6.2.9. Dilemma the Sixty-Ninth. The Heat Of the Sun (MIL6.2.9)

‘Venerable Nāgasena, does this sun always burn fiercely, or are there times when it shines with diminished heat?’

‘It always burns fiercely, O king, never gently.’

‘But if that be so, how is it that the heat of the sun is sometimes fierce, and sometimes not ?’

‘There are four derangements, O king, which happen to the sun, and affected by one or other of these its heat is allayed. And what are the four? the clouds, O king, and fog, and smoke, and eclipses —these are the four derangements which happen to the sun, and it is when affected by one or other of these that its heat is allayed.’

‘Most wonderful, Nāgasena, and most strange that even the sun, so transcendent in glory, should suffer from derangement-how much more then other, lesser, creatures. No one else could have made this explanation except one wise like you!’

Here ends the dilemma as to the heat of the sun.

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.