The Problem of Inference

How can you know that the Buddha ever lived?
Now Milinda the king went up to the place where Nāgasena was, and bowed down before him, and took his seat on one side. And when so seated he, longing to know, to hear, and to remember, and longing to make the light of knowledge arise and to break in pieces his ignorance, roused up in himself courage and zeal, and, full of self-possession and thoughtfulness, spake thus to Nāgasena:
‘Venerable Nāgasena, tell me, have you ever seen the Buddha ?’
‘No, O king.’
‘Then have your teachers ever seen the Buddha?’
‘No, Sire.’
‘So you say, venerable Nāgasena, that you have never seen the Buddha, and that your teachers have never seen the Buddha. Therefore, Nāgasena, the Buddha did not exist. There is no clear evidence, in that case, of a Buddha.’
‘But did those Kshatriyas of old exist, who were the founders of the line of kings from which you come?’
‘Certainly, Sir. How can there be any doubt about that?’
‘Well, O king. Have you ever seen them?’
‘No, Sir.’
‘And those who instructed you—the family chaplains, and officers of the staff, and those who lay down the law, and ministers of state—have they ever seen those Kshatriyas of old?’
‘No, Sir.’
‘If then neither have you seen them, nor your teachers, where are they? There is no clear evidence, in that case, of those Kshatriyas of old!’
‘But, Nāgasena, the royal insignia they used are still to be seen—The white sunshade of state, and the crown, and the slippers, and the fan with the yak’s tail, and the sword of state, and the priceless throne—and by these can we know and believe that the Kshatriyas of old lived once.’
‘Just so, O king, can we know that Blessed One and believe in him. For there is a reason for our knowledge and belief that the Blessed One was. And what is that reason?—The royal insignia used by that Blessed One, by him of knowledge and insight, the Arahat, the Buddha Supreme, are still to be seen-the four Means of keeping oneself ready and mindful, and the fourfold Great Struggle, and the four steps to Iddhi, and the five Organs of the moral sense, and the five moral Powers, and the seven forms of the wisdom of the Arahats, and the Noble Eightfold Path —and by these can the whole world of gods and men know and believe that that Blessed One existed once. By this reason, on this ground, by this argument, through this inference, can it be known that the Blessed One lived.

“He who, himself set free in that bless’d state
In which the Upadhis have ceased to be,
—Lusts, sin, and Karma—has brought safe ashore,
Saved from the sea of woe, great multitudes—
Only by inference can it be known
That he, the best of men, existed once.”’

