King Milindu (Menander I) & Arahanth Nagasena (Part 4)
From TheBuddhism.Net
King Milindu’s fourth major question was…
Venerable Sir, can we separately show ‘contact’, ‘feeling or sensation’, ‘perception’, ‘thought’ and ‘consciousness’, from each other?
No dear king, we cannot. Consider a curry. After it is made, we cannot separate the salty taste, herbal taste and the milky taste from each other and give them singly. Similarly, ‘contact’, ‘feeling or sensation’, ‘perception’, ‘thought’ and ‘consciousness’, cannot be shown separately from each other; but they could be pointed out from their characteristics.
Venerable Sir, are the five sense organs, the eyes, nose, ears, tongue and body the result of the same deed (Karma) or the result of several deeds?
Dear king, the five organs are the result of several deeds, not of one and the same. Consider a field where five types of paddy are sawn. The harvest you get consists of five different types of grains.
Venerable Sir, what is the factor which makes the human beings different from each other?
Dear king, the diversity in the merits and the sins they have committed makes the humans different from each other. Some have short lives and some long lives; some are rich while some are poor; some are sick and some have only little ailments; some are dark and some are fair; some have a large entourage while others have a small backup or no backup at all; some are born in low casts and some in high casts; some are intelligent and some are ignorant.
Dear king, once our Great Buddha said to a man called Subha that beings inherit ‘Karma’ (deeds good or bad committed by them), they are related to ‘Karma’ and they are different from each other because of ‘Karma’.
Venerable Sir, you say that the fire of suffering in hell is more intense and more dangerous than in this world. If so, why do the hell beings go on suffering for ten thousands of years instead of being destroyed by it?
Dear King, the cow alligators and peahens eat stones and gravel. They digest inside their stomachs. But, the embryos inside their stomachs do not get destroyed like those stones. It is because of their ‘Karma’. Similarly, the hell beings do not get killed or die because their sins (results of bad deeds) are too strong.
Venerable Sir, are ‘cessation’ and ‘Nirvana’ the same?
Dear king, the humans are very fond of the five sense organs and their corresponding objects because of their great sins and defilements. And, also because of their habitual experience in the circle of rebirths. They commend and admire them. They are immersed in them. Thus the humans are born again and again in the circle of rebirths. They do not free themselves from old age, sickness and death.
But the Buddha’s disciple who sees the evil effects of the five sense organs and their corresponding objects is indifferent to them. His desire ceases. His ‘clinging for self’ dies away. His becoming (existence) ends, by which his birth as a God, a Brahma and a Human ceases. Therefore, he ends his suffering by the cessation of old age, sickness and death. Thus, the cessation of the performance of the six gateways (eyes, nose, ears, tongue, body, mind) is called Nirvana.
Venerable Sir, do all attain Nirvana?
Dear king, all cannot attain Nirvana. Only the person who knows about suffering and dispenses with the reason for the suffering (desire), and uses the path to end suffering (the Eight Noble Truths) and understands the cessation of suffering (Nirvana) attains Nirvana.
Venerable Sir, how does a person who has not attained Nirvana gets to know about the pleasure in it?
Dear king, we know the agony of severing the limbs even if we have not faced it since we have heard the victims’ expression of grief. Similarly, we know the ecstasy of Nirvana by the joyful words of those who have attained it.
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Wonderful questions by this sagely king and sagely answers too