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THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV, 6, 14.
messenger, to a general or a chaplain,-would that man become greater than, or superior to, the king, merely by the fact that it was he who got the present1?'
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'Certainly not, Sir! That man receives his wage from the king, from the king he gains his livelihood; it was the king who, having placed him in that office, gave him the present.'
'And just so, O king, the Order did not become greater than, or superior to, the Tathagata merely by the fact of that gift. The Order is, as it were, the hired servant of the Tathagata, and gains its livelihood through the Tathâgata. And it was the Tathagata who, having placed it in that position, caused the gift to be given it.
14. 'And further the Tathagata, O king, thought thus: "The Order is by its very nature worthy of gifts. I will therefore have this thing, my property though it be, presented to it," and so he had the wrapper given to the Order. For the Tathagata, O king, magnifies not the offering of gifts to himself, but rather to whomsoever in the world is worthy of having gifts presented to him. For this was said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods, in the most excellent Magghima Nikâya, [242] in the religious discourse entitled Dhamma-dâyâda, when he was exalting the attainment of being content with little :
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'He would become the first of my Bhikkhus, the most worthy of presents and of praise ?."
15. And there is not, O king, in the three worlds
The same simile has already occurred, vol. i, p. 220 (IV, 2, 22). 'Magghima Nikâya, vol. i, p. 13 (in 'Mr. Trenckner's edition for the Pâli Text Society).
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Digitized by
| 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 |