3.4.10. One not receiving Nibbāna knows it is happy (MIL3.4.10)

The king said: ‘Venerable Nāgasena, does he who does not receive Nirvāṇa know how happy a state Nirvāṇa is ?’

‘Yes, he knows it.’

‘But how can he know that without his receiving Nirvāṇa?’

‘Now what do you think, O king? Do those whose hands and feet have not been cut off know how sad a thing it is to have them cut off?’

‘Yes, Sir, that they know.’

‘But how do they know it?’

‘Well, by hearing the sound of the lamentation of those whose hands and feet have been cut off, they know it.’

‘Just so, great king, it is by hearing the glad words of those who have seen Nirvāṇa, that they who have not received it know how happy a state it is.’

‘Very good, Nāgasena!’

Here ends the Fourth Chapter.

The Questions of King Milinda, translated from the Pali by T.W. Rhys Davids.

Part 1 (to section 5.4.10) was originally published as Volume xxxv of “The Sacred Books of the East”, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1890.

Part 2 (from section 5.5.1) was originally published as Volume xxxvi of “The Sacred Books of the East”, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1894.

This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Bhikkhu Sujato based on the digital text of the Internet Sacred Text Archive. The work of the Sacred Text Archive to make this text publically available is gratefully acknowledged.

In preparing this edition minor editorial changes have been made. The structure has been adapted to agree with the Mahāsaṅgīti Pali text as found on SuttaCentral. In addition, the corrections proposed by the translator in the “Addenda et Corrigenda” of the original editions have for the most part been adopted.

This text is in the public domain. You are free to do whatever you wish with it.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.