The ordinary city, and its architect, shops, and inhabitants
‘Venerable Nāgasena, give me an illustration.’
‘Just, O king, as the architect of a City, when he wants to build one, would first search out a pleasant spot of ground, with which no fault can be found, even, with no hills or gullies in it, free from rough ground and rocks, not open to the danger of attack. And then, when he has made plain any rough places there may still be on it, he would clear it thoroughly of all stumps and stakes, and would proceed to build there a city fine and regular, measured out into suitable quarters, with trenches and ramparts thrown up around it, with strong gateways, watch-towers, and battlements, with wide squares and open places and junctions (where two roads meet) and cross-ways (where four roads meet), with cleanly and even high roads, with regular lines of open shops (bazaars), well provided with parks, and gardens, and lakes, and lotus-ponds, and wells, adorned with many kinds of temples to the gods, free from every fault. And then when the city stood there in all its glory, he would go away to some other land. And in course of time that city might become mighty and prosperous, filled with stores of food, peaceful, glorious, happy, free from distress and calamity, the meeting-place of all sorts and conditions of men. Then nobles and brahmans, merchants and work-people; soldiers mounted on elephants, and on horses, and on chariots; infantry, and bowmen, and swordsmen; standard-bearers, officers, and camp-followers ; highborn warriors whose delight is in war, fighting champions, men mighty as elephants, heroes, men who fight in buckskin, devoted fighting-men born of slaves in great houses or of the privates in the royal army ; troops of professional wrestlers ; cooks and curry makers, barbers and bathing attendants, smiths and florists, workers in gold and silver and lead and tin and copper and brass and iron, and jewellers; messengers; potters, salt gatherers, tanners, carriage builders, carvers in ivory, rope makers, comb makers, cotton-thread spinners, basket makers, bow manufacturers, bowstring makers, arrow fletchers, painters, dye manufacturers, dyers, weavers, tailors, assayers of gold, cloth merchants, dealers in perfumes, grass cutters ` hewers of wood, hired servants, people who live by gathering flowers and fruits and roots in the woods, hawkers of boiled rice, sellers of cakes, fishmongers, butchers, dealers in strong drinks, play actors, dancers, acrobats, conjurors, professional bards, wrestlers (boxers), corpse burners, casters out of rotten flowers, savages, wild men of the woods, prostitutes, swingers and jumpers, and the slave girls of bullies—people of many countries, people from Scythia, Bactria, China, and Vilāta; people of Ujjeni, of Bhārukaccha, of Benares, of Kosala, and of the border lands; people from Magadha, and Sāketa, and Suraṭṭha, and the West; from Koṭumbara and Madhura, from Alexandria, Kashmīr, and Gandhāra—all these coming to take up their residence there, and finding the new city to be regular, faultless, perfect, and pleasant, would know: “Able indeed must that architect have been by whom this city was built!”
The City of Righteousness, and its architect
‘Just so, O king that Blessed One, peerless, unequalled, unapproached, incomparable, admirable beyond all measure by weight or calculation, of infinite virtue, full of virtue and perfection, boundless in wisdom and glory and zeal and power, who, when he had attained to the summit of all the perfections of the Buddhas, overthrew Māra and all his hosts—he, bursting asunder the net of heresy, and casting aside ignorance, and causing wisdom to arise, and bearing aloft the torch of Truth, reached forward to Buddhahood itself, and so, unconquered and unconquerable in the fight, built this city of Righteousness. And the Blessed One’s City of Righteousness, O king, has righteousness for its rampart, and fear of sin for its moat, and knowledge for the battlement over its city gate, and zeal for the watch-tower above that, and faith for the pillars at its base, and mindfulness for the watchman at the gate, and wisdom for the terrace above, and the Suttantas for its market-place, and the Abhidhamma for its cross-ways, and the Vinaya (the Canon Law) for its judgment hall, and constant self-possession for its chief street. And in that street, O king, these bazaars are open—a flower bazaar, and a fruit bazaar, and an antidote bazaar, and a medicine bazaar, and an ambrosia bazaar, and a bazaar for precious stones, and a bazaar for all manner of merchandise.’
The flower bazaar therein
‘But what, venerable Nāgasena, is the flower bazaar of the Blessed One, the Buddha?’
‘There are certain subjects for meditation, O king, that have been made known by the Blessed One, by him of knowledge and insight, by the Arahat, the Buddha Supreme. And they are these. The idea of the impermanence (of every thing and of every being), the idea of the absence of any abiding principle (any soul in any thing or any being), the idea of the impurity and the idea of the danger connected with the body, the idea of getting rid of evil dispositions, the idea of freedom from passion, the idea of peace, the idea of dissatisfaction with the things of the world, the idea of the transitory nature of all conditions, the idea of ecstatic trance, the ideas of a corpse in the various stages of decay, the ideas of a place of execution in all its various horrors, the idea of love to all beings, the idea of pity for all beings, the idea of sympathy with all beings, the idea of equanimity in all the changing circumstances of life, the idea of death, and the idea of the body. These, O king, are the subjects for meditation prescribed by the Blessed One. And of these, whoever, longing to be delivered from old age and death, takes any one as the subject of his meditation, by that meditation does he become set free from passion, set free from malice, set free from dullness, set free from pride, set free from wrong views, by that does he cross the ocean of Saṃsāra, and stem the torrent of cravings, and cleanse himself of the threefold stain, and destroy within himself all evil; and so, entering that glorious city, spotless and stainless, pure and white, ageless and deathless, where all is security and calm and bliss—the city of Nirvāṇa—he emancipates his mind in Arahatship! And this, O king, is what is called “The Blessed One’s bazaar of flowers.”

“Take with you Karma as the price,
And go ye up to that bazaar,
Buy there an object for your thought,
Emancipate yourselves. Be free!”’

The perfume bazaar therein
‘And what, venerable Nāgasena, is the perfume bazaar of the Blessed One, the Buddha?’
‘There are certain categories of virtue, O king, that have been made known by the Blessed One, and anointed by the perfume of that righteousness the children of the Blessed One fill with the fumes of the fragrant incense of the perfume of goodness the whole world of gods and men, in every direction, and to windward and to leeward, continuing to pervade it again and yet again. And which are those categories? the virtue of taking refuge, The virtue that is fivefold and eightfold and tenfold, and the virtue of self-restraint tabulated in the five recitations that compose the Pātimokkha. And this, O king, is what is called “The Blessed One’s bazaar of perfumes.” For it has been said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods:

“No flower’s scent can go against the wind,
Not sandal wood’s, nor musk’s, nor jasmine flower’s:
But the sweet perfume of the good doth go
Against the wind, and the good man pervades,
On every side, the sweetness of his life.”
“Red sandal wood, musk, and the lotus, and jasmine—
The perfume of goodness surpasseth them all.
Abundant the sweet scent of musk and of sandal wood—
Still stronger, the scent of the good mounts to heaven!”’

