Karmashataka 20: Bam po 20

was designated as foremost among those [who have ...]. / The Hundred Deeds, viśrāma twenty. / Regarding that called "The Black One": The nidāna was in Rājagṛha. At that time, a brāhmaṇa named Bhūta lived in Rājagṛha. Later, his wife became pregnant, and when nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a boy who was handsome, attractive, and beautiful, but black in complexion. Then, having held an extensive birth festival for him, they deliberated on giving him a name, asking, "What name should be given to this boy?" Since this boy was black in complexion, they decided: "Therefore, this boy should be named Black One!"

Then they reared young Black on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and he flourished like a lotus in a lake. As he grew up, he studied letters, brahminical customs and conduct, the syllables oṃ and bho, ritual purity, ritual actions, the collection of ashes, holding the ritual vase, the Ṛg Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda, the Atharva Veda, how to perform sacrificial rites, how to lead others in performing sacrificial rites, how to give and receive offerings, recitation, and recitation instruction. Trained in these procedures, he became a master of the six types of brahminical activities, and in time he mastered the eighteen sciences.

Black’s father taught brahmin mantras to some five hundred young brahmins. One day, when he had become old, he thought, “Now that I am old, I shall not be able to teach mantras to these five hundred young brahmins, so I will put a leader in charge of the group.” So the father instructed his son, “Black, my child, now that I am old, I shall not be able to teach mantras to these five hundred young brahmins. Since you are a master of mantras, you must lead these young brahmins in the study of mantras.”

“As you wish, my preceptor,” the young man replied, and after that he began teaching mantras to the five hundred young brahmins.

Now, at that time there was another brahmin living in Rājagṛha who performed a sacrifice and offered many gifts to the brahmins. In the presence of the one who had performed the sacrifice, some of them said, “It is we who should collect these offerings. You others are not worthy to do so.”

Those of them who lived in town retorted, “We are pure, whereas you are servants of the king. Therefore it is we who should collect these offerings, and not you.”

The brahmin Black thought, “These brahmins are so quarrelsome that no one will be able to appease them. I’d better be careful.”

He tried to get between them, but he could not keep the brahmins from quarreling. This made him very sad. “I shall give up my retinue and go to live in the forest alone,” he thought, and he left behind his disciples and went into the forest.

In that forest there lived a certain yakṣa, also named Black, who was fearsome and terrible. He drained the life out of others and caused suffering among thousands of beings. There lived a sage in that forest as well, and when the yakṣa saw him he felt a surge of joy.

The brahmin Black saw the sage from a distance, and when he saw him, he too was filled with joy. In his joy he went forth in his presence, received instructions to ponder, and generated the four meditative states and the five superknowledges.

Sometime later the elder sage died, and after his death, Sage Black went on living there. One day the people of Rājagṛha beseeched the Blessed One, “Lord, we feel no resentment toward Black the yakṣa, but he resents us so. We do not intend him harm, but he intends us harm, and he is harming thousands of beings. Lord, the Blessed One has tamed wicked nāgas like Nanda, Upananda, and others besides. You have tamed even the wicked yakṣa lord Aṭavika, and others besides. How wonderful it would be if, out of compassion, the Blessed One could tame Black the yakṣa as well.” The Blessed One assented to the people of Rājagṛha by his silence.

The Blessed One used his miraculous powers to summon the yakṣa before him and said, “You must no longer harm beings. Give up these evil acts.”

“I shall do as the Blessed One says,”

the yakṣa replied, and he went for refuge and took the fundamental precepts. Then he further promised, “Lord, from this day forth I shall guard and protect the people of Rājagṛha.” Then he touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, took leave of the Blessed One, went back whence he came, and there he stayed.

The yakṣa then thought, “Sage Black’s austerities are futile.” For he saw that in seven days Sage Black would be dead. Out of love, he went to see him and said, “Sage, what is the use of all your severe austerities? For seven days from now you will be dead.”

The sage was devastated to hear this. Overcome by sadness, he lost his miraculous powers, and this caused him extraordinary sorrow. He sat there wailing until the yakṣa told him, “Don’t be so sad, sage. Don’t be troubled. The Blessed One is staying in Rājagṛha. He knows the course your death will take. Take refuge in the Blessed Buddha and all good things will be done for you.”

