Questions of King Milinda Part 02

SR No.: 007682
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1894
Total Pages: 2240
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 38 MB

Page 214

184
THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV,8,60.
soldiers and their guards, and marching over ground even and uneven, tormented the while by gnats and mosquitoes and hot winds, engage in fierce fights, and suffer the presentiment of death ?'
That, venerable Nâgasena, is not what is called the bliss of sovranty. It is only the preliminary stage in the pursuit of that bliss. It is after they have thus, in pain, sought after sovranty, that they enjoy the bliss thereof. And thus that bliss, Nâgasena, is itself unmixed with pain, for the bliss of sovranty is one thing, and the pain another.'
"Just so, O king, is Nirvâna all bliss, and there is no pain mingled with it. Those who are in quest of Nirvana afflict their minds and bodies it is true, restrain themselves in standing, walking, sitting, lying, and in food, suppress their sleep, keep their senses in subjection, abandon their very body and their life. But it is after they have thus, in pain, sought after Nirvana, that they enjoy the Nirvana which is bliss unalloyed—as kings do the bliss of sovranty after their foes have been put down. Thus is it, О king, that Nirvana is all bliss, and there is no pain mingled with it. For Nirvana is one thing, and the pain another.
[315] 60. 'And hear another explanation, O king, of the same thing. Is there such a thing, O king, as the bliss of knowledge which those teachers have who have passed through their course?'
Yes, Sir, there is.' Well, is that bliss of knowledge alloyed with
pain ?'
No. What then, O king, is the good of their afflicting
Digitized by Google