7.4.5. The Rock (MIL7.4.5)

‘Venerable Nāgasena, the five qualities of the rock that you say he ought to have, which are they?’

‘Just, O king, as rock is firm, unshaken, immoveable; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, never be excited by alluring things—forms, or sounds, or scents, or tastes, or touch—by veneration or contempt, by support or by neglect, by reverence or its absence, by honour or dishonour, by praise or blame, nor should he be offended by things that give offence, nor bewildered on occasions of bewilderment, neither should he quake nor tremble, but like a rock should he be firm. This, O king, is the first quality of the rock he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods:

“The solid rock’s not shaken by the wind,
Just so the wise man falters not, nor shakes,
At praise or blame.”

‘And again, O king, as a rock is firm, unmixed with extraneous things; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, be firm and independent, given to association with none. This, O king, is the second quality of the rock he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods:

“The man who mixes not with householders,
Nor with the homeless, but who wanders lone,
Without a home, and touched by few desires—
That is the man I call a Brāhmaṇa.”

‘And again, O king, as on the rock no seed will take root; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, never permit evil dispositions to take root in his mind. This, O king, is the third quality of rock that he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by Subhūti, the Elder:

“When lustful thoughts arise within my heart,
Examining myself, alone I beat them down.
Thou who’rt by lust excited, who by things
That give offence, allowest of offence,
Feeling bewildered when strange things occur,
Thou shouldst retire far from the lonely woods.
For they’re the dwelling-place of men made pure,
Austere in life, free from the stains of sin.
Defile not that pure place. Leave thou the woods.”

‘And again, just as the rock rises aloft, just so should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, rise aloft through knowledge. This is the fourth quality of the rock he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods:

“When the wise man by earnestness has driven
Vanity far away, the terraced heights
Of wisdom doth he climb, and, free from care,
Looks over the vain world, the careworn crowd—
As he who standing on the mountain top
Can watch his fellow-men still toiling on the plain.”

‘And again, O king, just as the rock cannot be lifted up nor bent down; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, be neither lifted up nor depressed. This, O king, is the fifth quality of the rock he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by the devout woman, culla Subhaddā, when she was exalting the recluses of her own sect:

“The world is lifted up by gain, depressed by loss.
My Samaṇas remain alike in gain or loss.”’

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.