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BOOK 2, LECTURE 6.
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baby, mistaking him for a gourd, he will not be guilty of murder according to our views. (27)
'If anybody thrusts a spit through a man or a baby, mistaking him for a fragment of the granary, puts him on the fire, and roasts him, that will be a meal fit for Buddhas to break fast upon. (28)
'Those who always feed two thousand worthy monks, acquire great merit 1 and become powerful gods in Arūpa (dhâtu)?' (29)
Ârdraka. "Well-controlled men cannot accept (your denial of) guilt incurred by (unintentionally) doing harm to living beings. It will cause error and no good to both who teach such doctrines and who believe them. (30)
"A man who knows the nature of movable and immovable living beings, above, below, and on earth, who is afraid of injuring them and abstains from wicked deeds, may speak and act (in accordance with our Law); he will not be guilty of any (sin). (31)
“It is impossible to mistake (a fragment of the granary) for a man; only an unworthy man can say it. How can (the idea of a man) be produced by a fragment of the granary? Even to utter this is an untruth. (32)
"Do not use such speech by means of which you do evil; for such speech is incompatible with virtues. No ordained (monk) should speak empty words 3. (33)
1 Punnakhandha=punya skandha.
? Âroppa. This is apparently derived from Arûpa as rendered in the text. Arûpadhâtu is the highest heaven of the Buddhists; compare Burnouf, Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi, p. 807.
s Urâla= udara, here explained nissara, void of sense.