Milinda’s Questions

Time Chapter

4. Question on the Feelings of an Individual Reconnecting

The king asked:

“Venerable Nāgasena, does one who does not reconnect feel a painful feeling?”

The elder said:

“He feels some, and he does not feel others.”

“Which does he feel, and which does he not feel?”

“He feels bodily feelings, your majesty, and he does not feel mental feelings.”

“How, venerable sir, does he feel bodily feelings, and how does he not feel mental feelings?”

“There is no ceasing of that cause and condition for the arising of a painful bodily feeling, and thus he feels a painful bodily feeling. There is ceasing of that cause and condition for the arising of a painful mental feeling, and thus he does not feel a painful mental feeling.

And this too was said, your majesty, by the Blessed One:

‘He only feels one feeling, the bodily one, not the mental.’”

“Venerable Nāgasena, why does one who feels a painful feeling not experience final nibbāna?”

“For an arahant, your majesty, there is no delight nor repugnance, and arahants do not destroy what is unripe. The wise ones wait for full maturing.

And this too was said, your majesty, by the elder Sāriputta, the general of the Dhamma:

‘I don’t delight in dying,

nor do I delight in living.

But I wait for the right time,

as a servant waits for his wages.

I don’t delight in dying,

nor do I delight in living.

But I wait for the right time,

clearly comprehending and fully mindful.’”

“You are clever, Venerable Nāgasena!”

Question on the Feelings of an Individual Reconnecting fourth