________________
II, 1, 14.
WISDOM.
61
lines would incline towards him, lead up to him, they would be so many mountain slopes, one above another, with him as their summit, round him they would all be ranged. [39] And it has been said, O king, by the Blessed One : “ Cultivate in yourself, O Bhikkhus, the habit of meditation. He who is established therein knows things as they really are?."'
Well put, Nagasena !'
14. The king said: "What Nâgasena, is the characteristic mark of wisdom ? ?'.
'I have already told you, O king, how cutting off, severance, is its mark 3, but enlightenment is also its mark.' ' And how is enlightenment its mark?'
When wisdom springs up in the heart, O king, it dispels the darkness of ignorance, it causes the radiance of knowledge to arise, it makes the light of intelligence to shine forth, and it makes the Noble Truths plain. Thus does the recluse who is devoted to effort perceive with the clearest wisdom the impermanency (of all beings and things), the suffering (that is inherent in individuality), and the absence of any soul.
• Give me an illustration.'
'It is like a lamp, o king, which a man might introduce into a house in darkness. When the lamp had been brought in it would dispel the darkness,
* Samyutta Nikaya XXI, 5.
• Paññá. Hardy in the Manual of Buddhism,' pp. 414, 415, gives a jumble of this passage and several others.
$ See above, p. 51.
• Vidamseti, not in Childers ; but compare Theri Gáthâ, 74 ; Anguttara III, 103; and Gâtaka III, 222.
Digitized by
Digitized by Google
