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168
'THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA. IV, 1, 33.
has caused him to attain to the state of a PakkekaBuddha, what has he not done for him ?'
* But inasmuch as Devadatta, o king, having made a schism in the Order, suffers pain in purgatory, has not therefore the Blessed One done him wrong?''
No, Sir. That is Devadatta's own fault; and the Blessed One who mitigated his suffering has done him no harm.'
*Then accept this, o king, to the full as the reason for the Blessed One admitting Devadatta to the Order.
33. 'Hear another and further reason, O king, for his having done so. [112] Suppose in treating a wound full of matter and blood, in whose grievous hollow the weapon which caused it remained, which stank of putrid Alesh, and was made worse by the pain that varied with constantly changing symptoms, by variations in temperature, and by the union of the three humours,—windy, bilious, and phlegmatic ?,an able physician and surgeon were to anoint it with a rough, sharp, bitter, stinging ointment, to the end that the inflammation should be allayed. And when the inflammation had gone down, and the wound had become sweet, suppose he were then to cut into it with a lancet, and burn it with caustic. And when he had cauterised it, suppose he were to prescribe an alkaline wash, and anoint it with some drug to the end that the wound might heal up, and the sick man recover his health—now tell me, O king, would it be out of cruelty that the surgeon thus smeared with ointment, and cut with the lancet, and cauterised
1 The interpretation of some of the medical terms in this paragraph is very uncertain. See pp. 134, 252, 304 of the text.
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