7.6.6. The Indian Crane (MIL7.6.6)

‘Venerable Nāgasena, that one quality of the Indian crane you say he ought to take, which is it?’

‘Just, O king, as the Indian crane by its cry makes known to other folk the good fortune or disaster that is about to happen to them; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort, make known to others by his preaching of the Dhamma how dreadful a state is purgatory, and how blissful is Nirvāṇa. This, O king, is the quality of the Indian crane he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by Piṇḍola Bhāra-dvāja, the elder:

“Two matters there are that the earnest recluse
Should ever to others be making clear—
How fearful, how terrible, purgatory is;
How great and how deep is Nirvāṇa’s bliss.”’

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.