Nagasena

2021-03-31T00:30:01Z

1.152.108.100:

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{{Buddhism}}
[[File:King_Milinda_ask_questions.jpg|thumb|300px|King Milinda and Nagasena.]]
'''Nāgasena''' was a [[Sarvastivada|Sarvastivadan Buddhist]] sage born in [[Kashmir]]{{sfn|Xing|2005|page=26}}{{sfn|Jestice|2004|p=621}} and lived around 150 BC. His answers to questions about Buddhism posed by [[Menander I]] ([[Pali]]: ''Milinda''), the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom|Indo-Greek king]] of northwestern India, are recorded in the ''[[Milinda Panha|Milinda Pañha]]'' and the Sanskrit Nāgasenabhiksusūtra.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Buswell|editor1-first=Robert Jr|editor2-last=Lopez|editor2-first=Donald S. Jr.|editor1-link=Robert Buswell Jr.|editor2-link=Donald S. Lopez, Jr.|title="Nagasena", in Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.|date=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=9780691157863}}</ref>

==''Milinda Pañha''==
Milind-Pañha or Milindo-Pañho (-o = '''the''') is a [[Pali]] treatise which means "Questions of (King) Milinda". It deals with the conversation that took place between the monk Nagasena and King Milinda in the form of questions and answers. Its author is undoubtedly the monk Nagasena, who wrote it in Pali language and has close affinity with Kishtwari (sister-language of Kashmiri spoken predominantly in the district of kishtwar in jammu and Kashmir state)
.<ref>GLIMPSES OF KISHTWAR HISTORY BY D.C.SHARMA</ref>

There is almost universal agreement that a core text was later expanded by numerous other authors, following a question and answer pattern established in the early books. The version extant today is very long, and has signs of inconsistent authorship in the later volumes. There is no agreed-upon point at which Nagasena's authorship may be said to end (and the work of other hands begins), nor has this been perceived as an inherently important distinction by monastic scholars.

The text mentions that Nagasena learned the [[Tripiṭaka]] under the Greek Buddhist monk [[Dharmaraksita|Dhammarakkhita]] near [[Pataliputra|Pātaliputta]] (modern [[Patna]]). He also reached [[bodhi|enlightenment]] and became an [[arhat]] under his guidance.

Other personalities mentioned in the text are Nāgasena's father [[Sonuttara|Soñuttara]], his teachers [[Rohana]], [[Assagutta]] of [[Vattaniya]] and another teacher named [[Ayupala|Āyupāla]] from [[Sankheyya]] near [[Sagala|Sāgala]].

==Thai tradition==
There is a tradition that Nagasena brought to Thailand the first representation of the Buddha, the [[Emerald Buddha]]. According to this legend, the Emerald Buddha would have been created in India in 43 BC by Nagasena in the city of Pātaliputta.

Nagasena is not known through other sources besides the Milinda Panha and this legend.

==Depictions==
Nagasena is one of the [[Eighteen Arhats]] of [[Mahayana|Mahayana Buddhism]]. His traditional textile depiction shows him holding a [[khakkhara]] in his right hand and a vase in his left; an excellent example can be seen on one of the [[thangka]]s in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. "This figure [conforms with the image of] the arhat Nagasena, shown in Jivarama's sketchbook of 1435"<ref>Stephen Little, "The Arhats in China and Tibet." ''Artibus Asiae'', Vol. 52, No. 3/4 (1992), p. 257</ref> who also holds a vase.

A similar depiction can be seen in the collection of Singapore's Asian Civilisations Museum ([[Qianlong Emperor|Qianlong era]], 18C: tangka with silk appliqué.)<ref>Marilyn Seow, Managing Editor. ''The Asian Civilisations Museum A-Z Guide''. Singapore: Asian Civilisations Museum, 2003, pp.326-7.</ref>

More modern statues often show a bald, elderly monk scratching his ear with a stick to symbolize purification of the sense of hearing. An adherent of Buddhism should avoid listening to gossip and other nonsense so that they are always prepared to hear the truth.

==References==
<references/>
===Bibliography===
* {{cite book|last=Jestice|first=Phyllis G|title=Holy People of the World: A Cross-cultural Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5cQH17-HnMC&pg=PR43|year=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-355-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Xing|first=Guang|title=The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikāya Theory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNiW2YElyQYC&pg=PA26|date=1 January 2005|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-33344-3}}

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[[Category:Kashmiri people]]
[[Category:Kashmiri writers]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:Buddhist apologists]]
[[Category:Indian Buddhist missionaries]]
[[Category:Arhats]]
[[Category:Indian royal advisors]]

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Nagasena