The Toughest and Most Profound Q&A Between a Genius King and an Even Wiser Priest- The Best answer to the Question: "Who are You"?

Menander I was an Indo-Greek King of the Indo-Greek Kingdom who administered a large empire in the Northwestern regions of the Indian Subcontinent. His capital was called Sagala. He started as the king of Bactria and slowly expanded his kingdom. (Please don't confuse the name of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom with those microscopic organisms. It's "Bactria" )

His life ended 2147 years ago. So why should we talk about him? There have been many Emperors who had achieved more fame and bigger kingdoms. Most of these Emperors have many things in common too. What sets Menander I apart is the fact that he was a complete genius. I don't mean some genius tactician like Alexander or Yi Sun-sin. He was that too. But here is a description about this great and unique king:

 Then thought Milinda the king within himself : 'All India is an empty thing, it is verily like chaff! There is no one, either recluse or Brahman, capable of discussing things with me, and dispelling my doubts.' And he said to his ministers: 'Beautiful is the night and pleasant! Who is the recluse or Brahman we can visit to-night to question him, who will be able to converse with us and dispel our doubts ?' And at that saying the counsellors remained silent, and stood there gazing upon the face of the king. 

Can you think of any ruler who thought like this? Have you ever heard of a king who thought of the wise men of his time as some numb skulls because he was such a genius he beat them all in intellectual debate and crushed them to ground. He did this to 6 great philosophers in his time with great following and ended up uttering the above lines.

The story says that even the Arhats were not able to debate with the king as personal understanding and eloquently explaining the understanding are 2 different things. So the Arhats went to one of the heavens and coaxed one of the gods to come to Earth as a human being instead of attaining Nirvana in a higher plane. Whether you believe this or not one thing is clear. The person who answered the questions of this amazingly intelligent king was very young. Menander I reigned 25 or 35 years. I couldn't find any clear accounts on this. The Buddhist priest Nagasena who answered king Milinda (This is the name used in Pali language for Menander) could be even young as 24 years old. Keep this in mind.

Let's dive into the very first question.

Milinda began by asking,  'How is your Reverence known, and what, Sir, is your name?'

'I am known as Nâgasena, O king, and it is by that name that my brethren in the faith address me. But although parents, O king, give such a name as Nâgasena, or Sûrasena, or Vîrasena, or Sîhasena, yet this, Sire,--Nâgasena and so on--is only a generally understood term, a designation in common use. For there is no permanent individuality (no soul) involved in the matter.'

Then Milinda called upon the Yonakas and the brethren to witness: 'This Nâgasena says there is no permanent individuality (no soul) implied in his name. Is it now even possible to approve him in that?' And turning to Nâgasena, he said: 'If, most reverend Nâgasena, there be no permanent individuality (no soul) involved in the matter, who is it, pray, who gives to you members of the Order your robes and food and lodging and necessaries for the sick? Who is it who enjoys such things when given? Who is it who lives a life of righteousness? Who is it who devotes himself to meditation? Who is it who attains to the goal of the Excellent Way, to the Nirvâna of Arahatship? And who is it who destroys living creatures? who is it who takes what is not his own? who is it who lives an evil life of worldly lusts, who speaks lies, who drinks strong drink, who (in a word) commits any one of the five sins which work out their bitter fruit even in this life? If that be so there is neither merit nor demerit; there is neither doer nor causer of good or evil deeds ; there is neither fruit nor result of good or evil Karma. If, most reverend Nâgasena, we are to think that were a man, to kill you there would be no murder , then it follows that there are no real masters or teachers in your Order, and that your ordinations are void.

This is what unfolded after the initial courtesy and don't think of this as starting off with the biggest question. Reality is far from that. Identity and what it means to exist is something that has been discussed throughout all occurrences of intelligent beings in the universe. Even on steemit, I see a lot of  questions like:

• Who are you?
• What makes you "You"?
• What is a person?
• What is existence?

There are many answers given and many further questions are asked such as:

• What if you loose your memory?
• What if you become a cyborg?
• What if you go through a cosmetic surgery?
• What if you were cloned?

Instead of my own answers, I'll just copy/paste

You tell me that your brethren in the Order are in the habit of addressing you as Nâgasena. Now what is that Nâgasena? Do you mean to say that the hair is Nâgasena?'

'I don't say that, great king.'

'Or the hairs on the body, perhaps?'

'Certainly not.'

'Or is it the nails, the teeth, the skin, the flesh, the nerves, the bones, the marrow, the kidneys, the heart, the liver, the abdomen, the spleen, the lungs, the larger intestines, the lower intestines, the stomach, the fæces, the bile, the phlegm, the pus, the blood, the sweat, the fat, the tears, the serum, the saliva, the mucus, the oil that lubricates the joints, the urine, or the brain, or any or all of these, that is Nâgasena ?'

And to each of these he answered no.

'Is it the outward form then (Rûpa) that is Nâgasena, or the sensations (Vedanâ), or the ideas (Saññâ), or the confections (the constituent elements of character, Samkhârâ), or the consciousness (Vigññâna), that is Nâgasena ?'

And to each of these also he answered no.

'Then is it all these Skandhas combined that are Nâgasena?'

'No! great king.'

'But is there anything outside the five Skandhas that is Nâgasena?'