The fruit bazaar therein
‘And what, venerable Nāgasena, is the fruit bazaar of the Blessed One, the Buddha?’
‘Certain fruits have been made known, O king, by the Blessed One. And they are these:—The fruit of the first stage of the Excellent Way (conversion), and of the second stage, and of the third stage, and of the fourth (Arahatship)—the fruit of the attainment of emptiness —the fruit of the attainment of the absence of the three signs (of an unconverted life, lust, malice, and dullness)—and the truth of the attainment of that state in which no low aspirations survive. And whosoever desires any one of these, he gives his Karma as the price, and buys the fruit he longs for—either conversion or any other.
‘Just, O king, as any man who has a mango-tree bearing fruit all the year round, he does not knock down the fruits until buyers come. But when a buyer has come, and the fruit-grower has taken the price, then he says: “Come, my good man, this tree is always in bearing (it has therefore fruits in all stages of growth), take from it the kind of fruit you prefer, whether unripe, or decayed, or hairy, or sour, or ripe.” And the buyer, for the price paid, takes the kind he likes the best-if that be unripe fruit then he takes that, if it be decayed fruit then that, if it be hairy fruit then that, if it be sour fruit then that, if it be ripe fruit then he takes a ripe one. Just so, O king, whosoever desires any one of those other fruits, he gives his Karma as the price, and buys the fruit he longs for- either conversion or any other. And this, O king, is what is called “The Blessed One’s bazaar of fruits.”

“Men give their Karma as the price,
And buy the fruit ambrosia;
And happiness is theirs, and peace,
Who’ve bought the fruit ambrosia.”

The antidote bazaar therein
‘And what, venerable Nāgasena, is the antidote bazaar of the Blessed One, the Buddha?’
‘Certain drugs, O king, have been made known by the Blessed One; drugs by which the Blessed One delivers the whole world of gods and men from the poison of evil dispositions. And what are these drugs? the four Noble Truths made known by the Blessed One, that is to say, the truth as to sorrow, and the truth as to the origin of sorrow, and the truth as to the cessation of sorrow, and the truth as to that path which leads to the cessation of sorrow. And whosoever, longing for the highest insight (the insight of Arahatship), hear this doctrine of the four truths, they are set quite free from rebirth, They are set quite free from old age, they are set quite free from death, they are set quite free from grief, lamentation, pain, sorrow, and despair. And this, O king, is what is called “The Blessed One’s bazaar of antidotes.”

“Of all the drugs, in all the world,
The antidotes of poison dire,
Not one equals that Doctrine sweet.
Drink that, O brethren. Drink and live!”’

The medicine bazaar therein
‘And what, venerable Nāgasena, is the medicine bazaar of the Blessed One, the Buddha?’
‘Certain medicines, O king, have been made known by the Blessed One, medicines by which he cures the whole world of gods and men. And they are these:—"The four Means of keeping oneself ready and mindful, and the fourfold Great Struggle, and the four Steps to Iddhi, and the five Organs of the moral sense, and the five moral Powers, and the seven Forms of the Wisdom of the Arahats, and the Noble Eightfold Path.” By these medicines the Blessed One purges men of wrong views, purges them of low aspirations, purges them of evil speaking, purges them of evil deeds, purges them of evil modes of livelihood, purges them of wrong endeavours, purges them of evil thoughts, purges them of erroneous meditation; and he gives emetics to the vomiting up of lusts, and of malice, and of dullness, and of doubt, and of self-righteousness, and of sloth of body and inertness of mind, and of shamelessness and hardness of heart, and of all evil. And this, O king, is what is called “The Blessed One’s bazaar of medicine.”

“Of all the medicines found in all the world,
Many in number, various in their powers,
Not one equals this medicine of the Truth.
Drink that, O brethren. Drink, and drinking, live!
For having drunk that medicine of the Truth,
Ye shall have past beyond old age and death,
And—evil, lusts, and Karma rooted out—
Thoughtful and seeing, ye shall be at rest!”’

