The Questions of King Milinda, Part II — SBE Vol. 36 (trans. T. W. Rhys Davids, 1894)

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THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

[36]

Bonbon

HENRY FROWDE

Oxford University Press Warehouse

Amen Corner, E.C.

MACMILLAN & CO., 66 FIFTH AVENUE

THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

TRANSLATED

BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS

AND EDITED BY

F. MAX MULLER

VOL. XXXVI

Wortr

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1894

[All rights reserved}

©jforb

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

THE QUESTIONS

OF

KING MILINDA

TRANSLATED FROM THE PALI

T. W. RHYS DAVIDS

PART II

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1894

[All rights reserved']

CONTENTS.

Introduction.

Chinese books on Nagasena .

The Buddhist canon ....

Vasubandhu's reference to Nagasena

Kshemendra's reference to Milinda

The Mahavazwsa on Assagutta and Vattaniya

The Katha Vatthu ....

Milinda and other authorities on the soul theory

The Milinda later than the Katha Vatthu

XI

xv xvii xvii xviii

XX

xxi xxvi

Translation of the Text.

Book IV. The Solving of Dilemmas.

41st Dilemma. Why should houses (Wiharas) be built for the houseless ones ?..... 1 42nd Dilemma. Was not the Buddha immoderate in food? 4

43rd Dilemma. Was not Bakkula said to be superior

(in health) to the Buddha ? 8

44th Dilemma. Why is the Buddha's teaching called both new and old ? 13

45th Dilemma. Did not the Bodisat once kill animals in sacrifice ? 16

46th Dilemma. Did not the Bodisat once abuse the

Buddha? 20

47 th Dilemma. Was not Kassapa the Buddha less powerful than the potter ? . . . . 23

48th Dilemma. Why is the Buddha called both Brahman and king? 25

49th Dilemma. Did not the Buddha teach for hire ? . 31 50th Dilemma. Did not the Buddha once doubt ? (See

No. 34.) 38

Vlll

CONTENTS.

PAGE

51st Dilemma. Was not the Buddha taught by others? 43 52nd Dilemma. Why can there be only one Buddha at a time? . . 47

53rd Dilemma. Did not the Buddha put the Order above himself? .51

54th Dilemma. As a layman can reach Arahatship, why enter the Order ? 56

55th Dilemma. Did not the Buddha, having tried and abandoned asceticism, nevertheless still insist on it ? 60 56th Dilemma. Men sometimes throw off the robes.

Why not test candidates before initiation ? . . 63 57 th Dilemma. How is it that Arahats suffer bodily pain? 75

58th Dilemma. Why cannot an offender, who is not aware of his offence, enter the Path . . -78 59th Dilemma. How can a guilty Samara purify gifts ? 82 60th Dilemma. The ' soul ' in water . . . .85

6 1 st Dilemma. Why does the Order trouble itself about learning, and about buildings and gifts ? . . 92

62 nd Dilemma. Why cannot a layman, who can become an Arahat, continue as one? . . . .96 63rd Dilemma. How is it that an Arahat can do wrong? 98 64th Dilemma. What is there that is, but not in the world? 1 01

65th Dilemma. What is there that is without a cause? . 103 66th Dilemma. Karma-born, cause-born, and seasonborn 107

67th Dilemma. What becomes of dead devils? . .108 68th Dilemma. Why did not the Buddha promulgate

98
64th Dilemma. What is there that is, but not in the

world? 1 01

65th Dilemma. What is there that is without a cause? . 103 66th Dilemma. Karma-born, cause-born, and seasonborn 107

67th Dilemma. What becomes of dead devils? . .108 68th Dilemma. Why did not the Buddha promulgate all the Rules of the Order at once ? . . .109 69th Dilemma. How does the sun get cool ? . .111 70th Dilemma. Why is the sun hotter in winter? . .112 71st Dilemma. How can Vessantara's giving away of his children be approved ? . . . . .114 72nd Dilemma. Why did the Bodisat undergo penance? 132 73rd Dilemma. Which is stronger, virtue or vice? . 144 t^ 74th Dilemma. Do the dead derive advantage from gifts given here? 151

75th Dilemma. Dreams and sleep . . . .157 76th Dilemma. Is death ever premature? . . .162

CONTENTS.

IX

77th Dilemma. How can there be wonders at the graves of Arahats? . . ...

78th Dilemma. Cannot all men be converted ?

79th Dilemma. Is Nirvana all bliss, or partly pain?

80th Dilemma. The form, figure, duration, &c, of Nirvana

8 1 st Dilemma. The realisation of Nirvana .

