12

Nagasenathera

By Prima Limsuntrakul M.5/15 No.12

Content 1
2
Preface 5
Introductory Story 8
To profess Buddhism 10
His/her work on Buddhism 12
Virtues as a good model for leading a life
Reference

Preface

Nāgasena was a Sarvastivadan Buddhist sage who lived
around 150 BC. His answers to questions about Buddhism
posed by Menander I (Pali: Milinda), the Indo-Greek king of
northwestern India, are recorded in the Milinda Pañha and the
Sanskrit Nāgasenabhiksusūtra. Born into a Brahmin family, he
later converted to Buddhism and was promoted as an
arahant, celebrated for his discussions with King Milinda.

In this E-book, I collected data and researched details
of an important person of Buddhism, Nagasenathera, one of the
Eighteen Arhats of Mahayana Buddhism. I hope that the readers
can find this E-book mesmerizing and inspiring in many aspects,
leading to a better life with him as a hard-working and
convincing model.

Introductory Story

Early life

According to Pali accounts, Nāgasena was the son of
the Brahmin Sonuttara, in the village of Kajangala in the
Himalaya.

It is said that in his previous birth he was a deva, named
Mahasena, living in Tavatimsa, in a palace called Ketumati, and
that he consented to be born among men at the insistent request
of Sakka and the arahants led by Assagutta.

He was well versed in the Vedas at an early age, and
entered the Order under Rohana to learn the Buddhas teaching.
Later he went to Assagutta of the Vattaniya senasana and
studied under him. There, one day, at the conclusion of a meal,
while giving thanks to a lay woman who had looked after
Assagutta for more than thirty years, Nagasena became a
Sotapanna.

To profess Buddhism

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 after Nagasena became a
Sotapanna, he was then sent to Pataliputta (modern Patna)
to learn the Tripiṭaka under the Greek Buddhist monk
Dhammarakkhita near Pātaliputta . There, he attained
arahantship. Subsequently he went to the Sankheyya
parivena in Sagala, where he met Milinda.

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

His work for Buddhism

According to the legend, it is called Nagasena and the
Chariot.

The story is about a monk called Nagasena, who visited
a king called Milinda. The king asked Nagasena for his name.
Nagasena gave his name but then told the king that this was just
his name and not his real person.

The king was confused and so Nagasena asked the king
how he had arrived at their meeting place. When the king
answered that he had arrived on a chariot, Nagasena asked the
king to show him what a chariot was. The king pointed to the
chariot. However, Nagasena explained that the chariot was just a
collection of parts, such as wheels and a seat.

He then compared himself to the chariot, saying that he
too - the person called ‘Nagasena’ - was just a collection of
parts. He wanted the king to understand that the chariot and a
human are just collections of parts. For example, a human has a
head, heart, lungs, legs and other parts, and the name of the
person is the owner of these parts. However, the person only
exists because the parts all exist together. There is no separate
soul or self that is separate from these parts.

There is also 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.

Virtues as good model for leading a life

The main takeaway of the legend of Nagasena and the
Chariot is ANATTA.

Anatta is the idea that humans have no soul or self. The
Buddha taught that people have no soul because nothing is
permanent and everything changes. Although the Buddha
accepted that we exist as people, he also believed that we can
only come closer to enlightenment when we accept that we are
changing beings.

In addition, Nagasena is one of the Eighteen Arhats of
Mahayana Buddhism. His traditional textile depiction shows him
holding a khakkhara in his right hand and a vase in his left. 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.

Reference

Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013).
"Nagasena", in Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN
9780691157863.

Buswell, Robert; Lopez, Donald (2014). The Princeton
Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p.
562. ISBN 9780691157863.

Stephen Little, "The Arhats in China and Tibet." Artibus Asiae,
Vol. 52, No. 3/4 (1992), p. 257

Marilyn Seow, Managing Editor. The Asian Civilisations
Museum A-Z Guide. Singapore: Asian Civilisations
Museum, 2003, pp.326-7.