Concept
Milinda Panha
Overview
The Milindapañha (lit. 'Questions of Milinda') is a Buddhist text which dates from sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD. It purports to record a dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the 2nd century BC Indo-Greek king Menander I (Pali: Milinda).
The Milindapañhā is regarded as canonical in Burmese Buddhism, included as part of the book of Khuddaka Nikāya. An abridged version is included as part of Chinese Mahāyāna translations of the canon. The Milindapañha is not regarded as canonical by Thai or Sri Lankan Buddhism, however, despite the surviving Theravāda text being in Sinhalese script.
The Chinese text titled the Monk Nāgasena Sutra corresponds to the first three chapters of the Milindapañha. It was translated sometime during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420).
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
He is one of the first Germans who took up his attention with Indian philosophy, yet his work bore little fruit because he himself read no more than the index to the Ramayana. According to the abstract before mentioned, the Indians possess ancient philosophic systems; one part of these they consider to be orthodox, and those which tally with the Vedas are particularly included; the others are held to be heterodox…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
States what Milinda Panha is.
These are all its servants, bringing the sensation to It, and It gives the orders, and the _buddhi_ reacts. The _Purusha_ is the Enjoyer, the Perceiver, the real One, the King on his throne, the Self of man, and It is immaterial. Because It is immaterial, it necessarily follows that It must be infinite, It cannot have any limitation whatever.
Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Part II
States what Milinda Panha is.
The tooth of Buddha is always brought forth in the middle of the third month. Ten days beforehand the king grandly caparisons a large elephant, on which he mounts a man who can speak distinctly, and is dressed in royal robes, to beat a large drum, and make the following proclamation: "The Bodhisattva, during three Asankhyeya-kalpas, [3] manifested his activity, and did not spare his own life. He gave up kingdom…
Confucius, Chinese literature
Close in meaning to Milinda Panha; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Milinda Panha
Related ideas
- Harvard University Press
- Menander I
- Sri Lanka
- Sanskrit
- Pali Canon
- Mahayana
- Brill Publishers
- Theravada
- Buddhism
- Cambodia
- Pali
- Thomas William Rhys Davids
- Buddhist texts
- Indo-Greek Kingdom
- Dover Publications
- Refuge in Buddhism
- Nagasena
Place in the tradition
Part of History of philosophy in Pakistan.