Karmashataka 31: Bam po 31

blessed buddha known as Sudarśana.”

The Story of Ratnaśikhin

When¹⁸⁷ the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, there lived a certain caravan leader who loaded up his wares to set out on the great ocean. Having loaded his wares onto camels, donkeys, and other animals, the trader exited the gates of Śrāvastī out onto the main road. Being a person who put a lot of stock in prognostications, he thought, “If I return happily from the great ocean without mishap, then upon my return after I have successfully completed my voyage, I shall hold a great festival at this gate. All along this highway too I shall hold a great festival.” With that he set out on the great ocean.

After he had completed his journey to Ratnadvīpa, he came ashore from the great ocean and thought, “I set out on the great ocean aboard a great vessel and attained great wealth, so I will perform an exalted veneration of the gods of these shores, and of the deities who dwell upon the ships.” He performed a large sacrifice to the gods of the shore, and then traveled toward Śrāvastī. He made his way through the countryside, and unloaded his wares when he arrived in Śrāvastī. After performing a great sacrifice to the deities of the city gates and of the main road, he began to give gifts and make merit. He heaped up jewels and gave them as gifts to the ascetics, brahmins, carakas, parivrājakas, the bereft, and the hungry.

The blessed buddhas, teachers of the one path to be traversed, with mastery over wisdom and the two types of knowable objects, in command of the three kinds of sterling equanimity, fearless by means of the fourfold fearlessness, freed from migration through the five destinies,

keen in the six sense bases, practiced in the seven limbs of enlightenment, focused on the eight liberations, absorbed in the nine successive meditative absorptions, possessing all ten of the ten powers, whose proclamations are the great roaring of a perfect lion, by nature regard the world with their buddha eyes six times throughout the day and night—three times by day and three times by night.

These are their thoughts as they look out in wisdom: “Who is in decline? Who will flourish? Who is destitute? Who is in a dreadful state? Who is being harmed? Who is destitute, in a dreadful state, and being harmed? Who is veering toward the lower realms? Who is descending through the lower realms? Who has descended to the lower realms? Whom shall I pull up from the lower realms, and establish in the resultant state of heaven and liberation? Whom, mired in misdeeds, shall I lift up by the hand? Whom, lacking the seven jewels of the noble ones, shall I lead to command of the seven jewels of the noble ones? Whom, not having produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to produce them? Whom, having already produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to ripen their roots of virtue? Whom, having already ripened their roots of virtue, shall I slice open with the blade of wisdom? For whom shall I cause this world, adorned with a buddha’s presence, to be fruitful?”

The ocean, home of creatures fierce,
Could fail to send its tides on time.
But when the time has come to tame
Their offspring, buddhas never fail.

The Blessed One thought, “This trader will pursue unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment with single-minded resolve.” With this in mind, in the morning he donned his lower garment and Dharma robes, and, carrying his alms bowl, he entered Śrāvastī for alms through that very same gate.

The trader saw the Blessed Buddha from a distance, his body graced and resplendent with the thirty-two signs of great persons.

When he saw him he felt a surge of joy toward the Blessed One. In his joy he scooped up jewels in his hands and scattered them over the Blessed One, and by the power of the Buddha they became like a canopy above the Blessed One, moving when he moved and remaining still when he sat still.

After witnessing such a miracle the trader was especially filled with joy toward the Blessed One. In such joy he bowed down at the feet of the Blessed One and implored him, “Blessed One, please permit me to provide the Blessed One and the rest of the saṅgha of monks with provisions of clothing, food, bedding, seats, and medicines for the sick for three months.” The Blessed One assented to the trader by his silence.

Understanding that by his silence the Blessed One had given his assent, the trader supplied the Blessed One and the rest of the saṅgha of monks with all their necessities there in the garden of Prince Jeta. After he had respectfully served them with all their necessities for three months, on the last day he offered the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks food of a hundred flavors, and to the Blessed One he offered a very costly robe.

After that he also offered each of the other monks a set of robes fashioned from cotton, and prayed for unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment, saying, “By this root of virtue may I become a protector for the world’s blind who are without a guide, without any guide at all, a tathāgata, an arhat, a totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, a sugata, a knower of the world, a tamer of persons, a charioteer, an unsurpassed one, a teacher of humans and gods—a blessed buddha.”

