7.2.4. The Panther (Female)

Mil 7.2.4

Soft light passing through leaves in a quiet woodland.

PTS vp En 285 PTS cs 9 ‘Venerable Nāgasena, that one quality of the female of the panther which you say he ought to take, which is that?’

‘Just, O king, as the female of the panther conceives only once, and does not resort again and again to the male ; just so, O king, should the strenuous Bhikshu, earnest in effort—seeing how future conceptions and births involve a period of gestation and a fall from each state as it is reached, and dissolution and death and destruction, seeing the horrors of transmigration and of rebirths in evil states, the annoyance of them, the torment of them—he should stedfastly resolve never to enter upon any future life. PTS vp Pali 369 This, O king, is the one quality of the female panther which he ought to have. For it was said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods, in the Sutta Nipāta, in the Sutta of Dhaniya the cowherd:

“Like a strong bull who’s burst the bonds that bound him,
Or elephant who’s forced his way through jungle,
Thus shall I never more enter the womb—
And now, if it so please you, god, rain on!”’

Connections

Collection & context

MilindapañhaThe collection containing this text
The Pāli canonCanonical collection in which this edition is preserved
Theravāda traditionsTransmission and study context
The early Buddhist communityHistorical and traditional setting

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.

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