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 98

68
THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV, 6, 29.
healthy and the strong visit me!" Now, would then, O king, those men free from illness and disease, healthy and jubilant, get what they wanted from that physician?'
Certainly not, Sir! What men want from a physician, that would they have already obtained otherwise. What use would the physician be to them ?'
Just so, O king, had the Tathagata ordained that only those laymen who had already entered the first stage of the Excellent Way should be received into the Order, then would the advantages they seek in it have been already gained elsewhere. Of what use would the renunciation be to them then ?
29. Or suppose, O king, that some had had many hundreds of dishes of boiled milk-rice prepared', and were to have it announced to those about him:
Let not, Sirs, any hungry man approach to this feast of charity. Let those who have well fed, the satisfied, refreshed, and satiated?, those who have regaled themselves, and are filled with good cheer, - let them come to the feast." Now would any advantage, O king, be derived from the feast by those men thus well fed, satisfied, refreshed, satiated, regaled, and filled with good cheer?'
Certainly not, Sir! The very advantage they would seek in going to the feast, that would they have already attained elsewhere. What good would the feast be to them ?'
Just so, O king, had the Tathagata ordained that
As Agâtasattu is said to have done for Devadatta at Gâtaka I, 186.
* See above, IV, 6, 5.
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