________________
118
4
Have you a state elephant, O king?'
'Certainly.' [76]
Well now, does that elephant ever trumpet
(literally "cry the heron's cry") ?'
'Oh, yes.'
But is he, then, on that account a follower of the herons ?'
"
"
THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA.
III, 6, 5.
'Of course not.'
'Now tell me, great king, has Brahmâ wisdom (Buddhi), or has he not?'
'He is a being with wisdom.'
6
'Then (on your argument) he is surely a follower of Buddha 2.'
Well answered, Nâgasena!'
6
5. The king said: 'Is ordination3 a good thing?' 'Yes, a good thing and a beautiful.'
'But did the Buddha obtain it, or not?'
'Great king, when the Blessed One attained omniscience at the foot of the tree of Knowledge, that was to him an ordination. There was no conferring of ordination upon him at the hands of others-in the way that the Blessed One laid down regulations for his disciples, never to be transgressed by them their lives long!'
'Very true, Nâgasena!'
This technical term for an elephant's trumpeting is not infrequent. See, for instance, Gâtaka I, 50.
As a matter of fact Brahmâ, the nearest approach in the Indian thought of that time to our idea of God, is always represented, in Buddhism, as a good Buddhist. See, for instance, 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 116, and my note at p. 117.
3 Upasampadâ. Admission to the higher grade in the Order. Mr. Trenckner again suspects something dropped out in this reply. But the connection of ideas seems to me quite sufficient.
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