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 389

VII, 6, 23.
OF MILINDA THE KING.
359
attention fixed on the particular object which is the subject of his thought. This, o king, is the second quality of the hunter he ought to have.
22. ‘And again, O king, just as the hunter knows the right time for his work; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, know the right time for retirement, saying to himself: "Now is the right time to retire. Now is the right time to come out of retirement." This, O king, is the third quality of the hunter he ought to have.
23. 'And again, O king, just as the hunter on catching sight of a deer experiences joy at the thought: “Him shall I get!" just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, rejoice at the sight of an object for contemplation, and experience joy at the thought: “Thereby shall I grasp the specific idea of which I am in search ?." This, O king, is the fourth quality of the hunter he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by Mogharåga, the Elder :
1 Uttarim visesam udhigakkhissâmi. Hînati-kumbure, p. 614, renders this,'shall I arrive at the advantage of the attainment of the fruits of the path.' And he may be right, as the word uttarim is used. But the context seems to imply the rendering I have ventured to give, which preserves the usual connotation in this connection of the other two words of the phrase. A Bhikshu, for instance, on seeing a faded flower, will try to realise, to conjure up before his mind, the real fact of the transitoriness of all earthly (and of all heavenly things. That is the specific idea of which he is in search, the deer he has to catch. No doubt it is only an intermediate step to the realisation of the fruits of the path. But as visesam adhigakkhati is the technical term for success in such meditation, I cannot but think that the mind of our author was directed to the intermediate, rather than to the later stage of the Bhikshu's endeavour. The Simhalese has, perhaps, been guided by the verse, but there the word visesam is omitted.
Digitized by Google