[73] As cited elsewhere, Bodhi-Dharma of the Dhyâna sect, when questioned in a similar way, replied, “I do not know.” Walt Whitman echoes the same sentiment in the following lines:
“A child said, what is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is, any more than he.”
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[74] There seem to be two Chinese translations of this Sûtra, one by Kumârajîva and the other by Paramârtha, but apparently they are different texts bearing the same title. Besides these two, there is another text entirely in Chinese transliteration. Owing to insufficiency of material at my disposal here, I cannot say anything definite about the identity or diversity of these documents. The following discussion that is reported to have taken place between the Buddha and Ananda is an abstract prepared from the first and the second fasciculi of Paramârtha’s (?) translation. Beal gives in his Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese (pp. 286-369) an English translation of the first four fasc. of the Surangama. Though this translation is not quite satisfactory in many points the reader may find there a detailed account of the discussion which is here only partially and roughly recapitulated. ([return])
[75] Cf. the following which is extracted from the Questions of King Milinda (Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXXV, 133): “If there be a soul [distinct from the body] which does all this, then if the door of the eye were thrown down [if the eye were plucked out] could it stretch out its head, as it were, through the larger aperture and [with greater range] see forms much more clearly than before? Could one hear sounds better if the ears were cut off, or taste better if the tongue were pulled out, or feel touch better if the body were destroyed?” ([return])
Nirvikalpo ‘smi ciddipo nirahankaravasanaḥ
Tvaya ahankarabijena na sambaddho ‘smi asanmaya (31)
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Yathâ bhûtatayâ na ahammano na tvam na vâsanâ
Atmâ çuddhacidabhasaḥ kevalo yam vijṛbhate. (44)