As soon as he heard this, Sage Black cast all else aside and went to Bamboo Grove, where the Blessed One sat teaching the Dharma amid a company of hundreds. Sage Black saw the Blessed Buddha in the distance. His body, graced and resplendent with the thirty-two signs of a great person, looked like it was on fire, like flames stoked with ghee, like a lamp set in a golden vessel, and like a pillar adorned with all manner of jewels. He was immaculate, clear-minded, and pure of heart. When he saw the Blessed Buddha the sight of him filled him with supreme joy, for beings who have gathered the roots of virtue

to see a buddha for the first time experience such rapture as is not to be had even by those who practice calm abiding meditation for twelve years.

Seeing the Blessed Buddha in this way, Sage Black was again filled with supreme joy. Full of such joy he went to see the Blessed One, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma. The Blessed One directly apprehended his thoughts, habitual tendencies, temperament, capacity, and nature, and taught him the Dharma accordingly.

When he heard it, the young man destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of non-return right where he sat.

After seeing the truths, he rose from his seat, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and requested the Blessed One: “Lord, if permitted I wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya so well spoken, complete my novitiate, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, I too wish to practice the holy life.”

With the words “Come, join me, monk!” the Blessed One led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship. As an arhat, free from the attachments of the three realms, his mind regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of his hands as like space itself. He became cool like wet sandalwood. His insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. He achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. He had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. He became an object of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed One, “tell us why this sage

who was terrified of dying approached the Blessed One, whereupon the Blessed One led him to go forth and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way he was terrified of dying, and I led him to go forth and placed him in the four meditative states and five superknowledges.

“Monks, in times gone by, there lived a sage in a certain hermitage who had all the five superknowledges—a person of great miracles and great power. He had one disciple, a young brahmin who was lazy and whose life was short. Even when he was being instructed, because of his exceptional laziness he could not stay focused.

“One day the sage looked out and saw that in seven days the young brahmin would be dead. Knowing that he had not achieved anything at all, in order that the young brahmin might become disillusioned with saṃsāra, he said to him, ‘Don’t be lazy, young brahmin, for in seven days you will die.’

“When the young brahmin heard this, he was filled with deep sadness, and because of his deep sadness he generated the four meditative states and the five superknowledges.

“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was that sage then, and lived the life of a bodhisattva. The one who was that young brahmin then is none other than Black himself. At that time he was terrified of dying, and I placed him in the four meditative states and the five superknowledges. Now as well he was terrified of dying, and I have led him to go forth and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.

“He also went forth in the doctrine of Buddha Kāśyapa. After practicing pure conduct all his life then, his faculties ripened, and now they have been liberated.”

The Story of Iṣudhara

In Kapilavastu there once lived a certain Śākya

called Daṇḍadhara. He was prosperous and wealthy, a person of vast and magnificent means, endowed with the wealth of Vaiśravaṇa—with wealth to rival Vaiśravaṇa’s. He took a wife of the same caste, and as they enjoyed themselves and coupled one day his wife conceived. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named him, saying, “Since this is Daṇḍadhara’s child, his name will be Iṣudhara.”

They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and he flourished like a lotus in a lake. As the young man grew up, they made him study letters, and trained him in all the different fields of craft and skill in which duly consecrated rulers of the royal caste train, such as how to ride an elephant, how to ride horseback, how to wield a weapon, and how to shoot an arrow, advance, retreat, wage war, grasp with an iron hook, wield a lasso, shoot a spear, throw a single-pointed vajra, throw other single-pointed weapons, and throw a disk; how to cut, cleave, grapple and hold, employ footwork, guard one’s head, strike from a distance, and strike at the noise of an unseen enemy; and how to target the vital points, take infallible aim, and maximize damage. By the time he had been educated in all of these, he was learned in the five fields of knowledge.

One day Śākya Daṇḍadhara’s wife conceived again, and after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. When she was born,

it was immediately well known throughout Kapilavastu that Śākya Daṇḍadhara’s daughter was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful, with a most radiant complexion. At the elaborate feast celebrating her birth they asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named her, saying, “Since she was renowned all over Kapilavastu at birth, her name will be Yaśodharā.”

