A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.118

v2.c19.s3.t2.118

Common to both collections are the religious ideals which are set up and the moral doctrines which are proclaimed. All these monks and nuns know of nothing higher than that profound calmness of mind for which even the gods envy the saint, which is won by the extinction of passion, hatred, and illusion and by the renunciation of all sensual inclinations and tendencies, and gives a foretaste of that highest bliss, Nirvāṇa, the end of all suffering in the consciousness of release from rebirth. Blessed is the monk who is equally insensible to joy and sorrow, who feels neither hunger nor cold : blessed the nun who can say of herself (Therīg. 76) :