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THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA

Translated from the Pali by

T. W. Rhys Davids

In two parts

Part I

Dover Publication, Inc.

New York

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 India 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 sayss 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.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

            The Simhalese version of the Milinda

            Buddhaghosa’s four references to it

            MSS, and edition of the text

            King Milinda the same as Menander

            Notices of him in classical writers

            His coins

            His birthplace, Kalasi, probably= Karisi

            The author not the same as Nâgârguna

            Passages in the Pitakas referred to silently

            Pâli books, &c., referred to by name

            Pitaka passages quoted

            Length of the Pitakas

            Results of these comparisons

            Differences between our author and the Pitakas

            Proper names outside the Pitakas

            Differences of language between our author and the Pitakas

            The Milinda as a work of art

TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT

            BOOK I. the Secular Narrative

                        Description of Sâgala

                        Previous births of Milinda and Nâgasena

                        Milinda’s greatness and wisdom and love of disputation

                        Birth story of Nâgasena

                        His admission as a novice into the Order

                        His conversion

                        His attainment of Arahaship

                        Milinda confutes Âyupâla

                        Nâgasena arrives; his character

                        Milinda goes to him

            BOOK II. The Distinguishing Characteristics of Ethical Qualities

                        Individual and name

                        The chariot simile

                        The riddle of sensority

                        (Interlude) How kings and scholars respectively discuss

                        No soul in the breath

                        Aim of Buddhist renunciation

                        Re- incarnation

                        Wisdom and reasoning distinguished

                        ‘Virtue’s the base’

                        Faith

                        Perseverance

                        Mindfulness

                        Meditation

                        Continued identity and re-individualisation

                        Wisdom and intelligence distinguished

                        Time

                        Origin and intelligence distinguished

                        Is there a soul?

                        Thought and sight

                        Contact, sensation, and idea

            BOOK III. The Removal of Difficulties

                        Rich and poor

                        Renunciation again

                        Nirvâna and Karma

                        Difficulties of various kinds as to transmigration, indivuduality, and the

                        Buddha

            BOOK IV. The solving of Dilemmas

                        Milinda finds dilemmas in the Holy Writ

                        And takes the Buddhist vows

                        Third meeting between him and Nâgasena

                        1^st Dilemma. If the Buddha has really quite passed away, what is the good

                        Paying honour to his relics?

                        2^nd Dilemma. How can the Buddha be omniscient, when it is said that he                            reflects?

                        3^rd Dilemma. Why did he admit Devadatta to the Order, if he knew of the                                     schism he would create?

                        4^th Dilemma. Vessantara’s earthquake

                        5^th Dilemma. King Sivi

                        7^th Dilemma. Difference in prophecies as to the duration of the faith

                        8^th Dilemma. The Buddha’s sinlessness and his sufferings?

                        9^th Dilemma. Why should the Buddha have meditiated?

                        10^th Dilemma. Why did the Buddha boast?

                        11^th Dilemma. How could the Buddha revoke regulations he had made?

                        12^th Dilemma. Why did the Buddha refuse to answer certain questions?

                        13^th Dilemma. Contradictory statements by the Buddha as to fear

                        14^th Dilemma. How can Pirit cure disease?

                        15^th Dilemma. How could the evil one turn people against the Buddha?

                        16^th Dilemma. Contradiction as to conscious crime

                        17^th Dilemma. Contradiction as to the Buddha’s wish to be the chief

                        18^th Dilemma. How could a schism have arisen in the Buddha’s life?

                        19^th Dilemma. Why do members of the Order accept reverence?

                        20^th Dilemma. The evil results of preaching

                        22^nd Dilemma. Was not the Buddha once angry with Sudinna?

                        23^rd Dilemma. The tree talking

                        24^th Dilemma. The Buddha’s last meal

                        25^th Dilemma. Adoration of relics

                        26^th Dilemma. The splinter of rock

                        27^th Dilemma. Contradictory description of the Samana

                        28^th Dilemma. Buddha’s boasting

                        29^th Dilemma. How can the kind punish others?

                        30^th Dilemma. Was not the Buddha angry at Kâtumâ?

                        31^st Dilemma. How could Moggallâna have had miraculous powers seeing

                                    That he was murdered?

                        32^nd Dilemma. Why should the rules of the Order be kept secret?

                        33^rd Dilemma. Contradictions about falsehood

                        34^th Dilemma. Did not the Omniscient One once doubu?

                        35^th Dilemma. Suicide

                        36^th Dilemma. Love to all beings

                        37^th Dilemma. Wickedness and prosperity

                        38^th Dilemma. Women’s wiles

                        39^th Dilemma. Did not the Arahats once show fear?

                        40^th Dilemma. Did not the Omniscient One once change his mind?

Appendix. Devadatta in the Gâtakas

Addenda et Corrigenda

Index f Proper Names

Index of Subjects

Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East

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