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26
THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA.
I, 32.
entered, as he sat there, upon the stream (that is to say, upon the first stage of the Excellent Way to Arahatship).
32. Then the venerable Assagutta, as he was sitting in his arbour, was aware that they both had attained to insight, and he exclaimed: 'Well done! well done, Nagasena! by one arrow shot you have hit two noble quarries!' And at the same time thousands of the gods shouted their approval.
Now the venerable Nâgasena arose and returned to Assagutta, and saluting him, took a seat reverently apart. And Assagutta said to him: 'Do thou now go, Nâgasena, to Pâtaliputta. There, in the Asoka Park, dwells the venerable Dhammarakkhita. Under him you should learn the words of the Buddha.'
'How far is it, Sir, from here to Pâtaliputta.' 'A hundred leagues', Nâgasena.'
'Great, Sir, is the distance. It will be difficult to get food on the way. How shall I get there?'
'Only go straight on, Nâgasena. You shall get food on the way, rice from which the black grains have been picked out, with curries and gravies of various sorts.'
'Very well, Sir!' said Nâgasena, and bowing
only have it, because they have all the powers possessed by those in the previous stages of the path, and it is only superior as being above and beyond the intelligence of the worldly wise, or even of the mere moralist. It is less than the 'Divine Eye,' and Nâgasena was not yet an Arahat. Compare the passages quoted by Childers under Dhamma-kakkhu and Dibba-kakkhu, and also Mahâvagga I, 6, 33; Gâtaka I, 140; Sumangala Vilâsinî, 237, 278.
1 Yoganas: that is, leagues of seven miles each. See my 'Ancient Coins and Measures of Ceylon,' p. 16, in Thomas's 'Numismata Orientalia,' vol. i.
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