‘And what, venerable Nāgasena, is the ambrosia bazaar of the Blessed One, the Buddha?’
The ambrosia bazaar therein
‘An ambrosia, O king, has been made known by the Blessed One, that ambrosia with which he besprinkles the whole world of gods and men—as men anoint a king on his coronation day— and men and gods, when sprinkled with that ambrosia, are set free from rebirths, old age, disease, and death, from grief, and lamentation, and pain, and sorrow, and despair. And what is that ambrosia? That meditation which consists in active attention to, and leads to a true grasp of, the real conditions of corporeal things. For it has been said, O king, by the Blessed One, the god over all gods:
“They, O brethren, feed on ambrosia who feed on active attention directed to corporeal things.” This, O king, is what is called “The Blessed One’s ambrosia bazaar.”

“He saw mankind afflicted with disease,
He opened freely his ambrosia shop;
Go, then, O brethren, give your Karma for it,
And buy, and feed on, that ambrosial food.”’

The jewel bazaar therein, and the seven jewels of the Truth
‘And what, venerable Nāgasena, is the jewel bazaar of the Blessed One, the Buddha?’
‘Certain jewels, O king, have been made known by the Blessed One, and adorned with those jewels the children of the Blessed One shine forth in splendour, illuminating the whole world of gods and men, brightening it in its heights, in its depths, from horizon to horizon, with a brilliant glory. And those jewels are these—the jewel of right conduct, and the jewel of meditation, and the jewel of knowledge, and the jewel of emancipation, and the jewel of the insight which arises from the assurance of emancipation, and the jewel of discrimination, and the jewel of the sevenfold wisdom of the Arahats.
‘And what, O king, is the Blessed One’s jewel of right conduct ? the right conduct which follows on self-restraint according to the rules of the Pātimokkha, the right conduct which follows on restraint of the bodily organs and the mind, the right conduct which results from a pure means of livelihood, the right conduct in relation to the four requisites of a recluse, the right conduct presented in the Short, and Middle, and Long Summonses, the right conduct of those who are walking in the Path, and the right conduct of those who have attained each of the various fruits thereof (beginning at conversion and ending at Arahatship). And all the beings in the world, O king, gods and men, and the Māras too (the spirits of evil), and the Brahmas (the very highest of the gods), and Samanas and Brahmans are filled with longing and desire for a man who wears, as his ornament, this jewel of right conduct. And the Bhikkhu, O king, who puts it on shines forth in glory all around, upwards and downwards, and from side to side, surpassing in lustre all the jewels to be found from the Waveless Deep, below to the highest heavens above, excelling them all, overwhelming them all. Such, O king, are the jewels of right conduct set out for sale in the Blessed One’s bazaar of gems. And this is what is called “The Blessed One’s jewel of righteousness.”

“Such are the virtues sold in that bazaar,
The shop of the Enlightened One,
the Blest; Pay Karma as the price, O ye ill-clad!
Buy, and put on, these lustrous Buddha-gems!”

‘And what, O king, is the Blessed One’s jewel of meditation? the meditation that consists of specific conceptions, and of investigation regarding them ;—the meditation that consists of reflection only, specific conceptions being lost sight of ;—the meditation that continues after specific conceptions and reflection on them have both ceased ;—the meditation that is void (of lusts, evil dispositions, and Karma);—the meditation from which three signs (of an unconverted life-lust, malice, and dullness) are absent;—the meditation in which no low aspirations remain. And when a Bhikkhu, O king, has put on this jewel of meditation (Samādhi), then ideas of lust, and ideas of anger, and ideas of cruelty, and all the various bad thoughts that have their basis in the evil dispositions of pride, self-righteousness, adhesion to wrong views, and doubt—all these, since they come into contact with meditation, flow off from him, disperse, and are dispelled, they stay not with him, adhere not to him. just, O king, as when water has fallen on a lotus leaf it flows off from it, is dispersed and scattered away, stays not on it, adheres not to it —so when a Bhikkhu has put on this jewel of meditation, then ideas of lust, and ideas of anger, and ideas of cruelty, and all the various bad thoughts that have their basis in the evil dispositions of pride, self-righteousness, obstinacy in wrong views, and doubt—these all, as soon as they come in contact with meditation, flow off, disperse, and are dispelled, stay not with him, adhere not to him. And why not? Because of the exceeding purity of the habit of meditation. This, O king, is what is called “The Blessed One’s jewel of meditation,” and such are the jewels of meditation set out for sale in the Blessed One’s bazaar of gems.

“Bad thoughts can ne’er arise beneath the brow
Encircled by this coronet of gems.
It charms away perplexed and wandering thought.
Make it your own, buy it, put on the crown!”

