Ancient Wisdom Atlas

Motif

causal cycle without apparent first beginning

causal_cycle_without_apparent_first_beginning

A motif of the Sacred Knowledge and Wisdom family. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.

1 occurrences

1 traditions


buddhist

  • The Questions of King Milinda, Part I (Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 35) Chapter 1. / Book II. Chapter 2. / VI, 45. / Book II. Chapter 3.; lines 6523-6699 confidence: high

    The king asks the root of past, present, and future time; Nagasena answers 'Ignorance' and gives a chain from ignorance through birth, old age, death, grief, lamentation, sorrow, pain, and despair, concluding that the ultimate point in the past is not apparent.

    The passage repeatedly states that the ultimate point in the past is not apparent and illustrates this through seed-fruit, hen-egg, and circle examples.

    read in the book