Questions of King Milinda Part 02

SR No.: 007682
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

Page 319

VII, 1, 16.
OF MILINDA THE KING.
289
second of the qualities of the tortoise he ought to have.
14. [371] 'And again, O king, just as the tortoise gets up out of the water, and suns himself; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, when he rouses himself (withdraws his mind) out of meditation, -whether taken sitting, or lying down, or standing, or walking up and down,-sun his mind in the Great Struggle against evil dispositions. This, O king, is the third of the qualities of the tortoise he ought to have.
15. 'And again, o king, just as the tortoise, digging a hole in the ground, dwells alone; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, giving up worldly gain and honour and praise, take up his abode alone, plunging into the solitudes of empty lonely places in the groves and woods and hills, in caves and grottoes, noiseless and quiet. This, O king, is the fourth of the qualities of the tortoise he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by Upasena, the Elder, of the sons of the Vangantas: "Lonely and quiet places, haunts
Of the deer, and of wild beasts, Should the Bhikshu seek as his abode,
For solitude's sweet sake ?." 16. 'And again, O king, as the tortoise, when on his rounds he sees any one, draws in at once all his head and limbs into his shell, and hiding them there, keeps still in silence to save himself; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, wheresoever forms, or sounds, or odours, or tastes,
1 Thera Gathâ 577.
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