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The Questions of King Milinda The Questions of King Milinda Translated from the Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids Part I of II Volume XXXV of "The Sacred Books of the East" Oxford: The Clarendon Press [1890] Scanned at sacred-texts.com, May 2003. John B. Hare, Redactor. This text is in the public domain. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice of attribution is left intact. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION xi The Simhalese version of the Milinda xii Buddhaghosa's four references to it. xiv MSS. and edition of the text xvi King Milinda the same as Menander xviii Notices of him in classical writers xix His coins xx His birthplace, Kalasi, probably = Karisi xxiii The author not the same as Nâgârguna xxv Passages in the Pitakas referred to silently xxvii Pâli books, &c., referred to by name xxix Pitaka passages quoted xxxi Length of the Pitakas xxxvi Results of these comparisons xxxviii Differences between our author and the Pitakas xl Proper names outside the Pitakas xliii Differences of language between our author and the Pitakas xlv The Milinda as a work of art xlviii TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT. Book I. The Secular Narrative 1 Description of Sâgala 2 Previous births of Milinda and Nâgasena 4 Milinda's greatness and wisdom and love of disputation 6 Birth story of Nâgasena 10 His admission as a novice into the Order 20 His conversion 25 His attainment of Arahatship 29 Milinda confutes Âyupâla 30 Nâgasena arrives; his character 34 Milinda goes to him 36 p. viii Book II. The Distinguishing Characteristics of Ethical Qualities 40 Individuality and name 41 The chariot simile 43 The riddle of seniority 45 (Interlude) How kings and scholars respectively discuss 46 No soul in the breath 48 Aim of Buddhist renunciation 49 Re-incarnation 50 Wisdom and reasoning distinguished 51 'Virtue's the base' 53 Faith 54 Perseverance 57 Mindfulness 58 Meditation 60 Continued identity and re-individualisation 63-77 Wisdom and intelligence distinguished 66 Time 77 Origin and development of qualities 82 Is there a soul? 86 Thought and sight 89 Contact, sensation, and idea 92 Book III. The Removal of Difficulties 100 Rich and poor 100 Renunciation again 101 Nirvâna and Karma 106 Difficulties of various kinds as to transmigration, individuality, and the Buddha 120 Book IV. The Solving of Dilemmas 137 Milinda finds dilemmas in the Holy Writ 137 And takes the Buddhist vows 138 Third meeting between him and Nâgasena. 140 1st Dilemma. If the Buddha has really quite passed away, what is the good of paying honour 144 to his relics? 2nd Dilemma. How can the Buddha be omniscient, when it is said that he reflects? 154 3rd Dilemma. Why did he admit Devadatta to the Order, if he knew of the schism he would 162 create? p. ix 4th Dilemma. Vessantara's earthquake 170 5th Dilemma. King Sivi 179 7th Dilemma. Difference in prophecies as to the duration of the faith 185 8th Dilemma. The Buddha's sinlessness and his sufferings 190 9th Dilemma. Why should the Buddha have meditated? 196 10th Dilemma. Why did the Buddha boast? 198 11th Dilemma. How could the Buddha revoke regulations he had made? 202 12th Dilemma. Why did the Buddha refuse to answer certain questions? 204 13th Dilemma. Contradictory statements by the Buddha as to fear 206 14th Dilemma. How can Pirit cure disease? 213 15th Dilemma. How could the evil one turn people against the Buddha? 219 16th Dilemma. Contradiction as to conscious crime 224 17th Dilemma. Contradiction as to the Buddha's wish to be the chief 225 18th Dilemma. How could a schism have arisen in the Buddha's life? 227 19th Dilemma. Why do members of the Order accept reverence? 232 20th Dilemma. The evil results of preaching 234 22nd Dilemma. Was not the Buddha once angry with Sudinna? 237 23rd Dilemma. The tree talking 241 24th Dilemma. The Buddha's last meal 242 25th Dilemma. Adoration of relics 246 26th Dilemma. The splinter of rock 248 27th Dilemma. Contradictory description of the Samana 251 28th Dilemma. Buddha's boasting 253 29th Dilemma. How can the kind punish others? 254 30th Dilemma. Was not the Buddha angry at Kâtumâ? 257 31st Dilemma. How could Moggallâna have had miraculous powers seeing that he was 261 murdered? 32nd Dilemma. Why should the rules of the Order be kept secret? 264 33rd Dilemma. Contradictions about falsehood 268 p. x 34th Dilemma. Did not the Omniscient One once doubt? 