3.6.2. Did the Buddha see the future? (MIL3.6.2)

The king said: ‘Did the Buddha, Nāgasena, the omniscient one, foresee all things?’

‘Yes. The Blessed One was not only omniscient. He foresaw all things.’

‘Then why was it that he was in the habit only from time to time, and as occasion arose, of laying down rules for the members of the Order ?’

‘Is there any physician, O king, who knows all the medicinal drugs to be found on the earth?’

‘Yes, there may be such a man.’

‘Well, O king, does he give his decoctions to the patient to drink at a time when illness has already set in, or before that?’

‘When the malady has arisen.’

‘Just so, great king, the Blessed One, though he was omniscient and foresaw all things, laid down no rule at an unseasonable time, but only when need arose did he establish a regulation which his disciples were not to transgress as long as they lived.’

‘Well answered, 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.