82nd Dilemma. The place of Nirvana

Book V. The Problem of Inference.

§ 1 . How can you know that the Buddha ever lived ? .

4. The ordinary city, and its architect, shops, and inhabitants

5. The City of Righteousness, and its architect

6. The flower bazaar therein .

7. The perfume bazaar therein

• 8. The fruit bazaar therein
• 10. The antidote bazaar therein n. The medicine bazaar therein
• 12. The ambrosia bazaar therein 13-20. The jewel bazaar therein, and the seven Jewels

of the Truth ....

21. The general store bazaar therein

22. The inhabitants of the City of Righteousness

23. The generals in the City of Righteousness The chaplains in the City of Righteousness The lamplighters in the City of Righteousness . The peace-officers in the City of Righteousness . The shop-keepers in the City of Righteousness . The drunkards (!) in the City of Righteousness . The watchmen in the City of Righteousness The lawyers and judges in the City of Righteousness ........

The bankers in the City of Righteousness .

24. The conclusion drawn by inference

Book VI. The Voluntary Extra Vows. § 1 . Can laymen attain Nirvana ?

6. The twenty-eight advantages of the vows

7. The eighteen good qualities that come from keeping them .

*74 176

p. 181

p. 186

p. 195

p. 202

p. 206

208
211
212
214
215
217
218
219

220
229
231
234
234
235
236

237
238

238/

p. 238

p. 239

p. 240

244
251

p. 1

p. 252

/

CONTENTS.

i o. No Arahatship without having kept them

12-15. Similes

• 16. He who, being unworthy, takes the vows
• 18. He who, being worthy, takes the vows
• 20. Details of the thirteen extra vows

24. The example of Upasena .

25. The thirty graces of the true recluse .

26. The example of Sariputta .

PAGE
254
255
26l
264
268
270
271

p. 273

Book VII. Similes of Arahatship.

§ 1. Detailed list of these similes, sixty-seven being still preserved, and thirty-eight being now lost . 275

The example of Upasena .

25. The thirty graces of the true recluse .

26. The example of Sariputta .

PAGE
254
255
26l
264
268
270
271

p. 273

Book VII. Similes of Arahatship.

§ 1. Detailed list of these similes, sixty-seven being still preserved, and thirty-eight being now lost . 275

19. Wonders at the conclusion of Nagasena's solution of the three hundred and four puzzles . • 373

20. Conversion of Milinda the king . . . -373

21. Milinda enters the Order, and becomes an Arahat 374

Additions and Corrections 377

Index of Proper Names -379

Index of Subjects 381

Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the

Translations of the Sacred Books of the East . -385

INTRODUCTION.

I HAVE first to notice a few points as to the history of the Milinda book which have either come to light since the former Introduction was written, or which I then omitted to notice.

Mr. Bunyiu Nanjio in his Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Books 1 mentions a Chinese book called Na-sien PiMiu Kin (that is ' The Book of the Bhikshu Nagasena ' Sutra) 2. I have been so fortunate as to receive detailed information about this book both from Dr. Serge d'Oldenbourg in St. Petersburg and from M. Sylvain Levi in Paris. Professor Serge d'Oldenbourg forwarded to me, in the spring of 1892, a translation into English (which he himself had been kind enough to make) from a translation into Russian by Mr. Ivanovsky, of the Chinese Introduction, and of various episodes in the Chinese which seemed to differ from the Pali. This very valuable aid to the interpretation of the Milinda, which the unselfish courtesy of these two Russian scholars intended thus to place at my disposal, was most unfortunately lost in the post ; and I have only been able to gather from a personal interview with Professor d'Oldenbourg that the Introduction was a sort of Gataka story in which the Buddha appeared as a white elephant 3.

By a curious coincidence this regrettable loss has been

1 Called on the title-page ' Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripi/aka.' But this must surely be a mistake. It includes a number of works which are not translations at all, and translations of a large number of others which do not belong to the Pi/akas.

2 No. 1358 in the Catalogue. Translated under the Eastern Tsin Dynasty,
317-420.

3 As there is nothing about this curious Introduction in either of M. Specht's papers to be mentioned immediately, it seems possible that there are really three Chinese books on the same subject.

XU QUESTIONS AND PUZZLES OF MILINDA THE KING.

since made good by the work of two French scholars.
Mons. Sylvain Levi forwarded to the Ninth International
Congress of Orientalists, held in London in the autumn of
1893, a careful study on the subject by M. Edouard Specht,
preceded by an introductory essay by himself.