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206
THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
BOOK V.
V, I.
THE PROBLEM OF INFERENCE.
[329] 1. Now Milinda the king went up to the place where Nâgasena was, and bowed down before him, and took his seat on one side. And when so seated he, longing to know, to hear, and to remember, and longing to make the light of knowledge arise and to break in pieces his ignorance, roused up in himself courage and zeal, and, full of self-possession and thoughtfulness, spake thus to Nâgasena :
2. 'Venerable Nâgasena, tell me, have you ever seen the Buddha1?'
'No, O king.'
'Then have your teachers ever seen the Buddha?' 'No, Sire.'
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'So you say, venerable Nâgasena, that you have never seen the Buddha, and that your teachers have never seen the Buddha. Therefore, Nâgasena, the Buddha did not exist. There is no clear evidence, in that case, of a Buddha.'
'But did those Kshatriyas of old exist, who were the founders of the line of kings from which you come?'
'Certainly, Sir. How can there be any doubt about that?'
'Well, O king. Have you ever seen them?' 'No, Sir.'
A similar question has been already asked above, III, 5, 1 (I, 109).
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