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98
THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV, 7, 9.
a great and mighty kingdom, would be unable to support the dignity of it!—just so if a layman attains to Arahatship, then is he unable, in that condition, to support it. [266] And that is the reason why he must, on that very day, either enter the Order or die away.'
Very good, Nagasena! That is so, and I accept it as you say.'
[Here ends the dilemma as to the lay Arahat.]
[DILEMMA THE SIXTY-THIRD. THE FAULTS OF THE ARAHAT.]
9. 'Venerable Någasena, can an Arahat be thoughtless ??'
"The Arahats, O king, have put thoughtlessness far from them. They are never inadvertent.'
But can an Arahat be guilty of an offence ?' Yes, O king.' 'In what respect ?'
'In the construction of his cell?, or in his intercourse (with the other sex)', or in imagining the wrong time (for the midday meal) to be the right
We have had the same simile above, IV, 6, 30. • Compare the note on Kullavagga V, 9, 5.
. Which must not exceed certain dimensions, &c. See the 6th Samghâdisesa ("Vinaya Texts,' I, pp. 8, 9).
• Sankaritte. Perhaps only the 5th Samghadisesa (loc. cit.) is here referred to, but Hinasi-kumburê (p. 375) takes it in a much more extended sense, as referring to all the restrictions, as to time and place, &c., laid down for the guidance of the brethren in their relations with women,
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