Did the Buddha exist? (City of Dhamma)

Isaline B. Horner (trans.), Milindapanha or "Questions of King Milinda" from The Blessed One’s City of Dhamma (Buddhist Publication Society); Dhr. Seven, Ven. Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

In the Greek king's court, Bactria (NW India)

King Milinda [ancient Greek King Menander I] approached Venerable Nagasena, greeted him, and sat down at a respectful distance.

King Milinda, anxious to know, hear, remember, see the light of knowledge, break down the lack of knowledge, to find the light of knowledge, to expel the darkness of ignorance, aroused extreme steadfastness and zeal and mindfulness and clear comprehension, and spoke to Ven. Nagasena:

“Revered Nagasena, have you ever seen the Buddha?”

“No, sire.”

“But have your teachers ever seen the Buddha?”

“No, sire.”

“Revered Nagasena, if you have never seen the Buddha, and if your teachers have never seen the Buddha, well then, revered Nagasena, there is no Buddha; the Buddha is not manifested here.”

“But, sire, did those former noble warriors exist who were the forerunners of your noble warrior dynasty?”

“Yes, revered sir; what doubt is there?”

“Have you, sire, ever seen the former noble warriors?”

“No, revered sir.”

“But have those who have instructed you, sire — priests, generals, judges, chief councilors — have these ever seen the former noble warriors?”

Translator Isaline B. Horner

“No, revered sir.”

“But if you, sire, have not seen the former noble warriors and if your instructors have not seen the former noble warriors, where are the former noble warriors?”

“Revered Nagasena, articles of use enjoyed by the former noble warriors are to be seen, that is to say, the white sunshade, the turban, the shoes, the yak-tail fan, the treasure of the sword of state, and the couches of great price. By these we can know and can believe that the former noble warriors existed.”

“Even so, sire, we may also know and believe in this Blessed One. There is this reason according to which we may know and believe that there was this Blessed One. What is the reason? There are, sire, articles of use enjoyed by that Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arhat, the Perfectly Enlightened One, that is to say, the [37 Requisites of Enlightenment]:

1. Four Foundations of Mindfulness
2. Four Right Efforts
3. Four Bases of Psychic Power
4. Five Spiritual Faculties
5. Five Powers
6. Seven Factors of Enlightenment
7. Noble Eightfold Path [1].

By these the world with its devas knows and believes that there was this Blessed One. For this reason, sire, for this cause, because of this methodical reasoning, because of this inference it should be known that there was this Blessed One.”

“Revered Nagasena, make a simile.”

The Blessed One, Gandhara, Central Asia

“As sire, a city-architect, when he wants to build a city, first looks about for a district that is level, not elevated, not low-lying, free from gravel and stone, secure, irreproachable and delightful, and then when he has made level there what was not level and has had it cleared of stumps of trees and thorns, he might build a city there. It would be fine and regular, well planned, the moats and encircling walls dug deep, the city gates, the watch-towers and the ramparts strong, the crossroads, squares, junctions and the places where three or four roads meet numerous, the main-roads clean, level and even, the bazaar shops well laid out, the city full of parks, pleasances, lakes, lotus pools and wells, adorned with a wide variety of shrines to devas, the whole free from defects. When that city was fully developed, he might go away to another district. Then after a time that city might become rich and prosperous, well stocked with food, secure, successful, happy, without adversity, without accident, crowded with all kinds of people. When these people had seen the city, new, well laid out, without a defect, irreproachable, delightful, they would know by inference: ‘Clever indeed is that city-architect who was the builder of the city.’

“Even so, sire, that Blessed One is without an equal, equal to the unequaled, equal to the matchless ones, unique, incomparable, boundless, immeasurable, of unmeasured special qualities, attained to perfection in special qualities, of infinite steadfastness, infinite incandescence, infinite energy, infinite power, gone to perfection in the powers of a Buddha; having overthrown Mara and his army, burst asunder the net of false views, made ignorance to be cast out and knowledge arise, borne aloft the torch of Dharma; and having attained omniscience, unvanquished and victorious in the battle, he built the City of Dharma.

