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THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV, 7, 14.
did the Blessed One proclaim to his disciples the way to the realisation of Nirvâna. And yet you say that Nirvana is not the result of any cause!'
'No doubt, O king, the Blessed One gave hundreds of reasons for our entering on the way to the realisation of Nirvana. But he never told us of a cause out of which Nirvâna could be said to be produced.'
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14. Now in this, Nâgasena, we have passed from darkness into greater darkness, [269] from a jungle into a denser jungle, from a thicket into a deeper thicket-inasmuch as you say there is a cause for the realisation of Nirvâna, but no cause from which it can arise. If, Nâgasena, there be a cause of the realisation of Nirvâna, then we must expect to find a cause of the origin of Nirvâna. Just, Nâgasena, as because the son has a father, therefore we ought to expect that that father had a father-or because the pupil has a teacher, therefore we ought to expect that the teacher had a teacher-or because the plant came from a seed, therefore we ought to expect that the seed too had come from a seed1so, Nâgasena, if there be a reason for the realisation of Nirvâna, we ought to expect that there is a reason too for its origin,-just as if we saw the top of a tree, or of a creeper, we should conclude that it had a middle part, and a root.'
'Nirvana, O king, is unproduceable, and no cause for its origin has been declared.'
'Come now, Nâgasena, give me a reason for this. Convince me by argument, so that I may know how
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1 Compare the argument based above, II, 3, 2, on this and similar series.
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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 |