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3.5.3. Knowing the Buddha’s incomparability

Mil 3.5.3

A wild bee approaching a pale clover blossom in a meadow.

PTS cs 3 The king said: ‘Is it possible, Nāgasena, for others to know how incomparable the Buddha is?’

‘Yes, they may know it.’

‘But how can they?’

‘Long, long ago, O king, there was a master of writing, by name Tissa the Elder, and many are the years gone by since he has died. How can people know of him?’

‘By his writing, Sir.’

‘Just so, great king, whosoever sees what the Truth is, he sees what the Blessed One was, for the Truth was preached by the Blessed One.’

‘Very good, Nāgasena!’

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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.

This text is in the public domain. You are free to do whatever you wish with it.

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.

The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork for Buddhist Atlas, an evocative companion rather than a historical depiction.