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Milinda Panha
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The Milinda Pañha (also Milindapanha, Milindapañha, or Milindapañha; abbrev., Mil) (Pali trans. "Questions of Milinda") is a Buddhist text which dates from approximately 100 BCE. It is sometimes included in the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism as a book of the Khuddaka Nikaya.
It purports to record a dialogue in which the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda in Pali) of Bactria, who reigned in the second century BCE, poses questions on Buddhism to the sage Nagasena.
earliest part of the text is believed to have been written between 100 BCE and 200 CE.
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Encyclopedia
The Milinda Pañha (also Milindapanha, Milindapañha, or Milindapañha; abbrev., Mil) (Pali trans. "Questions of Milinda") is a Buddhist text which dates from approximately 100 BCE. It is sometimes included in the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism as a book of the Khuddaka Nikaya.
It purports to record a dialogue in which the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Milinda in Pali) of Bactria, who reigned in the second century BCE, poses questions on Buddhism to the sage Nagasena.
History
The earliest part of the text is believed to have been written between 100 BCE and 200 CE. The text may have initially been written in Sanskrit; however, apart from the Sri Lankan Pali edition and its derivatives, no other copies are known.
It is generally accepted by scholars that the work is composite, with additions made over some time. In support of this, it is noted that the Chinese versions of the work are substantially shorter.
The oldest manuscript of the Pali text was copied in 1495 CE. Based on references within the text itself, significant sections of the text are lost, making Mil the only Pali text known to have been passed down as incomplete.
The book is included in the inscriptions of the Canon approved by the Burmese Fifth Council and the printed edition of the Sixth Council text.
Rhys Davids says it is the greatest work of classical Indian prose, though Moritz Winternitz says this is true only of the earlier parts.
Contents
The contents of the Milindapañha are:
- Background History
- Questions on Distinguishing Characteristics : (Characteristics of Attention and Wisdom, Characteristic of Wisdom, Characteristic of Contact, Characteristic of Feeling, Characteristic of Perception, Characteristic of Volition, Characteristic of Consciousness, Characteristic of Applied Thought, Characteristic of Sustained Thought, etc.)
- Questions for the Cutting Off of Perplexity : (Transmigration and Rebirth, The Soul, Non-Release From Evil Deeds, Simultaneous Arising in Different Places, Doing Evil Knowingly and Unknowingly, etc.)
- Questions on Dilemmas : Speaks of several puzzles and these puzzles were distributed in eighty-two dilemmas.
- A Question Solved By Inference
- Discusses the Special Qualities of Asceticism
- Questions on Talk of Similes
According to Hinuber (2000), while King Menander is an actual historical figure, Bhikkhu Nagasena is otherwise unknown, the text includes anachronisms, and the dialogue lacks any sign of Greek influence but instead is traceable to the Upanisads.
The text mentions Nagasena's father Soñuttara, his teachers Rohaa, Assagutta of Vattaniya and Dhammarakkhita of Asoka Arama near Pataliputta, and another teacher named Ayupala from Sankheyya near Sagala.
Translations
The work has been translated in to English twice, once in 1890 by Thomas William Rhys Davids (reprinted by Dover Publications in 1963) and once in 1969 by Isaline Blew Horner (reprinted in 1990 by the Pali Text Society).
- Questions of King Milinda, tr T. W. Rhys Davids, Sacred Books of the East, volumes XXXV & XXXVI, Clarendon/Oxford, 1890-94; reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi (?& Dover, New York)
- Milinda's Questions, tr I. B. Horner, 1963-4, 2 volumes, Pali Text Society, Bristol
Abridgements include:
- Pesala, Bhikkhu (ed.), The Debate of King Milinda: An Abridgement of the Milindapanha. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1992. Based on Rhys Davids (1890, 1894).
- Mendis, N.K.G. (ed.), The Questions of King Milinda: An Abridgement of the Milindapanha. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1993 (repr. 2001). Based on Horner (1963-64).
Both Rhys Davids' original work and Pesala's abridged edition are now available electronically.
See also
Sources
- Hinüber, Oskar von (1996/2000). A Handbook of Pali Literature. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016738-7.
- Winternitz, Moritz. History of Indian Literature.
External links
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