questions of Milinda."' Then he goes on as above. 373:3 I here follow Hînati-kumburê, who has apparently had a fuller text before him. 373:4 The Buddha, his religion, and his order. 375:1 This line is identical with the sixth line of the little poem on the gift of Wihâras preserved in the Kullavagga VI, 1, 5, and VI, 9, 2, and quoted as a whole in the Gâtaka, book I, 93, and in part above IV, 5, 1. This line also occurs, in a third connection, at Gâtaka IV, 354. 375:2 These verses differ from those here given by Hînati-kumburê, which I have quoted in the Introduction to this volume. 375:3 This closing title is omitted by Hînati-kumburê, who gives instead of it a second account of how he came to write his translation, and then adds as the closing title to his own book: 'Here ends the Srî Saddharmâdâsaya (the Mirror of the Good Law) made by Sînati-kumburê Sumangala, the Elder! [Sînati is merely the Elu form of the Simhalese word Hînati, which is the name of a plant, coryza sativa; and Hînati-kumburê is the locative of the name of the place, Hînati-field, where he was born. Every unnânsê in Ceylon has such a local name in addition to his religious name. And the religious names being often identical (there are, for instance, many Sumangalas), the Bhikkhus are usually spoken of by the former, and not by the latter.]THE SIMILES (continued).
61. THE WATERPOT.
That which is full is noiseless and at rest;
The fool is like an empty waterpot,
The wise man like a deep pool, clear and full 1."'62. BLACK IRON 2.
Trained in the doctrine of the Noble Ones,
Grasping distinctions as they really are,
What need hath he to tremble? Not in part
Only, but in its full extent, shall he
To the clear heights of Arahatship attain 3."'63. THE SUNSHADE.
The burning heat, and the god's mighty rain;
So doth the Buddha's son, all pure within,
Bearing the sunshade brave of righteousness,
Ward off the rain of evil tendencies,
And the dread heat of all the threefold fire 1."'
Which yieldeth to the sower the goodliest crop 1."'65. MEDICINE.
Into the nature, and the meaning true,
Of the constituent elements of things,
Must as it were an antidote become,
To the destruction of all evil thoughts 1."'
By duty done, and by attainments reached,
The strenuous recluse should make himself
To all men in the world a thing desired 1"'67. THE ARCHER.
'Tis only by never neglecting his art,
That he earns the reward and the wage of his skill.
So the sons of the Buddha, too, practise their art.
It is just by never neglecting in thought
The conditions of life in this bodily frame
That they gain the rich fruits which the Arahats love 3."'
Worthy of honour like the sacred pile
Beneath whose solid dome the bones of the great dead lie 2.'
Footnotes
