Nàxiān bǐqiū jīng 那先比丘經
Sūtra of the Bhikṣu Nāgasena (recension A) (translator unknown, attributed to the Eastern Jìn 東晉 catalog)
About the work
The shorter (recension A) Chinese version of the Milindapañha — the famous Indo-Greek Buddhist dialogue between King Milinda (Pāli; Sanskrit: Menander, the Indo-Greek king ruling in north-western India c. 165–130 BCE) and the monk Nāgasena (那先 Nà-xiān). In two juǎn. The translator’s name has been lost in transmission and the text is conventionally attached to the Eastern Jìn 東晉 (317–420) catalog: 失譯人名附東晉錄.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1670) lists no internal sub-divisions for this short two-juan recension. T32n1670 is registered as a single bibliographic entry; the Taishō has split it editorially into A (T1670A, this text, KR6o0124) and B (T1670B, the longer recension, KR6o0125) on the basis of separate manuscript transmission.
Abstract
The Chinese Nà-xiān bǐ-qiū jīng is one of the rare canonical Buddhist works that translates a Theravāda or proto-Theravāda original into Chinese — a form of Buddhism otherwise represented only marginally in the Chinese canon. The text exists in two recensions: the shorter (T1670A, 2 juan; this entry KR6o0124) and the longer (T1670B, 3 juan; KR6o0125). Both go back to a shared Milindapañha-related original; the relation of the Chinese to the surviving Pāli Milindapañha is complex (the Pāli text grew over centuries through accretion, and the Chinese versions appear to translate an earlier, shorter Indian recension than the canonical Pāli). The text opens with the Buddha at the Jētavana grove in Śrāvastī, but the bulk of the work consists of the dialogues between King Milinda and the bhikṣu Nāgasena on questions of Buddhist doctrine — chief among them the famous chariot-simile demonstrating the doctrine of anātman (no-self).
The dating of the translation is contested. The catalog convention attaching the text to the Eastern Jìn (317–420) is conventional rather than evidentially grounded; the shorter recension may be earlier (perhaps third-century) and the longer recension a slight expansion. Modern scholarship including Demiéville and Mingwood Liu has explored the question without definitive resolution.
The Taishō establishes the text from the 高麗 base, collated against 聖 (the Shōsō-in / Shōgozō manuscript) and 麗 (the Korean canon).
Translations and research
- Demiéville, Paul. “Les versions chinoises du Milindapañha.” Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 24 (1924): 1–258. — The foundational and still-authoritative comparative study of the two Chinese recensions and their relation to the Pāli.
- Liu, Ming-wood. “Madhyamaka Thought in China.” Leiden: Brill, 1994. (Background on the philosophical context.)
- Guang Xing 廣興. Mílíndaángqián jīng yǔ Nà-xiān bǐ-qiū jīng 米蘭達王問經與那先比丘經. — Comparative study of the Pāli and Chinese versions.
- Horner, I. B., trans. Milinda’s Questions. 2 vols. London: Luzac, 1963–1964. — English translation of the Pāli Milindapañha; useful for comparison.
- Vipassi 維巴施. Nà-xiān bǐ-qiū jīng yǔ Mílándáwáng wèn 那先比丘經與米蘭達王問. Various studies.
Other points of interest
The Milindapañha is among the most philosophically important Buddhist works of the early period and one of the few documents of Indo-Greek philosophical encounter to survive in any form. The Chinese versions, predating the canonical Pāli text in their underlying source, are essential to scholarship on the work.
Links
- CBETA
- Dazangthings date evidence (200, 420): [ Mizuno 1959 ] Mizuno Kōyō 水野弘元. “Mirinda mon kyōrui ni tsuite” ミリンダ問経類について. Komazawa daigaku kenkyū kiyō 駒澤大學研究紀要 17 (1959): 17-55. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/572/