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TUE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV, 8, 23.
thought shameful, looked down upon, held blameworthy, treated with contumely, not loved. And what are the ten? A woman without a husband, O king, and a weak creature, and one without friends or relatives, and a glutton, and one dwelling in a disreputable family, and the friend of sinners, and he whose wealth has been dissipated, and he who has no character, and he who has no occupation, and he who has no means. These are the ten despised and contemned in the world, thought shameful, looked down upon, held blameworthy, treated with contumely, not loved 2. It was on calling these conditions to mind, o king, that this idea occurred to the Bodisat: “Let me not incur blame among gods and men as being without occupation or without means! Let me as a master in action, held in respect by reason of action, one having the supremacy which arises from action, one whose conduct is based upon action, one who carries action (into every concern of life), one who has his dwelling in action, be constant in earnestness 4.” That was the spirit, o king, in which the Bodisat, when he was bringing his knowledge to maturity, undertook the practice of penance.'
23. 'Venerable Nâgasena, the Bodisat, when he was undergoing penance, said thus to himself:
i Kamma is here explained by Hînaf-kumburê by karmânta (such as husbandry or merchandise').
? On this list of epithets compare above, p. 229 (of the Pali).
• Kamma-dhoreyyo. The latter word is not in Childers. Hînati-kumburê (p. 427) has karmayama usulanna wû. It is the Sanskrit dhaureya, and the whole might be rendered like a beast of burden whose load is action.
• Appamàdo-that constant theme of praise and exhortation in the early Buddhist books.
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