Extract Prom the "Milinda Pracna."¹

(Conversation between a King and a Buddhist Missionary.)

King Milinda: You speak of Nirvana; but can you show it me, or explain it to me through the color, whether it be blue, yellow, red, or any other color; or by sign, place, length, method, metaphor, causality, or order; through one of these means, or in one of these manners, can you explain it to me?

The Missionary Nagasena: I cannot explain it through one of these attributes or qualities.

Milinda: I really cannot believe that.

Nagasena: There is the great ocean. If anyone should ask you how many measures of water are there, or how many living creatures it contains, what would you say ?

Milinda: I should say that it was not a proper question; for it is one that no one can answer.

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Nagasena: In the same way one cannot give the size, form, color, or the other attributes of Nirvana, although it possesses its peculiar and proper character. A rishi (saint) might be able to answer the question I put; but he could not explain the properties of Nirvana, nor could any deva (god) of the invisible world.

Milinda: It might be true that Nirvana was happiness, and that its outward qualities were indescribable; but could not one portray its excellencies or benefits by any manner of comparison ?

Nagasena: It is like the lotus-flower, freed from its pain, like the lotus-flower freed from the mire in which it originates. It is like water, in that it extinguishes the fire of pain, like the water that refreshes the body; it overpowers the thirst after that which is bad, as water overpowers the natural thirst. It is like a medicine, in that it helps those who suffer from the poison of pain, as medicine those who suffer from diseases; it also removes the pain of repeated existence, as medicine removes disease; further, it renders us immortal, as medicine wards off death. It is like the sea—it is free from the impurity of pain, as the sea from every kind of rottenness; it is unmeasured, infinite, so that countless beings till it not, as the sea is unfathomable and cannot be filled by the waters of all the streams of Indus. It is like space, in that it is not begotten by any outward cause, it dies not, disappears not, is not begotten; it has no locality;. it is the abode of the Arahats (those who occupy the next place to the Buddhas) and of the Buddhas, as space is the abode of the birds; it cannot remain hid, and its extension is endless. It is like the magic jewel, in that it gives all that one can desire. It is like the red sandal-wood, in that it is hard to obtain; its fragrance, too, is incomparable, and it is admired of the wise. It is like the Maháméru (a mountain which plays a very important part in the Indian myths and traditions, like Olympus among the Greeks), in that it is higher than the three worlds, its summit is difficult to attain; and as seed cannot thrive on the surface of a rock, so neither can pain in Nirvana; further, it is free from hatred and from anger.

He says further:—

One cannot say that it is begotten, nor that it is not page 24 begotten; that it is the past, the present, or the future; nor can one say that it is the sight of the eye, or the hearing of the ear, or the smelling of the nose, or the tasting of the tongue, or the feeling of the body.

Milinda: Then you are talking of a thing which does not exist. You merely say that Nirvana is Nirvana; consequently there is no Nirvana.

Nagasena: Great king! Nirvana is; it is a perception of the mind; the pure, joyful, Nirvana, free from ignorance and evil desire; it is perceived by the Arahats, who enjoy the fruits of the paths.

Milinda: If there is any comparison by which one could render comprehensible the nature or the properties of Nirvana, then have the kindness to explain it in this manner.

Nagasena: There is the wind; but could one define its color—could one say that it is in a certain place, or that it is small or great, long or short ?

Milinda: One cannot say that the wind is thus or thus; it cannot be taken in the hand and crushed. And yet the wind is. We perceive it in that it fills our breast, beats against our body, and moves the trees of the forest; but one cannot explain its nature, nor how it really is.

Nagasena: Exactly thus it is with Nirvana, in that it removes the infinite pain of the world, and presents itself as the chief felicity of the world, but its attributes or qualities cannot be explained.