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THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV, 8, 81.
in which fear and terror have been put away. As the terror, O king, so should you regard the anxiety which arises again and again on account of birth, old age, disease, and death, as the terrified man the man who is ordering his life aright, as the place of refuge Nirvana.
81. 'Or again, O king, as a man fallen on a spot filthy with dirt, and slime, and mud, when with a violent effort he has got rid of the mud, and escaped to a clean and spotless place, would experience supreme bliss—just so whosoever orders his life aright, he by his careful thinking will realise the supreme bliss of Nirvana, from which the stains and mud of evil dispositions have been removed. As the mud, O king, [325] so should you regard income, and honour, and praise !, as the man fallen into the mud the man who is ordering his life aright, as the clean and spotless place Nirvana.
82. 'And if again you should ask : “How does he who orders his life aright realise that Nirvana ?" (I should reply), He, O king, who orders his life aright grasps the truth as to the development of all things , and when he is doing so he perceives therein birth, he perceives old age, he perceives disease, he perceives death. But he perceives not therein either happiness or bliss, he perceives not therein, whether in the beginning, or the middle, or the end, anything worthy of being laid hold of (as lasting satisfaction). As a man, O king, if a mass of iron
* So also at Gâtaka IV, 222 (verse 48).
. Samkhârânam parattam sammasati. Compare Dharmapada, verse 374.
* Gay hûpagam; so the Simhalese.
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