3.4.1. Unblending (MIL3.4.1)

The king said: ‘When those conditions (whose marks you have just specified) have run together, is it possible, by bending them apart one to one side and one to the other, to make the distinction between them clear, so that one can say:, “This is contact, and this sensation, and this idea, and this intention, and this perception, and this reflection, and this investigation”?’

‘No: that cannot be done.’

‘Give me an illustration.’

‘Suppose, O king, the cook in the royal household were to make a syrup or a sauce, and were to put into it curds, and salt, and ginger, and cummin seed, and pepper, and other ingredients. And suppose the king were to say to him: “Pick out for me the flavour of the curds, and of the salt, and of the ginger, and of the cummin seed, and of the pepper, and of all the things you have put into it.” Now would it be possible, great king, separating off one from another those flavours that had thus run together, to pick out each one, so that one could say: “Here is the sourness, and here the saltness, and here the pungency, and here the acidity, and here the astringency, and here the sweetness”?’

‘No, that would not be possible . But each flavour would nevertheless be distinctly present by its characteristic sign.’

‘And just so, great king, with respect to those conditions we were discussing.’

‘Very good, Nāgasena!’

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.

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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.