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THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA.
III,7,14.
* Because the water in it has stood so long, therefore it is all of one taste, the taste of salt?'
Very good, Nâgasena !'
14. The king said: 'Can even the most minute thing, Nâgasena, be divided ?'
Yes, it can.' * And what, Sir, is the most minute of all things.'
'Truth (Dhamma), o king, is the most minute and subtle. But this is not true of all qualities (Dhamma). Subtleness or the reverse are epithets of qualities. But whatever can be divided that can wisdom (Pañña) divide, and there is no other quality which can divide wisdom.'
Very good, Nagasena !'
15. The king said: “These three, Någasena, - perception, and reason, and the soul in a being,—are they all different both in letter and in essence, or the same in essence differing only in the letter ?'
Recognition, O king, is the mark of perception, and discrimination of reason, and there is no such thing as a soul in beings 8.'
In the same way the Buddhist religion (the DhammaVinaya) is said in the K’ullavagga IX, 1, 4, to be all of one taste, the taste of salvation, emancipation' (Vimutti).
So also above, II, 3, 12. Here the words are Vigânanalakk hanam vinnanam, pagananâ-lakkhana panna, which the Ceylon translator amplifies into 'As a peasant, on seeing grains of gold, would recognise them as valuable, so is it the characteristic of viññana to recognise aramunu (objects of sense) when it sees them. As a goldsmith, on seeing grains of gold, would not only know they were valuable, but also discriminate their value (as large or small), so is it the characteristic of paññâ, not only to recognise, but also to discriminate between the objects of sense.'
See above, II, 3, 6, and II, 3, 16. Hînati-kumburê here renders
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