24 THE B UDDHI S T T R A D I T I ON

“ If th a t’s the case, your M ajesty, you had no m other or father, and no teachers in learning, m anners, or wisdom. . . . Is th e boy who goes to school one [being] and the young m an who has finished his education another? Does one person com m it a crim e and another suffer m utilation for it?”

“O f course not, your Reverence! B ut w hat do you say on the question?”

“ I am the being I was when I was a baby,” said th e Elder . . . “ for through the continuity of th e body all stages of life are included in a pragm atic unity .”

“ Give m e an illustration.”“Suppose a m an were to light a lam p, would it bu m all

through the n ight?” “Yes, it m ight.”“Now is the flame which burns in the m iddle watch the

same as th a t which burned in the first?” “N o, your Rev­erence.”

“O r is th a t which burns in th e last watch the same as th a t which burned in the m iddle?” “N o, your Reverence.”

“So is there one lam p in th e first watch, ano ther in the m iddle, and yet ano ther m the last?”

“N o. T h e same lam p gives light all through the n igh t.” “Similarly, your Majesty, the continuity of phenom ena is

kep t up. O ne person comes in to existence, another passes away, an d th e sequence rans continuously w ithout self- conscious existence, neither the same nor yet another.”

“W ell said. Reverend Nagasena!”[FromMilindapaUbat (Tienckner e d .) ,p .40]

The Process of Rebirth

In this little passage NSgasena presses the analogy of the lamp fur­ther, and shows Menander how rebirth is possible without any soul, substratum of personality, or other hypothetical entity which passes from the one body to the other.

“Reverend N agasena,” said th e King, “ is i t trae th a t nothing transm igrates, and yet there is rebirth?”

“Yes, your M ajesty.”“H ow can this be? . . . G ive m e an illustration.”

IL.