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" Milinda : '* Because, whatever he may say, the mangos he stole were the product of the mango originally set by the man from whom they were stolen, and therefore punishment ought to be inflicted." Ndgas6na : ^' In like manner, by means of the karma produced by this nima and rdpa another nilma and rdpa is caused ; there is therefore no deliverance (in this way) from the consequences of sinfnl action. (The same process is illustrated by the sowing of grain and the setting of the sugar- cane). Again, a man lighte a fire in the dry season^ and by his neglecting to eztingoish it another fire is produced, which sets fire to his neighbour's rioe-field, or to his field of dry grrain. The owner of the field seizes him, and bringing him before the king, says, ' Sire, by this man my field has been burnt ; but the man replies, ' I did not bum his field ; true, I neglected to put out a fire I had kindled, but the fire kindled by me was one, the fire, that burnt his field was another ; would it be right that upon such a plea he should be released ? " Milinda : '' No ; because the fire that did the damage was prodaced by the fire that he kindled and neglected to put out." Nagas^na : *' Again, a man takes a light, and ascending into an upper room there eats his food ; bat whilst doing so the flame of his lamp sets fire to the thatch of the roof ; by this means the house is burnt, and not this house alone, but the other hoases of the village. Then the villagers seize him, and say, 'Man, why did you bum our village P ' But he replies, ' Good people, T did not bum your village ; I was eating my food by the light of a lamp, when the flame rose and set fire to the thatch of the roof ; but the flame that I kindled was one, and the flame that bnmt the house was another, and the flame that burnt the village was another.' Now were he to persist in this plea when brought before the king, the decision would still be gi^-en against him; for this IX. THE ONTOLOGY OF BUDHISM. 447 reason, because the flame that burnt the village was caused by the flame from the thatch, and this flame was caused by the flame from the lamp. Again, a man gives money to a girl for a maintenance, that afterwards he may marry her ; the girl grows up, when another man gives her money and marries her. Hearing this, the first man demands the girl, as he has given her money ; but the other man replies, ' No ; the g^rl to whom you gave the money was a child, but this is a g^wn-np yonng woman; she cannot therefore belong to yon.' Now if snch a plea as this were set up in the court, it would be given against the man who made it; for this reason, that the child had gradually grown into the woman. Again, a man purchases a vessel of milk from the cowherd, and leaves it in his hand nntil the next day: but when he comes at the appointed time to receive ifc, he finds that it has become curd ; so he says to the cowherd, * I did not purchase curd ; give me my vessel of milk.'' Now if a case like this were brought before your majesty, how would you decide it P " Milinda : '* I should decide in favour of the cowherd, because it would be evident that the curd had been produced from the milk." Ndgas^na : " In like manner, one mind and body dies ; another mind and body is conceived ; but as the second mind and body is produced by (the karma of) the first mind and body, there is no deliverance (by this means) from the consequences of moral action." * 8. The king then said to Ndgas^na, ** You have spoken of n^a and rdpa ; what is the meaning of these t^rms ?"t The priest replied, ^* That which has magnitude is rdpa ; niLma is the exceedingly subtle faculty that exorcises thought." Milinda : *' How is it that the n^ma and rdpa are never produced sepa- rately P" Ndgas^na : " They are connected with each other, like the flower and the perfume. And in this way : if no germ be formed in the fowl no egg is produced ; in the ovarium of the fowl there is the germ and the shell, and these two are united to each other ; their production is contemporaneous. In like manner, if there * This argument appears in the Friend for Snpt. 1888, translated from the Pali by the Key. D. J. Gogerly. t '* The TTords translated body and soul are n&ma and rdpa ; they are of frequent occurrence, and are clearly defined in seTeral parts of the Pitakas : r6ga signifies the material form : n^ma signifies the whole of the mental £owers ; the tyro combined signifies the complete being, body and mind." — er. D. J. Gogerly. 448 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. be no n&ma there ifl no rdpa ; they are consociate ; their existence is coeval ; they accompany each other (as to the species, bat not as to the individual), daring infinitude.*' 9. The king enquired what was the meaning of this infinitude ; or period of time, or duration, infinitely long ; and Nagas^na replied, '* It is divided into past, future, and present." Milinda: '* Has time an existence (or is there such an existence as time)?'* N^lgas6na : *' There is time existent, and time not existent." Milinda : " What is time existent, and what is time not existent ?** Nigas^na : '* When a sentient being, after repeated births, is no more, or becomes extinct, to him time is not existent. But when a being is still receiving the reward of moral action, or doing that for which he shall afterwards receive a recompenae, and is subject to a repetition of existence, to him there is time. When a being dies, and receives another birth, there is time existent ; but when a being dies, and is not subject to a repeti- tion of existence, does not receive fature birth, then time is not existent ; nirwdna is attained, time is no longer." 10. After this explanation, the king said, '' What is the root, or beginning of past duration, what of future duration, what of present duration ?" Ndgas6na replied (repeating the pratitya- samuppdda-chakra, or circle of existence), " The beginning of past, future, and present duration is awidya-nam-m6ha, ignorance, or deception, which is like a bandage tied over the eyes, and is deceived relative to the four great truths, not knowing them. M6ha is so called because it cleaves to that which is evil, and does not cleave to that which is good ; it does not understand the union of the five khandas, nor the nature of the sight and other senses proceeding from the six dyatanas, or sentient organs ; it does not perceive the nothingness of the eighteen dhatus, or elements ; it does not regard the superiority of the shad-indrayas ; and it is subject to repeated birth in different worlds and various modes of existence. Bv means of m<5ha the twenty-nine descriptions of chitta, or modes of thought possess- ing merit or demerit, are produced ; by means of the twenty- nine descriptions of chitta, or merit and demerit, the nineteen descriptions of pratisandhi-winydna (pilisanda-ganna-chitta) or actual consciousness, is produced ; by means of actual conscious- ness ndma and rdpa, body and mind, or the five khandas is produced ; by means of ndma and rdpa the six ayatanas, or IX. THE ONTOLOGY OF BUDHISM. 449 organs of sense are prodnced ; by means of the six organs of sense the six modes of phassa, contact, or touch are produced ; by means of the six modes of contact, the three modes of wedanA, or sensation, are produced; by means of the three modes of sensation the 108 modes of trisnawa, or evil desire, are produced ; by means of the 108 modes of evil desire, the four modes of npddana, or the cleaving to existence, are prodnced ; by means of the four modes of cleaving to existence, the three modes of bhawa, or actual existence, are produced ; by means of the three modes of actual existence jdtiapadima, or birth, is produced ; by means of birth the breaking up of the five khandas, called death; as well as the excess of maturity, called decay; and sorrow, weeping, pain, and mental anguish, are produced. In this way it is that the beginning of duration does not appear.'** * In the Karmika system of the Kepanlese there is a similar arrangement.