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THE QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES
IV, 6, 50.
[DILEMMA THE FIFTY-NINTH.
THE GUILTY RECLUSE.] 50. [257] Venerable Nâgasena, what is the distinction, what the difference, between a layman who has done wrong, and a Samana (member of the Order) who has done wrong? Will they both be reborn in like condition? Will the like retribution happen to both ? Or is there any difference?'
* There are, O king, ten qualities which abound in the guilty Samana, distinguishing him from the guilty layman. And besides that, in ten ways does the Samana purify the gifts that may be given him.
51. 'And what are the ten qualities which abound in the guilty Samana, distinguishing him from the guilty layman? The guilty Samana, o king, is full of reverence for the Buddha, for the Law, for the Order, and for his fellow-disciples; he exerts himself in putting questions about, and in recitation of (the sacred texts); he is devoted to learning, though he has done wrong. Then, O king, the guilty one entering the assembly, enters it decently clad, he guards himself alike in body and mind through fear of rebuke, his mind is set upon exerting himself (towards the attainment of Arahatship), he is of the companionship of the brethren. And even, O king, if he does wrong he lives discreetly. Just, o king, as a married woman sins only in secret and in privacy, so does the guilty Samana walk discreetly in his wrongdoing. These are the ten qualities, O king, found in the guilty Samana, distinguishing him from the guilty layman.
52. 'And what are the ten ways in which, besides,
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