‘And what, O king, is the Blessed One’s jewel of knowledge? That knowledge by which the disciple of the noble ones knows thoroughly what is virtue, and what is not; what is blameworthy, and what is not; what should be made a habit of, and what should not; what is mean, and what is exalted; what is dark, and what is light, and what is both dark and light;—the knowledge by which he truly knows what sorrow is, and what the origin of sorrow is, and what the cessation of sorrow is, and what is the path that leads thereto. This, O king, is what is called “The Blessed One’s jewel of knowledge.”

“He who has knowledge as his jewelled wreath,
Will not continue long in outward form.
Soon will he reach Nirvāṇa, in rebirth
In any world no longer take delight!

‘And what, O king, is the Blessed One’s jewel of emancipation? Arahatship is called the jewel of emancipation, and the Bhikkhu who has reached Arahatship is said to have decked himself with the jewel of emancipation. And just as a man, O king, who is decorated with ornaments made of strings of pearls, of diamonds and gold and corals; whose limbs are anointed with akalu, and with frankincense, and with Talis, and with red sandal wood; who is adorned with a garland of Ironwood blossoms, and Rottleria flowers, and flowers from the Sal tree, and the Saḷala, and the champak, and yellow jasmines, and Atimuttaka flowers, and trumpet flowers, and lotuses, and white and Arabian jasmines —just as, with all this finery of garlands and perfumes and jewelry, he would outshine all other men, overwhelming them with brilliant glory and splendour—just so, O king, does he who has attained to Arahatship, he in whom the Great Evils (lusts, and becoming, delusion, and ignorance) are rooted out, he who has put on the diadem of emancipation of heart, just so does he outshine all other Bhikkhus from the lowest in attainment up to those even who are themselves emancipated, overwhelming them in brilliant glory and splendour. And why is that so? Because, O king, there is one diadem that is the chief of all, and that is this diadem of emancipation of heart! And this, O king, is what is called “The Blessed One’s jewel of emancipation.”

“All the people that dwell in a house look up
To their Lord when he wears his crown of gems—
The wide world of the gods and of men looks up
To the wearer of Freedom’s diadem!”

‘And what, O king, is the Blessed One’s jewel of the insight that follows on the assurance of emancipation? the knowledge arising out of looking back over the course —that knowledge by which the disciple who is walking along the Excellent Way passes, from time to time, both the Way itself and the Fruits thereof up to Nirvāṇa, in review, and is aware what evil dispositions he has got rid of, and what evil dispositions remain to be conquered—that is what is called “The jewel of the assurance that follows on the knowledge of emancipation.”

“The knowledge by which the Noble Ones know
The stages they’ve passed, and the road yet untrod;—
Strive, O ye sons of the Conqueror, strive
That jewel—’Assurance’—yourselves to obtain!”

‘And what, O king, is the Blessed One’s jewel of discrimination? the discrimination of the sense of, and the discrimination of the deeper truths underlying the sense of the sacred writ, and the discrimination of philological peculiarities, and the discrimination of correct and ready exposition. And the Bhikkhu, O king, who is adorned with these four jewels of discrimination, whatsoever company he enters into, whether of nobles, or brahmans, or merchants, or workpeople, enters it in confidence, neither put out nor shy; undaunted and undismayed, he enters the assembly without excitement or fear. just, O king, as a warrior, a hero in the fight, when accoutred in all his harness of war, goes down undismayed to the battle, in the confident thought: “If the enemy should remain afar off I can knock them down with my arrows, should they come thence towards me I can hit them with my javelins, should they come yet nearer I can reach them with my spear, should they come right up I can cleave them in two with my sabre, should they come to close quarters I can pierce them through and through with my dagger “—just so, O king, does the Bhikkhu, when he wears the fourfold jewel of discernment, enter any assembly undismayed, in the confident thought: “Should any one put to me a puzzle turning on the discrimination of the sense, I shall be able to explain it, comparing sense with sense, explanation with explanation, reason with reason, argument with argument —and thus shall I resolve his doubts, dispel his perplexity, and delight him by my exposition of the problem raised. Should any one put to me a puzzle turning on discrimination of the deeper truths, I shall be able to explain it by comparing truth with truth, and the various aspects and phases of Arahatship each with each, and thus his doubts too shall I be able to resolve, and, dispelling his perplexity, to delight him with my exposition of the problem raised. Should any one put to me a puzzle turning on the discrimination of philological peculiarities, I shall be able to explain it by comparing derivation with derivation, and word with word, and p