"Or again he were to say, 'I will not have this arrow taken out until I have learnt whether the shaft which wounded me was wound round with the sinews of an ox, or of a buffalo, or of a ruru deer, or of a monkey.' "Or again he were to say, 'I will not have this arrow taken out until I have learnt whether the arrow which wounded me was an ordinary arrow, or a claw-headed arrow, or a vekanda, or an iron arrow, or a calf-tooth arrow, or a karavīrapatta.' That man would die, Māluñkyāputta, without ever having learnt this. In exactly the same way, Māluňkyǎputta, any one who should say, 'I will not lead the religious life under The Blessed One until The Blessed One shall elucidate to me either that the world is eternal, or that the world is not eternal, . . . or that the saint neither exists nor does not exist after death; '-that person would die, Māluňkyāputta, before The Tathāgata had ever elucidated this to him. "The religious life, Maluñkyāputta, does not depend on the dogma that the world is eternal; nor does the religious life, Māluňkyāputta, depend on the dogma that the world is not eternal. Whether the dogma obtain, Māluñkyāputta, that the world is eternal, or that the world is not eternal, there still remain birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair, for the extinction of which in the present life I am prescribing. "The religious life, Mäluñkyaputta, does not depend on the dogma that the world is finite; ... "The religious life, Māluňkyāputta, does not depend on the dogma that the soul and the body are identical; . . . "The religious life, Māluñkyaputta, does not depend on the dogma that the saint exists after death; ... "The religious life, Mäluñkyäputta, does not depend on the dogma that the saint both exists and does not exist after death; nor does the religious life, Māluñkyāputta, depend on the dogma that the saint neither exists nor does not exist after death. Whether the dogma obtain, Māluňkyāputta, that the saint both exists and does not exist after death, or that the saint neither exists nor does not exist after death, there still remain birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair, for the extinction of which in the present life I am prescribing. "Accordingly, Mäluñkyāputta, bear always in mind what it is that I have not elucidated, and what it is that I have elucidated. And what, Māluñkyāputta, have I not elucidated? I have not elucidated, Mäluñkyāputta, that the world is eternal; I have not elucidated that the world is not eternal; I have not elucidated that the world is finite; I have not elucidated that the world is infinite; I have not elucidated that the soul and the body are identical; I have not elucidated that the soul is one thing and the body another; I have not elucidated that the saint exists after death; I have not elucidated that the saint does not exist after death; I have not elucidated that the saint both exists and does not exist after death; I have not elucidated that the saint neither exists nor does not exist after death. And why, Māluňkyāputta, have I not elucidated this? Because, Māluňkyāputta, this profits not, nor has to do with the fundamentals of religion, nor tends to aversion, absence of passion, cessation, quiescence, the supernatural faculties, supreme wisdom, and Nirvana; therefore have I not elucidated it. "And what, Māluñkyāputta, have I elucidated? Misery, Mälunkyāputta, have I elucidated; the origin of misery have I elucidated; the cessation of misery have I elucidated; and the path leading to the cessation of misery have I elucidated. And why, Māluñkyāputta, have I elucidated this? Because, Māluňkyāputta, this does profit, has to do with the fundamentals of religion, and tends to aversion, absence of passion, cessation, quiescence, knowledge, supreme wisdom, and Nirvana; therefore have I elucidated it. Accordingly, Māluňkyäputta, bear always in mind what it is that I have not elucidated, and what it is that I have elucidated." Thus spake The Blessed One; and, delighted, the venerable Malunkyäputta applauded the speech of The Blessed One. The Lesser Māluňkyāputta Sermon. T THERE IS NO EGO 1. Translated from the Milindapañíha (251) HEN drew near Milinda the king to where the venerable Nagasena was; and having drawn near he greeted the venerable Nagasena; and having passed the compliments of friendship and civility, he sat down respectfully at one side. And the venerable Năgasena returned the greeting; by which, verily, he won the heart of king Milinda. And Milinda the king spoke