MindfulnessAttachment to the Body 1. “Is the body, Nāgasena, dear to you recluses?”
“No great king.”
“Then why do you nourish it and lavish attention upon it?”
“We nourish it and care for it as you would care for a wound, not because the
wound was dear to you but just so the flesh may grow again. For this was said by the Blessed One: “This filthy body stinks outright
Like ordure, like a privy’s site;
This body men that have insight,
Condemn, is object of a fool’s delight. “A tumour where nine holes abide
Wrapped in a coat of clammy hide1
And trickling filth on every side, “Polluting the air with stenches far and wide.
If it perchance should come about
That what is inside it came out
Surely a man would need a knout
With which to put the dogs and crows to rout.’”2
2. “If the Buddha was Omniscient why did he lay down the rules for the Order only when the occasion
arose?”
“He laid down the rules only when the need arose as a skilled doctor only prescribes medicine when the need arises although he knows all the medicines in advance of a disease arising.” 3. “If the Buddha was endowed with the thirty-two marks of a great man3 why were his parents not also so endowed?”
“As a lotus that is born in the mud and comes to perfection in the water does not resemble them, so the Buddha was unlike his parents.” 4. “Was the Buddha a Brahmacārin, a celibate?”
“Yes he was.” “Then he was a follower of Brahmā!”
“Although an elephant’s sound is like a heron’s he is not a follower of herons. Tell me, great king, is Brahmā one with intelligence (buddhi)?”
“Yes.”
“Then surely he is a follower of the Buddha!” 5. “Is ordination a good thing?”
“Yes it is.” “But did the Buddha obtain it or not?”
“Great king, when the Buddha attained Omniscience at the foot of the Bodhi tree that was for him an ordination; there was no conferring of ordination upon him by others in the way that he has laid down for his disciples.” 6. “To whom are tears a cure; to the man who weeps at the death of his mother or to him who weeps due to affection for the truth?”
“The tears of the first, O king, are stained and hot with passion but the tears of the second are stainless and cool. There is a cure in coolness and calm but in heat and passion there can be no cure.” 7. “What is the distinction between one who is full of passion and one who is devoid of passion?”
“The one is enslaved, O king, and the other is not enslaved.” “What does that mean?”
“One is in want but the other is not.” “But both of them like good food, neither likes bad food.”
“The man who is passionate, O king, eats his food experiencing both the taste and the passion for the taste, but the man without passion experiences only the taste and not the passion arising therefrom.” 8.“ Where does wisdom dwell?”
“Nowhere, O king.” “Then there is no wisdom.”
“Where does the wind dwell?” “Nowhere.”
“Then there is no wind!” “You are dexterous, Nāgasena, in reply.” 9. “What is meant by the round of rebirths (samsāra)?”
“Whoever is born here, dies here and is born elsewhere. Having been born there they die and are born somewhere else.” “Give me a simile.” “It is like a certain man, having eaten a ripe mango, and having planted the seed, and a tree grew from that, which gave fruits. Thus there would be no end41 of mango trees. 10. “By what do we remember what was done long ago?”
“By memory (sati).” “Is it not by mind (citta) that we recollect?”
“Do you, O king, recollect any business that you have done and then forgotten?” “Yes.”
“Were you then without a mind?” “No, but my memory failed me.”
“Then why do you say that it is by mind that we recollect?” 11. “Does memory always arise subjectively or is it stirred up by suggestion from outside?”
“Both, O king.” “But doesn’t that amount to all memory being subjective in origin?”5
“If, O king, there were no imparted memory then artisans would have no need of practice or schooling and teachers would be useless, but the contrary is the case.” In this chapter there are eleven questions | 
