The Greek King and the Buddhist Monk

Ed Conze (trans.), Milindapañha, pp. 51-62; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

King Milinda (King Menander I) portrait comparison with King Menander II (Wiki)

1. The Five Faculties

(A) FROM THE MILINDAPAÑHA

Ven. Nagasena (Wikipedia)

The king asked Venerable Nagasena, "Is it through wise attention that people become exempt from further rebirth?"

— "Yes, it is due to wise attention and also to wisdom and the other wholesome dharmas (things)."

"But is not wise attention the same as wisdom?"

— "No, your majesty. Attention is one thing and wisdom another. Sheep and goats, oxen and buffaloes, camels and asses have attention, but wisdom they do not have."

"Well put, Ven. Nagasena!"

Greek Buddha: Pyrrho with Early Buddhism

The king asked, "What is the mark of attention, and what is the mark of wisdom?"

— "Consideration is the mark of attention, cutting off that of wisdom."

"How is that? Give me a simile."

— "You know barley-reapers, I suppose?"

"Yes, I do."

— "How then do they reap the barley?"

"With the left hand they seize a bunch of barley, in the right hand they hold a sickle, and they cut the barley off with that sickle."

— "Just so, your majesty, the yogi seizes mental processes with attention, and by wisdom cuts off the defilements."

"Well put, Ven. Nagasena."

Tillya Tepe ("Golden Hill") Buddhist coin (Wiki)

The king asked, "When you just spoke of 'the other wholesome things (dharmas),' which ones did you mean?"

— "I meant virtue, confidence (faith), energy (vigor), mindfulness (attentiveness) and unification of mind (concentration)."

"And what is the mark of virtue?"

— "Virtue has the mark of providing a basis for all wholesome dharmas, whatever they may be. When based on virtue, all the wholesome dharmas will not dwindle away."

"Give me an illustration."

— "As all plants and animals that increase, grow, and prosper do so with the earth as their support, with the earth as their basis, just so the yogi, with virtue (morality) as support, with virtue as basis, develops the five cardinal virtues, that is, the cardinal virtues of confidence, energy, mindfulness, unification of mind, and wisdom."

"Give me a further illustration."

— "As the builder of a city when constructing a town first of all clears the site, removes all stumps and thorns, and levels it; only after that the builder lays out and marks off the roads and crossroads, and so builds the city, even so the yogi develops the five cardinal virtues with virtue as support, with virtue as his basis."

Coin contents of Bimaran casket, King Milinda or Menander II, Buddhist Tillya Tepe (Wiki)

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The king asked, "What is the mark of confidence (faith)?"

— "Confidence makes one serene, and it leaps forward."

"And how does confidence make one serene?"

— "When confidence arises it arrests the Five Hindrances, and the heart becomes free from them, clear, serene, and undisturbed."

"Give me an illustration."

— "A universal monarch might on the way, together with a fourfold army, cross over a small stream. Stirred up by elephants and horses, by chariots and infantry, the water would become disturbed, agitated, and muddy. Having crossed over, the universal monarch would order troops to bring water to drink. The world ruler, who possesses a miraculous water-clearing gem, and those troops, in obeying the command, would toss it into the stream. Then at once all fragments of vegetation would float away, the mud would settle to the bottom, the stream would become clear, serene, undisturbed, and fit to be drunk by a universal monarch. Here the stream corresponds to the heart, the monarch's troops to the yogi, the fragments of vegetation and the mud to the defilements, and the miraculous water-clearing gem to confidence (faith)."

"And how does confidence leap forward?"

— "When one sees that the hearts of others have been set free, the yogi leaps forward, by way of aspiration, to the various fruits of the supreme life, and one makes efforts to attain the yet unattained, to find the yet unfound, to realize the yet unrealized."

"Give me an illustration."

