The riddle of seniority
Vassagaṇanapañha (Mil 3.1 2)
‘How many years seniority have you, Nāgasena?’
‘Seven, your Majesty.’
‘But how can you say it is your “seven?” Is it you who are “seven,” or the number that is “seven?”’
Now that moment the figure of the king, decked in all the finery of his royal ornaments, cast its shadow on the ground, and was reflected in a vessel of water. And Nāgasena asked him: ‘Your figure, O king, is now shadowed upon the ground, and reflected in the water, how now, are you the king, or is the reflection the king?’
‘I am the king, Nāgasena, but the shadow comes into existence because of me.’
‘Just even so, O king, the number of the years is seven, I am not seven. But it is because of me, O king, that the number seven has come into existence; and it is mine in the same sense as the shadow is yours.’
‘Most wonderful again, and strange, Nāgasena. Well has the question put to you, most difficult though it was, been solved!’
‘Seven, your Majesty.’
‘But how can you say it is your “seven?” Is it you who are “seven,” or the number that is “seven?”’
Now that moment the figure of the king, decked in all the finery of his royal ornaments, cast its shadow on the ground, and was reflected in a vessel of water. And Nāgasena asked him: ‘Your figure, O king, is now shadowed upon the ground, and reflected in the water, how now, are you the king, or is the reflection the king?’
‘I am the king, Nāgasena, but the shadow comes into existence because of me.’
‘Just even so, O king, the number of the years is seven, I am not seven. But it is because of me, O king, that the number seven has come into existence; and it is mine in the same sense as the shadow is yours.’
‘Most wonderful again, and strange, Nāgasena. Well has the question put to you, most difficult though it was, been solved!’
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