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 366

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THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES VII, 4, 21.
abode; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, have no permanent resting-place, but without a home should go his rounds for alms. Full of insight, wherever he sees a pleasant suitable agreeable place', whether in a hut or at the foot of a tree, or in a cave, or on a mountain side, there should he dwell, not taking up a fixed abode. This, O king, is the third quality of the elephant he ought to have.
21.
And again, O king, as the elephant revels in the water, plunging into glorious lotus ponds full of clear pure cool water, and covered over with lotuses yellow, and blue, and red, and white, sporting there in the games in which the mighty beast delights; [399] just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, plunge into the glorious pond of self-possession, covered with the flowers of emancipation, filled with the delicious waters of the pure and stainless clear and limpid Truth; there should he by knowledge shake off and drive away the Samkhâras 2, there should he revel in the sport that is the delight of the recluse. This, O king, is the fourth quality of the elephant he ought to have.
22. And again, O king, as the elephant lifts up his foot with care, and puts it down with care; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, be mindful and self-possessed in lifting
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1 For dese bhavam the Simhalese reads desa-bhaga.
Samkhâra is here used in the sense in which they are said at Dhammapada, verse 203, to be paramâ dukkhâ. The word is there explained by the commentator (wrongly, I think) as the five Skandhas. The Simhalese, p. 596, simply has sarva samskâra dharmayam.
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