Nàxiān bǐqiū jīng 那先比丘經
Sūtra of the Bhikṣu Nāgasena (recension B) (translator unknown, attributed to the Eastern Jìn 東晉 catalog)
About the work
The longer (recension B) Chinese version of the Milindapañha — the dialogue between King Milinda and the bhikṣu Nāgasena — in 3 juǎn. Like the shorter recension KR6o0124, the translator is unknown and the work is conventionally attached to the Eastern Jìn 東晉 (317–420) catalog (失譯人名附東晉錄). The longer recension contains material absent from the shorter one and is the closer parallel to the canonical Pāli Milindapañha.
Structural Division
CANWWW does not separately register a T1670B entry; the registration is at T32N1670 (for the work as a whole). The Taishō editors have split the canonical entry into two recensions A (KR6o0124) and B (this entry) on the basis of separate manuscript transmission.
Abstract
The longer recension (T1670B) opens with the same scene-setting at the Jētavana — “the Buddha was at the Jētavana grove in Śrāvastī; at that time the assembly of bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, upāsikās, the heavenly kings, great ministers, elders, and people, and those who served the ninety-six [non-Buddhist] paths, all together more than ten thousand, daily came before the Buddha to listen to the jīng”. The narrative of the chariot-simile and the central dialogues follows in expanded form.
The longer recension contains a number of dialogues not present in the shorter one and is the closer parallel to the Pāli Milindapañha. Modern scholarship (Demiéville 1924) treats the two Chinese recensions as descended from a common Indian source through different lines of textual transmission rather than as one being an expansion of the other. The conventional attribution of the translation to the Eastern Jìn period is not evidentially anchored; the actual translation may be earlier (third century).
The Taishō establishes the text from the 高麗 base, collated against 宮 (the imperial palace edition), 宋 and 元 (the Sòng and Yuán canons).
Translations and research
- Demiéville, Paul. “Les versions chinoises du Milindapañha.” Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 24 (1924): 1–258. — The foundational comparative study of the two Chinese recensions.
- Horner, I. B., trans. Milinda’s Questions. 2 vols. London: Luzac, 1963–1964.
- Guang Xing 廣興. Comparative studies on the Pāli and Chinese Milindapañha versions.
- Mizuno Kōgen 水野弘元. Pāri butten o yomu パーリ仏典を読む. Tōkyō: Shunjūsha. — Pāli-Chinese comparison.
- Hahn, Michael. Studies on the Milindapañha. (Various.) Frame the Indian background.
Other points of interest
The two Chinese recensions of the Nà-xiān bǐ-qiū jīng together preserve a textual tradition predating the canonical Pāli Milindapañha by several centuries; they are accordingly indispensable to the philological study of one of the most philosophically significant early Buddhist works.
Links
- CBETA
- Dazangthings date evidence (200): [ 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/