Milinda Panho (Menander's questions to Nagasen): A Discussion over the Philosophy of No-Soul (अनात्मवाद)

 

Indo-Greek Emperor Menander (165-130 BC) was a connoisseur of literary arts and philosophy. His discussions with a Buddhist monk Nagasena over the questions of life, karma, and nirvana became famous as a book titled Milindapanho (Menander’s queries) or Milindaprashna. It is considered a representative example of the Madhyamika Buddhist philosophy of nothingness, also known as the philosophy of Shunyata.

What follows is the first part of this text.

(Translated from a Hindi version published in Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan’s volume titled, Darshan Digdarshan)

 

On the day assigned for the discussion, emperor Milinda arrived at Nagasena’s monastery riding an ornately decorated chariot and an entourage of 500 Bactrian Greek soldiers:

 

On the philosophy of ‘No-Soul’

Menander: “Bhante! By what name is your reverence known?”

Menander- “I am referred to as Nagasena. Though, it is merely a convention adopted for convenience’s sake. No such entity in fact exists.”

Menander- “Bhante! If no such entity exists, then who consumed the food that you ate today? Who is wearing these clothes? Who indulges in pleasures? Who abides by Vinay (monastic rules)? Who meditates and contemplates? Who attains Nirvana?... If what you claim is indeed true, then there is no such thing as sin, for there is no one to commit it... If someone kills you, would you be dead? Since you do not exist!”

“Is your hair Nagasen?”

“I do not say that Maharaj.”

“How about your nails then? Are they Nagasen? Your teeth, skin, muscles, nerves, heart, guts, blood, and sweat, are they Nagasen?”

“No Maharaj”

“Would you say that your physical form is Nagasen? Are your pains and sufferings Nagasen? Your habits? Your wisdom? Are they Nagasen?

“No Maharaj”

“Would you say that you exist somewhere outside your body?”

“No Maharaj”

“Bhante! This discussion is not going anywhere. You must answer! Who or what is Nagasen? Is Nagasen no more than a word then?”

“Maharaj! Did you walk today, or did you arrive on a chariot?”

“Bhante! I arrived on a chariot”

“Maharaj! Would you say that the horses are the chariot?”

“No bhante!”

“Would you say that the wheels are the chariot?”

“No bhante”

 “How about the chassis, reins, and yoke? Are they the chariot?”

“No bhante!”

“Would I be correct in saying that your chariot is merely a word?”

“No Bhante! The right thing to say would be that it is our convention to call these components working together a chariot.”

“You are correct Maharaj. Likewise, we follow the convention of calling my hair, heart, limbs, guts, teeth, bones, and nails etc working together Nagasen. I have no reality beyond this process.”

Milinda: “Bhante! Are you saying that just as various parts working together make a chariot, our organs and feelings working together make an organism?”

Nagasen: “Maharaj! Knowing something is quite different from understanding it. The process is referred to as Nagasen. He has no reality apart from it.”

Menander: “Bhante! If you have no existence outside the process, then who is it that sees through the eyes, hears through the ears, smells through the nose, tastes through the tongue, feels through the skin, and perceives through the mind?”

Nagasen: “Maharaj! That which you refer to, would not see if eyes were not there, he would not hear if ears were not there, he would not know the smells if his nose was removed, and he would not know the sense of touch if he had no skin. The process is the organism. The organism is a process.”

Menander: “So you say there is nothing inside a human.”

Nagasen: “A human is the process of living.”

 

On Karma and Rebirth

Menander: “Bhante! If a human is no more than a process, then who is born?”

Nagasen: “Forms of thought grip the organism. Thoughts and ideas engulf the body.”

Menander: “Shall Menander be reborn?”

Nagasen: “This organism will die. Its thoughts and feelings would live through another body.”

Menander: “Does this mean Menander would be free of his bad karma as soon as he is dead?”

Nagasen: “Ideas that had gripped Menander’s body shall live on. The organism will die.”

Menander: “But does this not mean Menander is free as soon as the organism dies!”

Nagasen: “On a cold winter night a man made a fire to warm himself and went off to sleep. During the night the fire burnt his neighbors’ farms. When taken to the king to answer for his negligence, he said, “Maharaj, the fire I made was a different fire. It was meant to keep me warm. I am not responsible for the fire that burnt the farms.” Would the king be right in accepting this argument?”

Menander: “No Bhante! If he had not started the fire or if he had doused it, it would not have assumed the ferocious form it did.”

Nagasen: “A man lit a lamp to have dinner and then went off to sleep without dousing it. During the night, the lamp set fire to his neighbours’ houses. When taken to the king he said, ‘Maharaj! I lit the lamp to have dinner. The fire that burnt my neighbors’ houses was a different one.’ Should he be absolved of responsibility?”

Menander: “Though he may not have intended so, his negligence caused the fire that burnt his neighbors’ houses. He is guilty of negligence.”

Nagasen: “Our Karma never dies. After we die, it continues its work through another organism.”

Menander: “The one who is reborn; is he the same person or another?”

Nagasen: “Neither the same nor another. The lamp that was lit for dinner transformed into a raging fire that engulfed neighbours’ houses. When did the lamp transform into a raging inferno? We inherit a flow and leave a flow behind. It is the same and another at the same time. There is no break. All are aspects of an eternal flow that has neither a beginning nor an end”

Menander: “Bhante! Do good and bad deeds generate karma? Where and how does karma stick to an organism?”

Nagasen: “Like a shadow, an organism’s karma follows it everywhere.”

Menander: “Where are they located? Can one see them? Perceive them?”

Nagasen: “Karma does not exist like a physical object. Think of it as a potential for something to come. A mango tree may look barren in winter, but it will bear fruits when the season is right. You cannot see a tree in a seed, but you know it is there.

Menander: “What is Name/Word and what is form?”

Nagasen: “Physical objects are form and mental entities are Name/Word. Both go together, neither can exist without the other. Asking which came earlier is like asking whether the hen came before the egg. Both are interwoven. It has always been so.

To be continued…