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II, 3, 10.
SENSATION AND IDEA.
93
king. The eye should be regarded as one of those two, the form (object) as the other, and the contact as the union of the two.'
Give me a further illustration.' 'It is as when two cymbals 1 are clashed together. The one is as the eye, the other as the object, and the junction of the two is like contact.'
Very good, Nagasena !'
10. Reverend Sir, what is the characteristic mark of sensation (Vedana) ?' "The being experienced, great king, and enjoyed 2.'
Give me an illustration.' 'It is like the case of the man' on whom the king, pleased with a service he has rendered him, should bestow an office. He while living, through that appointment, in the full possession and enjoyment of all the pleasures of sense, would think : "Formerly I did the king a service. For that the king, pleased with me, gave me this office. It is on that account that I now experience such sensations."-And it is like the case of the man [61] who having done good deeds is re-born, on the dissolution of the body after death, into some happy conditions of bliss in heaven. He, while living there in the full possession and enjoyment of all the pleasures of sense, would think : "Formerly I must have done good deeds. It is on that account that I now experience such sensations.” Thus is it, great king, that the being experienced and enjoyed is the characteristic mark of sensation.'
Very good, Nâgasena!'
1 Sammâ, compare Theri Gâthâ, 893, 911. * Buddhaghosa, loc. cit., only gives the first of these.
See for a similar illustration above, II, 2, 7, p. 76.
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