Dilemma the Sixty-NinthThe Heat Of the Sun
Sūriyatapanapañha (Mil 6.2 9)
‘Venerable Nāgasena, does this sun always burn fiercely, or are there times when it shines with diminished heat?’
‘It always burns fiercely, O king, never gently.’
‘But if that be so, how is it that the heat of the sun is sometimes fierce, and sometimes not ?’
‘There are four derangements, O king, which happen to the sun, and affected by one or other of these its heat is allayed. And what are the four? the clouds, O king, and fog, and smoke, and eclipses —these are the four derangements which happen to the sun, and it is when affected by one or other of these that its heat is allayed.’
‘Most wonderful, Nāgasena, and most strange that even the sun, so transcendent in glory, should suffer from derangement-how much more then other, lesser, creatures. No one else could have made this explanation except one wise like you!’
Here ends the dilemma as to the heat of the sun.
‘It always burns fiercely, O king, never gently.’
‘But if that be so, how is it that the heat of the sun is sometimes fierce, and sometimes not ?’
‘There are four derangements, O king, which happen to the sun, and affected by one or other of these its heat is allayed. And what are the four? the clouds, O king, and fog, and smoke, and eclipses —these are the four derangements which happen to the sun, and it is when affected by one or other of these that its heat is allayed.’
‘Most wonderful, Nāgasena, and most strange that even the sun, so transcendent in glory, should suffer from derangement-how much more then other, lesser, creatures. No one else could have made this explanation except one wise like you!’
Here ends the dilemma as to the heat of the sun.
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