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92
THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA.
II, 3, 8.
yield of growing crops !, and in the art of writing, O king, the beginner is clumsy. But after a certain time with attention and practice he becomes expert. Just so is it that, where sight has arisen, thought too by association springs up.'
And in response to similar questions, the Elder declared that in the same way thought sprang up wherever there was hearing, or taste, or smell, or touch : that in each case it was subsequent to the other, but arose without communication from [60] the natural causes above set out.
8. The king said: 'Where thought (mental perception 2) is, Nagasena, is there always sensation ?'
· Yes, where thought arises there is contact, and there is sensation, and there is idea, and there is conceived intention, and there is reflection, and there is investigation !
9. 'Reverend Sir, what is the distinguishing characteristic of contact (Phassa)?'
·Touch , O king.' * But give me an illustration.' It is as when two rams are butting together, O
progress of arithmetical knowledge. When our author wrote, the old way of counting on the fingers was still in vogue, but the modern system was coming into general use.
i Sankhâ, literally calculation,' but which Hardy amplifies into Kshetraya wriksha vilokaya kota phala pramânaya kiyannawa samkhyâ sâstraya.
· Mano-viññana as all through the last section. The reader must not forget that mano is here strictly an organ of sense, on an exact level with eye, ear, tongue, &c.
: Ketanâ, vitakko, and vikaro. See fuller further on, $$ 11, 13, 14.
• Phusana. So also Buddhaghosa at p. 63 of the Sumangala.
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