3.7.8. Intentional wrong doing (MIL3.7.8)

The king said: ‘Whose, Nāgasena, is the greater demerit—his who sins consciously, or his who sins inadvertently?’

‘He who sins inadvertently, O king, has the greater demerit.’

‘In that case, reverend Sir, we shall punish doubly any of our family or our court who do wrong unintentionally.’

‘But what do you think, O king? If one man were to seize hold intentionally of a fiery mass of metal glowing with heat, and another were to seize hold of it unintentionally, which would be more burnt?’

‘The one who did not know what he was doing.’

‘Well, it is just the same with the man who does wrong.’

‘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.

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

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.