_Nâgasena._ In like manner, though the fruition of the paths may cause the accomplishment of Nirvâ_n_a, no cause by which Nirvâ_n_a is produced can be declared. The path that leads to Nirvâ_n_a may be pointed out, but not any cause for its production. Why? because that which constitutes Nirvâ_n_a is beyond all computation,--a mystery, not to be understood.... It cannot be said that it is produced, nor that it is not produced; that it is past or future or present. Nor can it be said that it is the seeing of the eye, or the hearing of the ear, or the smelling of the nose, or the tasting of the tongue, or the feeling of the body. _Milinda._ Then you speak of a thing that is not; you merely say that Nirvâ_n_a is Nirvâ_n_a;--therefore there is no Nirvâ_n_a. _Nâgasena._ Great king, Nirvâ_n_a is. Another question also, whether Nirvâ_n_a is something different from the beings that enter into it, has been asked by the Buddhists themselves: _Milinda._ Does the being who acquires it, attain something that has previously existed?--or is it his own product, a formation peculiar to himself? _Nâgasena._ Nirvâ_n_a does not exist previously to its reception; nor is it that which was brought into existence. Still to the being who attains it, there is Nirvâ_n_a. In opposition, therefore, to the more advanced views of the Nihilistic philosophers of the North, Nâgasena maintains the existence of Nirvâ_n_a, and of the being that has entered Nirvâ_n_a. He does not say that Buddha is a mere word. When asked by king Milinda, whether the all-wise Buddha exists, he replies: _Nâgasena._ He who is the most meritorious (Bhagavat) does exist. _Milinda._ Then can you point out to me the place in which he exists? _Nâgasena._ Our Bhagavat has attained Nirvâ_n_a, where there is no repetition of birth. We cannot say that he is here, or that he is there. When a fire is extinguished, can it be said that it is here, or that it is there? Even so, our Buddha has attained extinction (Nirvâ_n_a). He is like the sun that has set behind the Astagiri mountain. It cannot be said that he is here, or that he is there: but we can point him out by the discourses he delivered. In them he lives. At the present moment, the great majority of Buddhists would probably be quite incapable of understanding the abstract speculation of their ancient masters. The view taken of Nirvâ_n_a in China, Mongolia, and Tatary may probably be as gross as that which most of the Mohammedans form of their paradise. But, in the history of religion, the historian must go back to the earliest and most original documents that are to be obtained. Thus only may he hope to understand the later developments which, whether for good or evil, every form of faith has had to undergo. _April, 1857._ XII. CHINESE TRANSLATIONS OF SANSKRIT TEXTS.[91]