3.4.5. Renunciation again (MIL3.4.5)

The king said: ‘You told me, Nāgasena, that your renunciation was to the end that this sorrow might perish away, and no further sorrow might spring up.’

‘Yes, that is so.’

‘But is that renunciation brought about by previous effort, or to be striven after now, in this present time?’

The Elder replied: ‘Effort is now concerned with what still remains to be done, former effort has accomplished what it had to do.’

‘Give me an illustration.’

‘Now what do you think, O king? Is it when you feel thirst that you would set to work to have a well or an artificial lake dug out, with the intention of getting some water to drink?’

‘Certainly not, Sir.’

‘Just so, great king, is effort concerned now with what still remains to be done, former effort has accomplished what it had to do.’

‘Give me a further illustration.’

‘Now what do you think, O king? Is it when you feel hungry that you set to work to have fields ploughed and seed planted and crops reaped with the intention of getting some food to eat?’

‘Certainly not, Sir.’

‘Just so, great king, is effort concerned now with what still remains to be done, former effort has accomplished what it had to do.’

‘Give me a further illustration.’

‘Now what do you think, O king? Is it when the battle is set in array against you that you set to work to have a moat dug, and a rampart put up, and a watch tower built, and a stronghold formed, and stores of food collected? Is it then that you would have yourself taught the management of elephants, or horsemanship, or the use of the chariot and the bow, or the art of fencing?’

‘Certainly not, Sir.’

‘Just so, great king, is effort concerned now with what still remains to be done, former effort has accomplished what it had to do. For it has been thus said, O king, by the Blessed One:

“Betimes let each wise man work out
That which he sees to be his weal!
Not with the carter’s mode of thought, but firm
Let him, with resolution, step right out.
As a carter who has left the smooth high road,
And turned to byways rough, broods ill at ease —
(Like him who hazards all at dice, and fails)—
So the weak mind who still neglects the good,
And follows after evil, grieves at heart,
When fallen into the power of death, as he,
The ruined gamester, in his hour of need.”

‘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.