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1275, 276 of the edition of the Sumangala Vilasini, edited for the Pali Text Society by Professor Carpenter and myself) are not the same as those of our author at the corresponding passage of Mr. Trenckner’s text (pp. 168, 169; IV, 3,11), but they are the same in substance. The above two references in Buddhaghosa to our author were pointed out by myself. Dr. Morris has pointed out two others, and in each of those also Buddhaghosa is found to quote words differing from Mr. Trenckner’s text. The former of these two was mentioned in a letter to the ‘Academy’ of the 12th November, 1881. In the Manoratha Pdrazi, his commentary on the Anguttara, on the passage marked in Dr. Morris’s edition as I, 5, 8, Buddhaghosa says :— ‘Imasmim pan’ atthe Milinda-rag& dhammakathika-Nagasenattheram puséshi: “Bhante Nagasena, ekasmim akkharakkhane pavattita-fittasamkhara sake rdpino assa kiva mah4-rasi bhaveyyatie”’ And he then gives the answer:—‘ VAhasatanam kho maha-raga vihinam addha-kila#z ka vaha vihi sattammandani dve ka tumba ekakkharakkhane 1 This was already pointed out in a note to my translation of the text commented on (‘ Buddhist Suttas,’ vol. xi of the Sacred Books of the East, p. 112). INTRODUCTION. XV pavattitassa fittassa sankham pina upenti kalam pina upenti kala-bhagam pi na upentiti’ This passage of the Milinda, referred to by Buddhaghosa, will be found on p. 102 of Mr. Trenckner’s edition, translated below at IV,1, 19. But the question is not found there at all, and the answer, though much the same in the published text, still differs in the concluding words. Mr. Trenckner marks the passage in his text as corrupt, and it may well be that Buddhaghosa has preserved for us an older and better reading. The other passage quoted by Dr. Morris (in the ‘Academy’ of the 11th January, 1881) is from the Papazka Sddani, Buddhaghosa’s still unedited Commentary on the Magghima Nikaya. It is in the comment on the Brahmayu Suttanta, and as it is not accessible elsewhere I give this passage also in full here. With reference, oddly enough, to the same passage referred to above (pp. 168, 169 of the text, translated below at IV, 3,11) Buddhaghosa there says :— ‘Vuttam etam Nagasenattherena Milindaraand putthena: “Na mahdarfaga Bhagavad guyham dasseti khayam Bhagava dassetiti.”’ In this case, as in the other quotation of the same passage, the words quoted are not quite the same as those given in the published text, and on the other hand they agree with, though they are much shorter than, the words as given in the Sumangala Vilasini.
2It would be premature to attempt to arrive at the reason of this difference between Buddhaghosa’s citations and Mr. Trenckner’s edition of the text. It may be that Buddhaghosa is consciously summarising, or that he is quoting roughly from memory, or that he is himself translating or summarising from the original work, or that he is quoting from another Pali version, or that he is quoting from another recension of the text of the existing Pali version. We must have the full text of all his references to the ‘Questions of Milinda’ before us, before we try to choose between these, and possibly other, alternative explanations. What is at present certain is that when Xvi THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA. Buddhaghosa wrote his great works, that is about 430 A.D., he had before him a book giving the conversations between Milinda and Nagasena. And more than that. He introduces his comment above referred to on the Amba/ftha Sutta by saying, after simply quoting the words of the text he is explaining: ‘What would be the use of any one else saying anything on this? For Nagasena, the Elder, himself said as follows in reply to Milinda, the king !’— and he then quotes Nagasena, and adds not a word of his own. It follows that the greatest of all Buddhist writers known to us by name regarded the ‘Questions of Milinda’ as a work of so great authority that an opinion put by its author into the mouth of Nagasena should be taken as decisive. And this is not only the only book, outside the Pali Pisakas, which Buddhaghosa defers to in this way, it is the only book, except the previous commentaries, which he is known even to refer to at all. But, on the other hand, he says nothing in these passages to throw any further light on the date, or any light on the authorship, of the work to which he assigns so distinguished, even so unique, a position. So far as to what is known about our ‘Questions of Milinda’ in Ceylon. The work also exists, certainly in P4li, and probably in translations into the local dialects, in Burma and Siam. For Mr. Trenckner mentions (Introduction, .p. iv) a copy in the Burmese character of the Pali text sent to him by Dr. Rost, there is another copy in that character in the Colombo Museum’, and Mr. J. G. Scott, of the Burmese Civil Service, has sent to England a Burmese Nissaya of the Milinda (a kind of translation, giving the Pali text, word for word, followed by the interpretation of those words in Burmese*). A manuscript of the Pali text, brought from Siam, is referred to in the Simhalese MSS. in the marginal note quoted by Mr. Trenckner at p. vi of the ' Kim ettha af#fena vattabbam? Vuttam etam Nagasenattheren’ eva Milinda-ra##é pusfhena....(Sumangala Vilasinf, loc. cit.). 7 See p. 51 of the ‘ Journal of the PAli Text Society’ for 1882. * This Nissaya is now in the possession of his brother, the Bursar of St. John’s College, Cambridge. INTRODUCTION. XVil