And still he answered no.

'Then thus, ask as I may, I can discover no Nâgasena. Nâgasena is a mere empty sound. Who then is the Nâgasena that we see before us? It is a falsehood that your reverence has spoken, an untruth!'

And the venerable Nâgasena said to Milinda the king: 'You, Sire, have been brought up in great luxury, as beseems your noble birth. If you were to walk this dry weather on the hot and sandy ground, trampling under foot the gritty, gravelly grains of the hard sand, your feet would hurt you. And as your body would be in pain, your mind would be disturbed, and you would experience a sense of bodily suffering. How then did you come, on foot, or in a chariot?'

'I did not come, Sir, on foot . I came in a carriage.'

'Then if you came, Sire, in a carriage, explain to me what that is. Is it the pole that is the chariot?'

'I did not say that.'

'Is it the axle that is the chariot?'

'Certainly not.'

'Is it the wheels, or the framework, or the ropes, or the yoke, or the spokes of the wheels, or the goad, that are the chariot?'

And to all these he still answered no.

'Then is it all these parts of it that are the chariot?'

'No, Sir.'

'But is there anything outside them that is the chariot?'

And still he answered no.

'Then thus, ask as I may, I can discover no chariot. Chariot is a mere empty sound. What then is the chariot you say you came in? It is a falsehood that your Majesty has spoken, an untruth! There is no such thing as a chariot! You are king over all India, a mighty monarch. Of whom then are you afraid that you speak untruth? And he called upon the Yonakas and the brethren to witness, saying: 'Milinda the king here has said that he came by carriage. But when asked in that case to explain what the carriage was, he is unable to establish what he averred. Is it, forsooth, possible to approve him in that?'

When he had thus spoken the five hundred Yonakas shouted their applause, and said to the king: Now let your Majesty get out of that if you can?'

And Milinda the king replied to Nâgasena, and said: 'I have spoken no untruth, reverend Sir. It is on account of its having all these things--the pole, and the axle, the wheels, and the framework, the ropes, the yoke, the spokes, and the goad--that it comes under the generally understood term, the designation in common use, of "chariot."'

'Very good! Your Majesty has rightly grasped the meaning of "chariot." And just even so it is on account of all those things you questioned me about the thirty-two kinds of organic matter in a human body, and the five constituent elements of being--that I come under the generally understood term, the designation in common use, of "Nâgasena."

 For it was said, Sire, by our Sister Vagirâ in the presence of the Blessed One:

'"Just as it is by the condition precedent of the co-existence of its various parts that the word 'chariot' is used, just so is it that when the Skandhas are there we talk of a 'being.'"'

'Most wonderful, Nâgasena, and most strange. Well has the puzzle put to you, most difficult though it was, been solved. Were the Buddha himself here he would approve your answer. Well done, well done, Nâgasena!'

I'm very much of a Devil's Advocate myself with an ENTP personality and I can be extremely irreverent and I'm quick to find flaws in anything and everything and I'm quick to dismiss people as idiots. Though I'm no king and though I desire no wars I find myself deeply connected to king Milinda and the even wiser Nagasena.

My knee-jerk reaction to any idea I come across is hit it with everything I've got. I never hold back and I never revere anything and nothing is initially sacrosanct for me. If I hit it everything I've got and it was destroyed; then what I'm already holding is far more valuable. If I try my absolute best to break something apart and it still doesn't break; all it means is that I've found something greater and more valuable than what I posses in my hand. 

According to @erh.germany that kind of thinking is profound (Thanks again for the compliment). To me it was just this obvious thing about life and universe. It's like a Cyber-Security Penetration Test.

So what's the point of all these intellectual ramblings of mine....... Simple: 

I Can't Break The Above Answer!

It's just one of those perfect air-tight things. It may be hard to grasp for many people. Before I came across this answer and while I was in high school I had developed a phrase - I think I am; therefor I am. I've lived most of my life inside my head and I've pondered questions about existence since I was 3 years old. (I'm not kidding) This is a perfect answer and I can't find a single flaw in it.

This is only the very first question of a long Q&A Translated to English by Thomas William Rhys Davids. You can read the full text at http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/milinda.htm The full contents of the Questions of Milinda includes

• Background History
• Questions on Distinguishing Characteristics : (Characteristics of Attention and Wisdom, Characteristic of Wisdom, Characteristic of Contact, Characteristic of Feeling, Characteristic of Perception, Characteristic of Volition, Characteristic of Consciousness, Characteristic of Applied Thought, Characteristic of Sustained Thought, etc.)
• Questions for the Cutting Off of Perplexity : (Transmigration and Rebirth, The Soul, Non-Release From Evil Deeds, Simultaneous Arising in Different Places, Doing Evil Knowingly and Unknowingly, etc.)
• Questions on Dilemmas : Speaks of several puzzles and these puzzles were distributed in eighty-two dilemmas.
• A Question Solved By Inference
• Discusses the Special Qualities of Asceticism
• Questions on Talk of Similes

I'm sure you'll find it a profound experience and great exercise for your brain. Remember that you had the fortune of experiencing all this because of the person in the picture below.

What got me into writing this post was this post by @creatovert :  https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@creatovert/hello-steemit-you-have-a-creatovert-here