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IV, 6, 34.
OF MILINDA THE KING.
the abode of mighty creatures. Just so, O king, when whosoever are sinful, foolish, with their zeal evaporated, distressed, impure, and bad, have been admitted into the religion of the Conquerors, it is not long before they abandon that religion, and dwelling no longer in it—the abode of the mighty, the Arahats, purified, and free from the Great Evils ?
—they return to the lower state. And why so ? Because it is impossible for the wicked to dwell in the religion of the Conquerors. Thus is it, o king, that they show forth the impossibility of the sinful to abide within it together with the good.
34. 'And how do they show how difficult a state it is to grasp ? Just, О king, as archers who are clumsy, untrained, ignorant, and bereft of skill, are incapable of high feats of archery, such as hairsplitting ?, but miss the object, and shoot beyond the mark. And why so ? Because of the fineness and minuteness of the horse-hair. [251] Just so, O king, when foolish, stupid, imbecile 3, dull, slow-minded
1 They are lust, dulness, delusion, and ignorance.
2 Vâlaggavedham,'hair-splitting;' which is also used in the Pitakas in the secondary sense we too have given to it.
$ Elamûga, supposed to mean literally deaf and dumb;' but often (if not always) used in this secondary sense. See Gâtaka I, 247, 248 (where both MSS. read elamūga), and Magghima Nikâya I, 20 (where Mr. Trenckner has an interesting note). In both places the fifth century commentators explain the word by lala-mukha, drivelling,' supposing it to be derived from ela, 'saliva,' and mukha, 'mouth.' This is certainly wrong, for the last part of the compound is mûka, dumb.' The fact is that the word was a puzzle, even then. The meaning assigned to it by both Páli and Sanskrit lexicographers of deaf and dumb' has not yet been confirmed by a single passage either in Pali or Sanskrit. And as eda, sheep,' is common in both, in its longer form of edaka, elaka, the compound probably meant originally as dumb
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