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88
THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA.
II, 3, 6.
Yes, I should know it.'
Well, great king, would the living principle within discern, in like manner, if anything possessing flavour were laid upon the tongue, its sourness, or its saltness, or its acidity, or its pungency, or its astringency, or its sweetness ??'
'Yes, it would know it.'
'But when the flavour had passed into the stomach would it still discern these things ?'
Certainly not.'
Then these powers are not united one to the other indiscriminately. Now suppose, O king, a man were to have a hundred vessels of honey brought and poured into one trough, and then, having had another man's mouth closed over and tied up, were to have him cast into the trough full of honey. Would he know whether that into which he had been thrown was sweet or whether it was not?'
No, Sir.' But why not ?' Because the honey could not get into his mouth.' *Then, great king, these powers are not united one to another indiscriminately?'
'I am not capable of discussing with such a reasoner. Be pleased, Sir, to explain to me how the matter stands.
Then the Elder convinced Milinda the king with discourse drawn from the Abhidhamma, saying: 'It is by reason, O king, of the eye and of forms that sight arises, and those other conditions contact,
1 This list recurs below, II, 4, 1.
9 That is: 'Your “living principle within" cannot make use of whichever of its windows it pleases. And the simile of a man inside a house does not hold good of the soul.' See the end of II, 3, 16.
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