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 96

66
THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV, 6, 27.
would not eat, enter, of itself, into his mouth? What fault is there in the food ?”.
Just so, O king, has the Tathagata placed the most excellent, good, auspicious, delicate ambrosial food, surpassing sweet, of the realisation of the impermanency of all things?, into the casket of his religion, thinking : "May all those of conscious sentient beings who feel within them the torment of sin?, whose hearts are deadened by cravings, feeding upon this food, allay every longing that they have for future life in any form, in any world.” And if any one, without enjoying this food, should turn back, still dominated by his cravings, and return once more to the lower state, it is he whom the people will blame, saying: “This man entered religion according to the doctrine of the Conquerors, and finding no resting-place within it, has returned again to the lower state. How could the religion of the Conquerors, of itself, purify him who would not regulate his life in accordance with it? What fault is there in the system?”.
27. 'If the Tathagata, O king, had let a householder be received into the Order only after he had been trained in the first stage of the Excellent Way, then would renunciation of the world no longer indeed be said to avail for the putting away of evil qualities, for purification of heart—then would there be no longer any use in renunciation. It would be as if a man were to have a bathing tank excavated
Kayâgata-sati: literally 'intentness of mind on (the truth relating to) bodies.'
• Kilesa-kilant-agghattâ. Compare khâtagghattam, Gåtaka I, 345.
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