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VII, 4,9.
OF MILINDA THE KING.
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he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by Upasena Vanganta-putta, the Elder :
“ Bitter food too should he enjoy,
Nor long for what is sweet to taste. The mind disturbed by lust of taste Can ne'er enjoy the ecstacies Of meditations high. The man content With anything that's given-in him alone Is Samanaship made perfect ?."
37. THE DEER. 9. Venerable Nâgasena, those three qualities of the deer you say he ought to take, which are they?'
Just, О king, as the deer frequents the forest by day, and spends the night in the open air ; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, pass the day in the forest, and the night under the open sky. This, O king, is the first quality of the deer he ought to have. [396] For it was said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods, in the exposition called the Lomahamsana Pariyâya:
"And I, Säriputta, when the nights are cold and wintry, at the time of the eights (the Ashtaka festivals 2), when the snow is falling, at such times did I pass the night under the open sky, and the day in the woods. And in the last month of the hot season I spent the day under the open sky, and the night in the woods 3.".
1 Thera Gâthâ 580.
So called because they were held on the 8th day after the full moon in the two winter months. See the notes in Vinaya Texts,' I, p. 130, and in the Magghima, p. 536.
Magghima Nikâya I, p. 79. To quote this passage here as an authority the Bhikshu ought still to follow, is a striking instance of
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| SR No. | 007682 |
| Book Title | Questions of King Milinda Part 02 |
| 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 |