to the venerable Nagasena as follows: "How is your reverence called? Bhante, what is your name?" "Your majesty, I am called Nagasena; my fellow-priests, your majesty, address me as Nagasena: but whether parents give one the name Nāgasena, or Sūrasena, or Vīrasena, or Sihasena, it is, nevertheless, your majesty, but a way of counting, a term, an appellation, a convenient designation, a mere name, this Nāgasena; for there is no Ego here to be found.” Then said Milinda the king, "Listen to me, my lords, ye five hundred Yonakas, and ye eighty thousand priests! Nāgasena here says thus: 'There is no Ego here to be found.' Is it possible, pray, for me to assent to what he says?" And Milinda the king spoke to the venerable Nāgasena as follows: "Bhante Nagasena, if there is no Ego to be found, who is it then furnishes you priests with the priestly requisites, -robes, food, bedding, and medicine, the reliance of the sick? who is it makes use of the same? who is it keeps the precepts? who is it applies himself to meditation? who is it realizes the Paths, the Fruits, and Nirvana? who is it destroys life? who is it takes what is not given him? who is it commits immorality? who is it tells lies? who is it drinks intoxicating liquor? who is it commits the five crimes that constitute 'proximate karma?" In that case, there is no merit; there is no demerit; there is no one who does or causes to be done meritorious or demeritorious deeds; neither good nor evil deeds can have any fruit or result. Bhante Nagasena, neither is he a murderer who kills a priest, nor can you priests, bhante Nagasena, have any teacher, preceptor, or ordination. When you say, 'My fellow-priests, your majesty, address me as Nagasena,' what then is this Nāgasena? Pray, bhante, is the hair of the head Nagasena?" "Nay, verily, your majesty." "Is the hair of the body Nagasena?" "Nay, verily, your majesty." 66 Are nails... teeth ... skin. . . flesh ... sinews ... bones.. marrow of the bones .. liver ... ... . . kidneys . . . heart pleura . . . spleen . . lungs intesstomach . . . faeces . . . bile... phlegm . . . pus . . . blood . . . sweat . . . fat tears tines ... mesentery ... ... ... lymph . . . saliva . . . snot ... synovial fluid urine... brain of the head Nāgasena?" "Nay, verily, your majesty." "Is now, bhante, form Nagasena ?" "Nay, verily, your majesty." "Is sensation Nagasena?" 66 Nay, verily, your majesty." Is perception Nāgasena?" "Nay, verily, your majesty." "Are the predispositions Nāgasena ?" "Nay, verily, your majesty." "Is consciousness Nāgasena?" 66 66 'Nay, verily, your majesty." Are, then, bhante, form, sensation, perception, the predispositions, and consciousness unitedly Nagasena?" 1 Translated from the Sarasañgaha, as quoted in Trenckner's note to this passage: "By proximate karma is meant karma that ripens in the next existence. To show what this is, I [the author of the Sarasangaha] give the following passage from the Atthanasutta of the first book of the AñguttaraNikaya: It is an impossibility, O priests, the case can never occur, that an individual imbued with the correct doctrine should deprive his mother of life, should deprive his father of life, should deprive a saint of life, should in a revengeful spirit cause a bloody wound to a Tathāgata, should cause a schism in the church. This is an impossibility.'" "Nay, verily, your majesty." "Is it, then, bhante, something besides form, sensation, perception, the predispositions, and consciousness, which is Nāgasena?" "Nay, verily, your majesty." "Bhante, although I question you very closely, I fail to discover any Nagasena. Verily, now, bhante, Nāgasena is a mere empty sound. What Nagasena is there here? Bhante, you speak a falsehood, a lie: there is no Nāgasena." Then the venerable Nagasena spoke to Milinda the king as follows: 66 Your majesty, you are a delicate prince, an exceedingly delicate prince; and if, your majesty, you walk in the middle of the day on hot sandy ground, and you tread on rough grit, gravel, and sand, your feet become sore, your body tired, the mind is oppressed, and the body-consciousness suffers. Pray, did you come afoot, or riding?" "Bhante, I do not go afoot: I came in a chariot." "Your majesty, if you came in a chariot, declare to me the chariot. Pray, your majesty, is the pole the 'Nay, verily, bhante." "Is the goading-stick the chariot?" "Nay, verily, bhante." 66 Pray, your majesty, are pole, axle, wheels, chariotbody, banner-staff, yoke, reins, and goad unitedly the chariot?" "Nay, verily, bhante." |