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

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THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
VII, 3, 4.
or cracks in it, thick, dense, and spreading itself out on every side. This, O king, is the third quality of the earth he ought to have.
4. 'And again, O king, as the earth is never weary, though it bears up the villages and towns and cities and countries, the trees and hills and rivers and ponds and lakes, the wild creatures and birds and men, multitudes of men and women; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, be never weary in giving exhortation and admonition and instruction and education, in rousing and inciting and gladdening, and at the expositions of the faith. This, O king, is the fourth quality of the earth he ought to have.
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5. And again, O king, as the earth is free alike from fawning and from ill-will; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, continue in spirit, like the earth, free alike from fawning upon any man, from ill-will to any man. This is the fifth quality of the earth he ought to have. [383] For it was said, O king, by the devoted woman, Kulla Subhaddâ, when she was exalting the recluses of her own sect 2:
This simile has already occurred above, I, 258, 259 (of the translation).
• The Simhalese (pp. 563, 564) gives the whole story. She was the daughter of Anâthapindika (Sudatta), the famous supporter of the Buddha, and builder of the Getavana at Sâvatthi. On her marriage to a rich merchant at Sâketa (Audh) named Kâlaka, he invited the Brahman naked ascetics of his sect, the Âgîvakas, and asked her to go and entertain 'the Arahats.' Hearing the word Arahat she went quickly and full of delight to do so; and was shocked beyond measure to find a number of disorderly fakîrs, with neither modesty in their hearts, nor decency in their outward behaviour. So she fled from the hall, and on her husband remonstrating, was indignant. He then asked her what the recluses
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