3.4.2. Salt

Mil 3.4.2

Tiny meadow blossoms among softly lit grasses.

PTS cs 2 PTS cs 16 The Elder said: ‘Is salt, O king, recognisable by the eye?’

‘Yes, Sir, it is.’

‘But be careful, O king.’

‘Well then, Sir, is it perceptible by the tongue?’

‘Yes, that is right.’

‘But, Sir, is it only by the tongue that every kind of salt is distinguished?’

‘Yes, every kind.’

‘If that be so, Sir, why do bullocks bring whole cart-loads of it? Is it not salt and nothing else that ought to be so brought?’

‘It is impossible to bring salt by itself. But all these conditions have run together into one, and produced the distinctive thing called salt. (For instance): salt is heavy, too. But is it possible, O king, to weigh salt?’ PTS vp En 99

‘Certainly, Sir.’

Nay, great king, it is not the salt you weigh, it is the weight.’

‘You are ready, Nāgasena, in argument.’

Here ends the questioning of Nāgasena by Milinda.

PTS vp En 100

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About this edition

Translation by T.W. Rhys Davids · SuttaCentral · Public domain

The source expressly identifies this translation as public domain.

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.

Published source. Translation wording and order are preserved; source headings and notes are retained, with navigation and formatting adapted for this reader.

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