They reared young Yaśodharā on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and she flourished like a lotus in a lake. Then when she had grown, she was given to the Bodhisattva in marriage. Through Yaśodharā, young Iṣudhara became good friends with the Bodhisattva, so when the Bodhisattva witnessed old age, sickness, and death, and went to live in the forest, young Iṣudhara was very upset. “What was it he saw,” he wondered, “that he went forth, giving up the kingdom of a universal monarch and my sister both?”

When the Bodhisattva achieved unexcelled wisdom and began to act for the benefit of those to be tamed, he traveled to Kapilavastu. There he was reunited with his father and son, and thousands upon thousands of Śākyas went to see the Blessed One, offering their service and respect. Since he had been so upset, Śākya Iṣudhara did not wish to see the Blessed One, but the Śākyas insisted on bringing him before the Blessed One. So as not to upset the Śākyas, the youth Iṣudhara went so far as to receive the five precepts from the Blessed One.

Since he had previously been so upset, one day he thought, “Though I did take the five fundamental precepts from him, it was a mistake, so there’s no reason I have to keep them.” Then, because he had previously been so upset, he broke the five fundamental precepts.

Now, when the Śākyas heard this, they reflected on how he had broken the five fundamental precepts and felt compassion for him.

“It isn’t right that he should be reborn among the hell beings because he broke the fundamental precepts,” they thought. So one day the Śākyas went to see the Blessed One. Upon their arrival they touched their heads to the Blessed One’s feet and took a seat at one side.

Once they had taken their seats to one side, the Śākyas beseeched the Blessed One, “Lord, Śākya Iṣudhara has broken the fundamental precepts. He’s started drinking. Blessed One, attend to him. We ask you, keep him from falling to lower realms.” The Blessed One assented to the Śākyas by his silence.

Understanding that by his silence the Blessed One had given his assent, all the Śākyas rejoiced, praising this assurance from the Blessed One. Then, after touching their heads to the Blessed One’s feet, they took leave of him.

The Blessed One thought, “I will ripen his faculties,” and for a while, the Blessed One did not speak to him at all. Observing that he had only seven days left to live, the Blessed One declared to the monks, “In seven days Śākya Iṣudhara will be dead.” Word spread like oil pressed from grain that it had been prophesied that Śākya Iṣudhara would be dead in seven days. But he had no faith in the Blessed One, so he stayed up on the roof of his palatial home, enjoying himself with women and coupling to the sound of music without interacting with other people.

The Blessed One thought, “First I shall send the greatest of my disciples to him, and then I shall go myself.” The Blessed One then spoke to Aniruddha, saying, “Aniruddha, attend to Śākya Iṣudhara.”

“As you wish, Lord,” Venerable Aniruddha replied,

and he went to Śākya Iṣudhara’s house with other monks trailing behind him.

Śākya Iṣudhara heard that the monk Aniruddha had come there to his house. When he heard this, out of love for his younger brother Aniruddha,¹⁴⁵ he went to him, bowed down at his feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma. Venerable Aniruddha gave a discourse that would ripen him, and departed.

On the second day, the Blessed One sent Ānanda, and on the third day Venerable Mahā­maudgalyāyana. On the fourth day he sent Venerable Śāriputra, and Venerable Śāriputra taught him the Dharma in such a way as to inspire faith in the Blessed One. Then Śākya Iṣudhara became terrified of his death.

On the fifth day, the Blessed One directly apprehended his mind and went to Iṣudhara’s house in person. Śākya Iṣudhara saw the Blessed One from a distance, and, when he saw him, he felt a surge of joy toward the Blessed One. In his joy he set up a seat for the Blessed One and called out to the Blessed One, “This way, Blessed One—if you please! Welcome, Blessed One, very good! Blessed One, please have a seat on this cushion I have prepared for you!” Once the Blessed One had taken his place on the seat prepared for him, Śākya Iṣudhara touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

“Iṣudhara,” the Blessed One taught, “among fears, the fear of death is but a minor one. Supreme among fears is the fear of birth among the hell beings, the animals, or the anguished spirits.”