3Vuttam etam Nagasenattheren’ eva Milinda-ra##é pusfhena....(Sumangala Vilasinf, loc. cit.). 7 See p. 51 of the ‘ Journal of the PAli Text Society’ for 1882. * This Nissaya is now in the possession of his brother, the Bursar of St. John’s College, Cambridge. INTRODUCTION. XVil Introduction to his edition. And there exists in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, a complete MS., in excellent condition, in the Siamese-Pali character!, while there are numerous fragments in the Paris Bibliothé¢que Nationale of one or more MSS. of the, text, in the same Kambojan character used in Siam for the writing of Pali texts ?. It may be noticed here that there are seven MSS. of the text written in the Ceylon character known to exist in Europe. Two of them (one a very ancient one) are in the Copenhagen University Library, two in the Bibliotheque Nationale?, one in the Cambridge University Library %, and two in the India Office Library*. Three only of these seven have been used by Mr. Trenckner for his very able and accurate edition of the text, published in 1880. That is all the external evidence at present available. What can be inferred from the book itself is about as follows. It consists of the discussion of a number of points of Buddhist doctrine treated in the form of conversations between King Milinda and Nagasena the Elder (Thera). It must be plain to every reader of the following pages that these are not real conversations. What we have before us is really an historical romance, though the didactic aim overshadows the story. Men of straw, often very skilfully put together, are set up for the purpose, not so much of knocking them down again, as of elucidating some points of ethical or psychological belief while doing so. The king himself plays a very subordinate part. The questions raised, or dilemmas stated, are put into his mouth. But the solutions, to give opportunity for which the questions or dilemmas are invented, are the really important part of the work, and these are put into the mouth of Nagasena. The dialogues are introduced by a carefully constructed 1 By the kindness of the Master and Fellows of the College I have been allowed to collate this MS. in London. 2 See ‘ Journal of the P&li Text Society’ for 1882, p. 35. 3 See ‘ Journal of the Pali Text Society’ for 1883, p. 146. * See ‘ Journal of the Pali Text Society’ for 1882, p. 119. [35] b Xvili THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA. preliminary story, in which the reader’s interest in them is aroused by anticipation. And the ability of this part of the work is very great. For in spite of the facts that all the praise lavished therein upon both Milinda and Nagasena is in reality only praise of the book itself, and that the reader knows this very well, yet he will find it almost impossible to escape from the influence of the eloquent words in which importance and dignity are lent to the occasion of their meeting; and of the charm and skill with which the whole fiction is maintained.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1275, 276 of the edition of the Sumangala Vilasini, edited for the Pali Text Society by Professor Carpenter and myself) are not the same as those of our author at the corresponding passage of Mr. Trenckner’s text (pp. 168, 169; IV, 3,11), but they are the same in substance. The above two references in Buddhaghosa to our author were pointed out by myself. Dr. Morris has pointed out two others, and in each of those also Buddhaghosa is found to quote words differing from Mr. Trenckner’s text. The former of these two was mentioned in a letter to the ‘Academy’ of the 12th November, 1881. In the Manoratha Pdrazi, his commentary on the Anguttara, on the passage marked in Dr. Morris’s edition as I, 5, 8, Buddhaghosa says :— ‘Imasmim pan’ atthe Milinda-rag& dhammakathika-Nagasenattheram puséshi: “Bhante Nagasena, ekasmim akkharakkhane pavattita-fittasamkhara sake rdpino assa kiva mah4-rasi bhaveyyatie”’ And he then gives the answer:—‘ VAhasatanam kho maha-raga vihinam addha-kila#z ka vaha vihi sattammandani dve ka tumba ekakkharakkhane 1 This was already pointed out in a note to my translation of the text commented on (‘ Buddhist Suttas,’ vol. xi of the Sacred Books of the East, p. 112). INTRODUCTION. XV pavattitassa fittassa sankham pina upenti kalam pina upenti kala-bhagam pi na upentiti’ This passage of the Milinda, referred to by Buddhaghosa, will be found on p. 102 of Mr. Trenckner’s edition, translated below at IV,1, 19. But the question is not found there at all, and the answer, though much the same in the published text, still differs in the concluding words. Mr. Trenckner marks the passage in his text as corrupt, and it may well be that Buddhaghosa has preserved for us an older and better reading. The other passage quoted by Dr. Morris (in the ‘Academy’ of the 11th January, 1881) is from the Papazka Sddani, Buddhaghosa’s still unedited Commentary on the Magghima Nikaya. It is in the comment on the Brahmayu Suttanta, and as it is not accessible elsewhere I give this passage also in full here. With reference, oddly enough, to the same passage referred to above (pp. 168, 169 of the text, translated below at IV, 3,11) Buddhaghosa there says :— ‘Vuttam etam Nagasenattherena Milindaraand putthena: “Na mahdarfaga Bhagavad guyham dasseti khayam Bhagava dassetiti.”’ In this case, as in the other quotation of the same passage, the words quoted are not quite the same as those given in the published text, and on the other hand they agree with, though they are much shorter than, the words as given in the Sumangala Vilasini.
