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14
THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV, 5, 14.
thorough knowledge of it, saw by the eye of his wisdom', (and knew it) as the way that previous Buddhas trod. And therefore is it that he said:
"Now I perceived, O brethren, the ancient way, the ancient path along which previous Buddhas walked."
And it was a way which-there being, through the disappearance of previous Tathagatas, no teacher left-was a way then broken up, crumbled away, gone to ruin, closed in, and lost to view, that the Tathagata made now passable again. And therefore is it that he said:
“The Tathâgata, O brethren, the Arahat, the Buddha supreme, is the discoverer of a way that was unknown.”
14. Suppose, O king, that on the disappearance of a sovran overlord, the mystic Gem of Sovranty lay concealed in a cleft on the mountain peak, and that on another sovran overlord arriving at his supreme dignity, it should appear to him. Would you then say, O king, that the Gem was produced by him ?'
Certainly not, Sir! The Gem would be in its original condition. But it has received, as it were, a new birth through him.'
Just so, O king, is it that the Blessed One, gaining a thorough knowledge of it by the eye of
1 The wisdom arising from the perception of the Four Noble Truths' is Hînafi-kumbure's gloss.
* The wondrous Gem-treasure of the king of kings (the Veluriya, etymologically the same as beryl, but probably meaning cat's-eye) is supposed, like the other mystic treasures, to come to him of its own accord, on his becoming sovran overlord. See my Buddhist Suttas,' p. 256 (S. B. E., vol. xi).
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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 |