“Lord,” he asked, “What is it like for the hell beings?”

So that Iṣudhara might become disillusioned with saṃsāra, the Blessed One transported him with his miraculous powers and showed him the beings of the eight great hells.¹⁴⁶ Śākya Iṣudhara asked, “Lord, what deeds cause one to take birth here?”

The Blessed One explained, “Those who inure themselves to the act of killing and commit it many times will take birth here. Thereafter, whenever they die and transmigrate, they will take birth here again into the same conditions, and their lives will be short.”

When the Blessed One showed him in detail the paths of the ten nonvirtuous actions in the same way, right away Iṣudhara became particularly afraid. “If you take the fundamental precepts from the Blessed One and don’t protect them,” he worried, “won’t you take birth as a hell being, an animal, or an anguished spirit?” So he confessed that he had broken all his precepts, and sat before the Blessed One to listen to the Dharma.

Then the Blessed One taught Śākya Iṣudhara the Dharma particularly suited to him. When he heard it he destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of stream entry right where he sat. Having seen the truths, after his death he immediately took rebirth as a god.

Upon taking rebirth as a god, he wondered, “Whence did I die and transmigrate?” and he saw that he had died as a human being. “Where have I taken birth?” he wondered, and he saw he had taken birth as a god. “What action did I take?” he wondered, and he saw that at the time of his death he had maintained the fundamental precepts and felt joy toward the Blessed One as well. “Not a day should pass without my seeing the Blessed One and offering him my respect,” he thought.

So he decorated himself with earrings, garlands, and strings of precious stones, put on a crown decorated with various types of precious jewels, and perfumed his body with saffron, tamala, spṛka, and other herbs. That night he filled the front of his long shirt with divine blue lotus, lotus, white water lily, white lotus,

and mandārava flowers, and went to see the Blessed One. Upon his arrival he scattered the divine blue flowers over the Blessed One and sat before the Blessed One to listen to the Dharma. The Blessed One taught him the Dharma particularly suited to him, and then sat there in silence. Understanding that the Blessed One had completed his discourse, Śākya Iṣudhara praised the Buddha’s words, rejoiced, circumambulated the Blessed One three times, and disappeared on the spot.

Now at the time of his death, the Śākyas had been filled with doubt and wondered, “Since Śākya Iṣudhara broke his precepts and started drinking alcohol, what will be his destination? When he takes rebirth, where will his next life be? We must put this question to the Blessed One! However the Blessed One describes it to us, so shall we consider it to be.”

The Śākyas went to see the Blessed One. Upon their arrival they bowed down at his feet and took their seats to one side. Once they had taken their seats to one side, the Śākyas inquired of the Blessed One, “Lord, Śākya Iṣudhara broke his precepts and started to drink. Lord, what will his destination be? When he takes rebirth, where will his next life be?”

“My friends, he took rebirth as a god!” the Blessed One replied.

“Lord, Śākya Iṣudhara broke his precepts and started to drink. How could he have taken birth as a god?” they asked.

“At the time of his death,” the Blessed One explained, “Śākya Iṣudhara confessed that he had broken his precepts, and having manifested the resultant state of stream entry, he took rebirth as a god.”

As soon as they heard this, the Śākyas were filled with wonder, and exclaimed, “O Buddha! O Dharma! O Saṅgha! Oh Dharma, so well spoken! You lift up beings, even those who have passed on to lower realms,

and send them to the god realms!” Having marveled so, they engaged in especially reverent service toward the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha.

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed Buddha, “tell us why Śākya Iṣudhara was terrified of dying and then the Blessed One rescued him from his fear of death and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way, he was terrified of dying and then protected his precepts for seven days, because of which he took rebirth in a god realm. Listen well!

“Monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years, and the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world, a certain poor merchant lived in the city of Vārāṇasī.

“One day he found faith in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Kāśyapa. The merchant wished so deeply to give gifts and make merit, and he thought, ‘With what little I have here, I shall not be able to give gifts and make merit. So, I will complete a voyage on a great seafaring vessel. If I’m able to complete even a single voyage on a great seafaring vessel, my parents’ descendants will be prosperous for seven generations.’ With this thought he loaded up his wares and set sail upon the great ocean, and after completing his voyage across the great ocean on that great seafaring vessel, he began to give gifts and make merit.