2It would be premature to attempt to arrive at the reason of this difference between Buddhaghosa’s citations and Mr. Trenckner’s edition of the text. It may be that Buddhaghosa is consciously summarising, or that he is quoting roughly from memory, or that he is himself translating or summarising from the original work, or that he is quoting from another Pali version, or that he is quoting from another recension of the text of the existing Pali version. We must have the full text of all his references to the ‘Questions of Milinda’ before us, before we try to choose between these, and possibly other, alternative explanations. What is at present certain is that when Xvi THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA. Buddhaghosa wrote his great works, that is about 430 A.D., he had before him a book giving the conversations between Milinda and Nagasena. And more than that. He introduces his comment above referred to on the Amba/ftha Sutta by saying, after simply quoting the words of the text he is explaining: ‘What would be the use of any one else saying anything on this? For Nagasena, the Elder, himself said as follows in reply to Milinda, the king !’— and he then quotes Nagasena, and adds not a word of his own. It follows that the greatest of all Buddhist writers known to us by name regarded the ‘Questions of Milinda’ as a work of so great authority that an opinion put by its author into the mouth of Nagasena should be taken as decisive. And this is not only the only book, outside the Pali Pisakas, which Buddhaghosa defers to in this way, it is the only book, except the previous commentaries, which he is known even to refer to at all. But, on the other hand, he says nothing in these passages to throw any further light on the date, or any light on the authorship, of the work to which he assigns so distinguished, even so unique, a position. So far as to what is known about our ‘Questions of Milinda’ in Ceylon. The work also exists, certainly in P4li, and probably in translations into the local dialects, in Burma and Siam. For Mr. Trenckner mentions (Introduction, .p. iv) a copy in the Burmese character of the Pali text sent to him by Dr. Rost, there is another copy in that character in the Colombo Museum’, and Mr. J. G. Scott, of the Burmese Civil Service, has sent to England a Burmese Nissaya of the Milinda (a kind of translation, giving the Pali text, word for word, followed by the interpretation of those words in Burmese*). A manuscript of the Pali text, brought from Siam, is referred to in the Simhalese MSS. in the marginal note quoted by Mr. Trenckner at p. vi of the ' Kim ettha af#fena vattabbam? Vuttam etam Nagasenattheren’ eva Milinda-ra##é pusfhena....(Sumangala Vilasinf, loc. cit.). 7 See p. 51 of the ‘ Journal of the PAli Text Society’ for 1882. * This Nissaya is now in the possession of his brother, the Bursar of St. John’s College, Cambridge. INTRODUCTION. XVil
3Vuttam etam Nagasenattheren’ eva Milinda-ra##é pusfhena....(Sumangala Vilasinf, loc. cit.). 7 See p. 51 of the ‘ Journal of the PAli Text Society’ for 1882. * This Nissaya is now in the possession of his brother, the Bursar of St. John’s College, Cambridge. INTRODUCTION. XVil Introduction to his edition. And there exists in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, a complete MS., in excellent condition, in the Siamese-Pali character!, while there are numerous fragments in the Paris Bibliothé¢que Nationale of one or more MSS. of the, text, in the same Kambojan character used in Siam for the writing of Pali texts ?. It may be noticed here that there are seven MSS. of the text written in the Ceylon character known to exist in Europe. Two of them (one a very ancient one) are in the Copenhagen University Library, two in the Bibliotheque Nationale?, one in the Cambridge University Library %, and two in the India Office Library*. Three only of these seven have been used by Mr. Trenckner for his very able and accurate edition of the text, published in 1880. That is all the external evidence at present available. What can be inferred from the book itself is about as follows. It consists of the discussion of a number of points of Buddhist doctrine treated in the form of conversations between King Milinda and Nagasena the Elder (Thera). It must be plain to every reader of the following pages that these are not real conversations. What we have before us is really an historical romance, though the didactic aim overshadows the story. Men of straw, often very skilfully put together, are set up for the purpose, not so much of knocking them down again, as of elucidating some points of ethical or psychological belief while doing so. The king himself plays a very subordinate part. The questions raised, or dilemmas stated, are put into his mouth. But the solutions, to give opportunity for which the questions or dilemmas are invented, are the really important part of the work, and these are put into the mouth of Nagasena. The dialogues are introduced by a carefully constructed 1 By the kindness of the Master and Fellows of the College I have been allowed to collate this MS. in London. 2 See ‘ Journal of the P&li Text Society’ for 1882, p. 35. 3 See ‘ Journal of the Pali Text Society’ for 1883, p. 146. * See ‘ Journal of the Pali Text Society’ for 1882, p. 119. [35] b Xvili THE QUESTIONS OF KING MILINDA. preliminary story, in which the reader’s interest in them is aroused by anticipation. And the ability of this part of the work is very great. For in spite of the facts that all the praise lavished therein upon both Milinda and Nagasena is in reality only praise of the book itself, and that the reader knows this very well, yet he will find it almost impossible to escape from the influence of the eloquent words in which importance and dignity are lent to the occasion of their meeting; and of the charm and skill with which the whole fiction is maintained.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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