question archive The Questions of King Milinda is a Buddhist philosophical dialog from the first-century B
The Questions of King Milinda is a Buddhist philosophical dialog from the first-century B
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The Questions of King Milinda is a Buddhist philosophical dialog from the first-century B.C. that was probably written by King Menander, a Bactrian king in north-western India. In Chapter 1, King Milinda poses questions to a Buddhist monk named Nagasena, and Nagasena embraces something very close to a no-soul or no-self theory, as shown in the following dialog (quoted from an abridgment byBhikkhu Pesala). The book is also called the Milinda Panha. KING MILINDA: You say that you are called Nagasena; now what is that Nagasena? Is it the hair?" NAGASENA: "I don't say that, great king." "Is it then the nails, teeth, skin or other parts of the body?" "Certainly not." "Or is it the body, or feelings, or perceptions, or formations, or consciousness? Is it all of these combined? Or is it something outside of them that is Nagasena?" Still Nagasena answered: "It is none of these." "Then, ask as I may, I can discover no Nagasena. Nagasena is an empty sound.?" [Then Nagasena ?asks King Milinda:] "How did you come here, by foot or in a chariot?" "In a chariot, venerable sir." "Then, explain sir, what that is. Is it the axle? Or the wheels, or the chassis, or reins, or yoke that is the chariot? Is it all of these combined, or is it something apart from them?" "It is none of these things, venerable sir." "Then, sir, this chariot is an empty sound." ... "Venerable sir, I have spoken the truth. It is because it has all these parts that it comes under the term chariot." "Very good, sir, your majesty has rightly grasped the meaning.? ... Just as it is by the existence of the various parts that the word 'chariot' is used, just so is it that when the aggregates of being are there, we talk of a being?." In Chapter 5, section 5.2, Rachels discusses the Bundle Theory, a theory that he seems to favor. He says that the Bundle Theory "provides a neat description of what is happening in these [split brain] cases" and writes of Parfit's conclusion that "the number of selves present in a split-brain patient is the same as the number of selves normally present in us - none" (51). If the Bundle Theory is saying that there are no selves, then the theory seems vulnerable to an objection that King Milinda raises to the no-soul Theory. In a passage adjacent to the above passage, Milinda says to Nagasena, "If venerable sir, a man were to kill you, there would be no murder." The point that Milinda makes is that if there is no self, then there is no self to murder, so murder is impossible. But it is obvious (to Milinda) that murders can and do occur, so he thinks that any theory that denies the existence of the self must be mistaken. Your task: Do you think Milinda's objection is a decisive objection to the Bundle Theory? State your answer and support it with reasoning.
