7.5.6. The Old Male Jackal (MIL7.5.6)

‘Venerable Nāgasena, the two qualities of the old male jackal you say he ought to take, which are they?’

‘Just, O king, as the old male jackal, whatever kind of food he finds, feels no disgust, but eats of it as much as he requires; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, eat without disgust such food as he receives with the sole object of keeping himself alive. This, O king, is the first quality of the old male jackal he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by Mahā Kassapa, the Elder:

“Leaving my dwelling-place, I entered once
Upon my round for alms, the village street.
A leper there I saw eating his meal,
And, as was meet, deliberately, in turn,
I stood beside him too that he might give a gift.
He, with his hand all leprous and diseased,
Put in my bowl—’twas all he had to give—
A ball of rice; and as he placed it there
A finger, mortifying, broke and fell.
Seated behind a wall, that ball of food
I ate, and neither when I ate it, nay,
Nor afterwards, did any loathing thought
Arise within my breast.”

‘And again, O king, as the old male jackal, when he gets any food, does not stop to examine it; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, never stop to find out whether food given to him is bitter or sweet, well-flavoured or ill—just as it is should he be satisfied with it. This, O king, is the second quality of the old male jackal he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by Upasena Vaṅganta-putta, the Elder:

“Bitter food too should he enjoy,
Nor long for what is sweet to taste.
The mind disturbed by lust of taste
Can ne’er enjoy the ecstacies
Of meditations high. The man content
With anything that’s given—in him alone
Is Samaṇaship made perfect.”’

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.