270 35th Dilemma. Suicide 273 36th Dilemma. Love to all beings 279 37th Dilemma. Wickedness and prosperity 283 38th Dilemma. Women's wiles 294 39th Dilemma. Did not the Arahats once show fear? 297 40th Dilemma. Did not the Omniscient One once change his mind? 301 Appendix. Devadatta in the Gâtakas 303 Addenda et Corrigenda 305 Index of Proper Names 307 Index of Subjects 311 Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the 317 East INTRODUCTION. THE work of which a translation is here, for the first time, presented to the English reading public, has had a strange and interesting history. Written in Northern India, at or a little after the beginning of the Christian era, and either in Sanskrit itself or in some North Indian Prakrit, it has been entirely lost in the land of its origin, and (so far as is at present known) is not extant in any of the homes of the various sects and schools of the Buddhists, except only in Ceylon, and in those countries which have derived their Buddhism from Ceylon. It is true that General Cunningham says 1 that the name of Milinda, 'is still famous in all Buddhist countries.' But he is here drawing a very wide conclusion from an isolated fact. For in his note he refers only to Hardy, who is good evidence for Ceylon, but who does not even say that the 'Milinda' was known elsewhere. Preserved there, and translated at a very early date into Pâli, it has become, in its southern home, a book of standard authority, is put into the hands of those who have begun to doubt the cardinal points of Buddhist doctrine, has been long a popular work in its Pâli form, has been translated into Simhalese, and occupies a unique position, second only to the Pâli Pitakas (and perhaps also to the celebrated work of Buddhaghosa, the 'Path of Purity'). From Ceylon it has been transferred, in its Pâli form, to both Burma and Siam, and in those countries also it enjoys so high a repute, that it has been commented on (if not translated). It is not merely the only work composed among the Northern Buddhists which is regarded with reverence by the orthodox Buddhists of the southern p. xii schools; it is the only one which has survived at all amongst them. And it is the only prose work composed in ancient India which would be considered, from the modern point of view, as a successful work of art. The external evidence for these statements is, at present, both very slight and, for the most part, late. There appeared at Colombo in the year of Buddha 2420 (1877 A.D.) a volume of 650 pages, large 8vo.--the most considerable in point of size as yet issued from the Simhalese press--entitled MILINDA PRASNAYA. It was published at the expense of five Buddhist gentlemen whose names deserve to be here recorded. They are Karolis Pîris, Abraham Liwerâ, Luis Mendis, Nandis Mendis Amara-sekara, and Chârlis Arnolis Mendis Wijaya-ratna Amara-sekara. It is stated in the preface that the account of the celebrated discussion held between Milinda and Nâgasena, about 500 years after the death of the Buddha, was translated into the Mâgadhî language by 'teachers of old' (purwâkârin wisin);--that that Pâli version was translated into Simhalese, at the instance and under the patronage of King Kîrtti Srî Râga-simha, who came to the throne of Ceylon in the year of Buddha 2290 (1747 A. D.), by a member of the Buddhist Order named Hînati-kumburê Sumangala, a lineal successor, in the line of teacher and pupil (anusishya), of the celebrated Wœliwita Saranankara, who had been appointed Samgha- râga, or chief of the Order--that 'this priceless book, unsurpassable as a means either for learning the Buddhist doctrine, or for growth in the knowledge of it, or for the suppression of erroneous opinions,' had become corrupt by frequent copying--that, at the instigation of the well-known scholar Mohotti-watte Gunânanda, these five had had the texts corrected and restored by several learned Bhikkhus (kîpa namak lawâ), and had had indices and a glossary added, and now published the thus revised and improved edition. The Simhalese translation, thus introduced to us, follows the Pâli throughout, except that it here and there adds, in the way of gloss, extracts from one or other of the numerous Pitaka texts referred to, and also that it starts with a prophecy, p. xiii put into the mouth of the Buddha when on his death-bed, that this discussion would take place about 500 years after his death, and that it inserts further, at the point indicated in my note on p. 3 of the present version, an account of how the Simhalese translator came to write his version. His own account of the matter adds to the details given above that he wrote the work at the Uposatha Ârâma of the Mahâ Wihâra near Srî-ward-hana-pura, 'a place famous for the possession of a temple containing the celebrated Tooth Relic, and a monastery which had been the residence of Wœliwita Saranankara, the Samgha-râga, and of the famous scholars and commentators Daramiti-pola Dhamma-rakkhita and Madhurasatota Dhammakkhandha.' As Kîrtti Srî Râga-simha reigned till 1781 1, this would only prove that our Pâli work was extant in Ceylon in its present form, and there regarded as of great antiquity and high authority, towards the close of the last century.
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