“In the Blessed One’s City of Dharma the encircling walls are virtue, the moats are conscience, the ramparts over the city gates are knowledge, the watch-towers are energy, the pillars are confidence (conviction), the doorkeepers are mindfulness, the cross roads are the sutras, the places where three or four roads meet is the Higher Doctrine (Abhidhamma), the law-court is the Monastic Discipline (Vinaya), the streetway is the foundations of mindfulness. And in that streetway of the foundations of mindfulness such shops as these are offering goods for sale, that is to say, a flower shop, a perfume shop, a fruit shop, an antidote shop, a medicine shop, a nectar shop, a jewel shop, and a general shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the flower shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara (Salomon)

“There are, sire, certain kinds of objective supports for meditation that have been pointed out by that Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arhat, the Perfectly Enlightened One, that is to say, the perception of impermanence, the perception of non-self [the impersonal nature of all things], the perception of the foul, the perception of peril, the perception of abandonment, the perception of dispassion, the perception of cessation, the perception of not delighting in anything in the world, the perception of the impermanence of all formations, mindfulness of breathing; the [sobering] perception of a swollen corpse, the perception of a discolored corpse, the perception of a decomposing corpse, the perception of an oozing corpse, the perception of a corpse gnawed by animals, the perception of a corpse with bones scattered, the perception of a corpse hacked up and scattered, the perception of a corpse still bleeding, the perception of a worm-infested corpse, the perception of a skeleton; the perception of loving-kindness, the perception of compassion, the perception of sympathetic joy, the perception of equanimity; mindfulness of death; mindfulness occupied with the body [2].

“Whoever is anxious to get free from old age and death chooses one of these objective supports for meditation and, with this objective support for meditation, one is freed from lust, freed from hatred, freed from delusion, freed from pride, freed from wrong views; one crosses over samsara [the endless round of rebirth], stems the stream of craving, cleanses away the threefold stain; and when one has abandoned all the defilements and has entered the City of Nirvana that is stainless, dustless, pure, fair, birthless, ageless, deathless, blissful, cooled, and without fear, one sets free one's mind in arhatship [full enlightenment]. This sire, is called the Blessed One’s flower shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the perfume shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“There are, sire, certain kinds of virtue that have been pointed out by that Blessed One. Anointed with the perfume of this virtue, the Blessed One’s offspring make fragrant and pervade the world with the devas with the perfume of virtue, and they breathe it forth and fill the quarters and the intermediate points and the following winds and the head-winds with it, and when they have suffused the world, they stand firm. And what, sire, are these various kinds of virtue? The morality of going for guidance (sarana), the Five Precepts, the Eight Precepts, and the Ten Precepts, the morality of restraint by the Path to Freedom (Patimokkha) as included in the Five Recitations [3]. This, sire, is called the Blessed One’s perfume shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the fruit shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“Fruits, sire, have been pointed out by the Blessed One, that is to say, the fruit of stream-entry, the fruit of once-returning, the fruit of nonreturning, the fruit of arhatship, the attainment of the fruit of emptiness, the attainment of the fruit of the signless, the attainment of the fruit of the undirected [4]. Whatever fruit anyone wishes for, one, giving the price of the transaction, buys the fruit one prefers.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the antidote shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“Antidotes, sire, have been pointed out by the Blessed One. By means of these antidotes the Blessed One sets free the world with the devas from the poison of the defilements. And what are these antidotes? These Four Noble Truths have been pointed out by the Blessed One, sire, that is to say, the

1. noble truth of suffering [disappointment, unsatisfactoriness],
2. the noble truth of the arising of suffering,
3. the noble truth of the cessation of suffering,
4. the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

Those who therein are longing for profound knowledge and hear the Dharma of the Four [Ennobling] Truths, they are set free from rebirth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. This sire, is called the Blessed One’s antidote shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the medicine shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“Medicines, sire, have been pointed out by the Blessed One. By means of these medicines the Blessed One cures devas and humans, that is to say, the

• Four Foundations of Mindfulness
• Four Right Efforts
• Four Bases of Psychic Power
• Five Spiritual Faculties
• Five Powers
• Seven Factors of Enlightenment
• Noble Eightfold Path.

By means of these medicines the Blessed One purges people of wrong views, of wrong aspiration, of wrong speech, of wrong action, of wrong mode of livelihood, of wrong endeavor, of wrong mindfulness, and of wrong concentration; he has an emetic given for the vomiting up of lust, hatred, delusion, pride, false view, doubt, agitation, lethargy and drowsiness, shamelessness and lack of fear of wrongdoing; he has an emetic for the vomiting up of all the defilements. This, sire, is called the Blessed One’s medicine shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the nectar shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?” More