“He also had a short lifespan. So that he might become disillusioned with saṃsāra,

the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa spoke about him saying, ‘That merchant is certain to die in seven days.’

“Word spread all over like oil pressed from grain, and when the merchant heard that the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa had prophesied that he would die in seven days, he became terrified of dying and immediately approached the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa. Upon his arrival he went for refuge, and took the fundamental precepts from Buddha Kāśyapa, and after he died, he transmigrated and took rebirth as a god.

“O monks, what do you think? The one who was that merchant then is none other than Śākya Iṣudhara. There, terrified of dying, he maintained the fundamental precepts and took rebirth in the god realms. Now as well, terrified of dying, he took refuge and maintained the fundamental precepts, because of which he was able to reach the god realms and liberation.”

The Man Who Was Trampled

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, a certain brahmin lived there. He took a wife of the same caste, and as they enjoyed themselves and coupled, one day his wife conceived. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they named him according to their clan.

They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and as he grew up, he studied letters, brahminical customs and conduct, the syllables oṃ and bho, ritual purity, ritual actions, the collection of ashes, holding the ritual vase, the Ṛg Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda, the Atharva Veda, how to perform sacrificial rites, how to lead others in performing sacrificial rites,

how to give and receive offerings, recitation, and recitation instruction. Trained in these procedures, he became a master of the six types of brahminical activities, and in time he mastered the eighteen sciences.

By the time he was sixteen years old, he mastered all the scriptures and thus defeated the advocates of all the different philosophical schools. Then he made a commitment to scriptural debate, saying, “None will be my equal, much less my superior.” He became arrogant about scriptural debate, and disrespected all the other brahmins. One day the thought came to the other brahmins, “The ascetic Gautama tames those who are not tamed. Let us present this young man to the ascetic Gautama. Maybe he’ll even lead him to go forth! If that happens, we’ll be free of him.”

So that they could present the young man to the Blessed Buddha, the disrespected brahmins told him, “Child, you are like a son to us. What’s the use of saying, ‘None will be my equal, much less my superior,’ and becoming so arrogant about your wisdom? For the ascetic Gautama is both beautiful in body and beautiful in mind, omniscient and all-seeing. You don’t have even a fraction of his fine form, or his knowledge—not even a hundredth, not even a thousandth, not even a hundred thousandth.”

As soon as he heard this, the young brahmin was eager to meet the Blessed One. When he went to visit the Blessed One, the young brahmin saw the Blessed One from a distance. His body, graced and resplendent with the thirty-two signs of a great person, looked like it was on fire, like flames stoked with ghee, like a lamp set in a golden vessel, and like a pillar adorned with all manner of jewels. He was immaculate, clear-minded, and pure of heart.

Upon seeing the Blessed Buddha

, he was filled with supreme joy, for beings who have gathered the roots of virtue to see a buddha for the first time experience such rapture as is not to be had even by those who practice calm abiding meditation for twelve years.

At such a sight, whatever arrogance he had about his own form disappeared. But still he thought, “While he may be very great, he is not equal to me in wisdom. Nevertheless, I will test whether he is in fact omniscient and all-seeing.” He thought up questions in advance and went to see the Blessed One. When he arrived, he immediately made all manner of entertaining and jovial conversation and then took a seat at one side.

Now the Blessed One directly apprehended what he was thinking, foresaw the questions he had prepared, and answered them directly. Then the young brahmin took great delight in the Blessed One, thinking, “I’m certain he is omniscient and all-seeing.” Then he rose from his seat, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and implored him, “Blessed One, please permit me to invite you, together with the saṅgha of monks, to take your meals at my house for seven days.” The Blessed One assented by his silence. Understanding that by his silence the Blessed One had given his assent, the young brahmin then touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and took leave of him.

After that, having offered food to the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks for seven days, on the last day he satisfied the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks with food of a hundred flavors and to the Blessed One he offered a very costly robe.