Editing Devadatta (section)

=== ''Milinda Panha'' ===
In the ''[[Milinda Panha]]'', a series of previous lives of Gautama Buddha and Devadatta are told by [[Nagasena]] to King [[Menander I]]. When asked by Menander why Devadatta sometimes prevails in their successive incarnations, Nagasena explains Devadatta is not always evil, and in fact has accrued much merit in some of his lives. Even after being ordained, he lives with virtue for a long time until developing an ambition to overcome the Buddha.<ref name=Faure>{{cite book|last=Faure|first=Bernard|title=The Thousand and One Lives of the Buddha|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]|year=2022|page=141-142|isbn=978-0824893545|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-GSEAAAQBAJ}}</ref>