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VII, 5, 19.
Or righteousness, or knowledge of the word, Or understanding, or self-sacrifice,
OF MILINDA THE KING.
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Or in religion, or in all good things,
Or in their stores of wealth, or corn, or lands, Or tenements, or in their sons, or wives, Or in their flocks and herds, or in their friends, And relatives, and kinsmen, or in strength, In beauty, and in joy'-'tis thus he thinksLonging for other men's advantage and success1!"''
48. THE LEECH.
19. 'Venerable Nâgasena, that one quality of the leech which you say he ought to take, which is it?'
'Just, O king, as the leech, wheresoever it is put on, there does it adhere firmly, drinking the blood; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, on whatsoever subject for meditation he may fix his mind, call that subject firmly up before him in respect of its colour, and shape, and position, and extension, and boundaries, and nature, and characteristic marks, drinking the delicious draught of the ambrosia of emancipation. This, O king, is the quality of the leech he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by Anuruddha, the Elder:
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'With heart made pure, in meditation firm, Drink deep of freedom's never-failing draught ".""
This is from the 30th Sutta in the Dîgha Nikâya, where it occurs in the description of the Bodisat.
2 Not traced as yet. Childers translates asekana by 'charming,' &c., apparently on the authority of Subhûti's English gloss on Abhidhana Padîpikâ 597. But that meaning is rather the point of union between all the synonyms given in the verse, and not the exact meaning of each of them. The word, either in its simple form, or with an added -ka, occurs in Theri Gâthâ 55; Magghima Nikâya I, 114.
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| SR No. | 007682 |
| Book Title | Questions of King Milinda Part 02 |
| 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 |