— "Suppose a great cloud were to burst over the slope of a hill. The water would then flow down the slope, would first fill all the hill's clefts, fissures, and gullies, and would then run into the river below, making its banks overflow on both sides. Now suppose further that a great crowd of people had come along, and unable to size up either the width or the depth of the river, should stand frightened and hesitating on the bank. But then someone would come along, who, conscious of one's own strength and power, would firmly tie on a loincloth and jump across the river. And the great crowd of people, seeing this person on the other side, would likewise cross. Even so the yogi, when seeing that the hearts of others have been set free, leaps forward, by aspiration, to the various fruits of the supreme life, and makes efforts to attain the yet unattained, to find the yet unfound, to realize the yet unrealized. And this is what the Buddha has said in the Samyutta Nikaya:

'By confidence the flood is crossed,

By wakefulness the sea;

By vigor ill is passed;

By wisdom cleansed are we.'"

"Well put, Nagasena!"

The king asked, "What is the mark of vigor?"

— "Vigor props up and, when propped up by vigor, all the wholesome dharmas do not dwindle away."

"Give me a simile."

— "If a person's house were falling down, one would prop it up with a new piece of wood and, so supported, that house would not collapse."

The king asked, "And what is the mark of mindfulness?"

— "Calling to mind and taking up."

"How is calling to mind a mark of mindfulness?"

— "When mindfulness arises, one calls to mind the dharmas that participate in what is wholesome and unwholesome, blamable and blameless, inferior and sublime, dark and light, that is:

1. these are the four applications of mindfulness,
2. these the four right efforts,
3. these the four roads to psychic power,
4. these the five cardinal virtues,
5. these the five powers,
6. these the seven limbs of enlightenment,
7. this is the noble eightfold path;

• this is calm,
• this insight,
• this knowledge,
• this emancipation.

— "Thereafter the yogi tends those dharmas that should be tended, and one does not tend those that should not be tended; one partakes of those dharmas that should be followed, and one does not partake of those that should not be followed. It is in this sense that calling to mind is a mark of mindfulness."

"Give me a simile."

— "It is like the treasurer of a universal monarch, who each morning and evening reminds the royal of magnificent assets possessed: 'So many elephants you have, so many horses, so many chariots, so much infantry, so many gold coins, so much bullion, so much property; may your majesty bear this in mind.' In this way one calls to mind the master's wealth."

"And how does mindfulness take up?"

— "When mindfulness arises, the outcome of beneficial and harmful dharmas is examined in this way: 'These dharmas are beneficial, these harmful; these dharmas are helpful, these unhelpful.' Thereafter the yogi removes the harmful dharmas and takes up the beneficial ones; one removes the unhelpful dharmas, and takes up the helpful ones. It is in this sense that mindfulness takes up."

"Give me a comparison."

— "It is like the invaluable adviser of a universal monarch who knows what is beneficial and what is harmful to the royal, what is helpful and what is unhelpful. Thereafter what is harmful and unhelpful can be removed, what is beneficial and helpful can be taken up."

The king asked, "And what is the mark of concentration?"

— "It stands at the head. Whatever wholesome dharmas there may be, they are all headed by concentration [samadhi or unification of mind], they bend towards concentration, lead to concentration, incline to concentration."

"Give me a comparison."

— "It is as with a building with a pointed roof: Whatever rafters there are, they all converge on the top, bend towards the top, meet at the top, and the top occupies the most prominent place. So with concentration in relation to the other wholesome dharmas."

"Give me a further comparison."

— "If a king were to enter battle with a fourfold army, then all the troops — the elephants, cavalry, chariots, and infantry — would be headed by that king, and would be ranged around. Such is the position of concentration (samadhi) in relation to the other wholesome dharmas."

The king then asked, "What then is the mark of wisdom?"

Shuja Shah Durrani of Afghanistan in 1839, "Golden Hill" or Tillya Tepe (Wikipedia)

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— "Cutting off is, as I said before, one mark of wisdom. In addition, it illuminates."

"And how does wisdom illuminate?"

— "When wisdom arises, it dispels the darkness of ignorance, generates the illumination of knowledge, sheds the light of cognition, and makes the noble truths stand out clearly. Thereafter the yogi, with correct wisdom, can see impermanence, ill (dukkha), and not-self."

"Give me a comparison."

— "It is like a lamp a person might take into a dark house. It would dispel the darkness, would illuminate, shed light, and make the forms in the house stands out clearly."

"Well put, Ven. Nagasena!" More