The Blessed One said to the trader, “Very good, trader, very good. Trader, in the future you will be a protector for the world’s blind

who are without a guide, without anyone to show them the way, a tathāgata, an arhat, a totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, a sugata, a knower of the world, a tamer of persons, a charioteer, an unsurpassed one, a teacher of humans and gods—the blessed buddha known as Ratnaśikhin.”

Wealth

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī there lived a certain brahmin. When the time came for him to marry he took a wife, 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 he flourished like a lotus in a lake. As he grew up he studied letters, tallying, and arithmetic; the study of seals, lending, deposits, and commerce; and the examination of cloth, jewels, gems, incense, medicine, elephants, horses, and arms and armor. He became skilled in writing, skilled at reading, learned, decisive, and industrious, a master of the eight types of examination. One day he loaded up his wares and set out on the great ocean only to return after completing his voyage.

In the meantime his father, a householder who served the householder Anāthapiṇḍada, found faith in the Blessed One, went for refuge, and took the fundamental precepts. One day the householder invited the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks to his house for three months. By his own hand he contented them with many good, wholesome foods, proffering all that they wished, and then sat before them to listen to the Dharma.

The Blessed One directly apprehended the householder’s thoughts, habitual tendencies, temperament, capacity, and nature, and taught him the Dharma accordingly. When he heard it, the householder and his retinue 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 they sat.

After seeing the truths the householder went again and again to the garden of Prince Jeta to hear the Dharma from the Blessed Buddha. There, again and again his thoughts turned to his son, and he thought, “How nice it would be for him to come here and find faith in the doctrine of the Blessed One, and to receive such teachings as these!”

One day the householder’s son completed his voyage and returned. Upon his arrival he dropped off all the riches in the garden and hurried home to see his parents, but his parents had gone to the garden of Prince Jeta to listen to the Dharma. When he was told that his parents had gone to the garden of Prince Jeta to listen to the Dharma, the householder’s son went there too. When he arrived, thinking, “I shall see my parents,” he saw them sitting before the Blessed One listening to the Dharma. He approached them, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, embraced his parents, and sat before the Blessed One to listen to the Dharma.

With the boy seated before him, the Blessed One gave a discourse on generating enthusiasm for unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment, and as soon as the young man heard it, he felt a strong desire for unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment.

After they had heard the Dharma from the Blessed One, the householders returned home with their son.

When they arrived they asked him, “Child,

what did you bring back for us from out upon the great ocean?”

“I searched for and found very precious jewels,” replied the young man.

“Son, you set out upon the great ocean, undergoing countless thousands of hardships, and the jewels you brought back are very ordinary,” his parents told him. “Just sitting here, with little difficulty, the two of us have found very precious jewels.”

“Well then,” said the young man, “let me see these jewels you found with such little difficulty.” His parents then explained to him in detail all the great virtues they had acquired for themselves, and when he heard about them the young man was especially filled with joy toward the Blessed One. In his joy he approached the Blessed One, and upon his arrival he touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet and sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

The Blessed One taught him the Dharma particularly suited to his condition. Then the householder’s son, knowing the Blessed One had completed his discourse, rose from his seat, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and requested of the Blessed One, “I would like to provide the Blessed One and the rest of the saṅgha of monks for three months with provisions of clothing, food, bedding, seats, and medicines for the sick. Blessed One, please permit me to do so.” The Blessed One assented to the householder’s son by his silence.

Understanding that by his silence the Blessed One had given his assent, the householder’s son then supplied the Blessed One and the rest of the saṅgha of monks with all their necessities there in the garden of Prince Jeta. After he had respectfully served them with all their necessities for three months, on the last day he offered the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks food of a hundred flavors, and to the Blessed One he offered a very costly robe.

After that he also offered each of the other monks a set of robes fashioned from cotton.

Then he prayed for unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment, saying, “By this root of virtue may I become a protector for the world’s blind who are without a guide, a tathāgata, an arhat, a totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, a sugata, a knower of the world, a tamer of persons, a charioteer, an unsurpassed one, a teacher of humans and gods—a blessed buddha.”

The Blessed One said to the householders’ son, “Very good, householders’ son, very good. Householders’ son, in the future you will be a protector for the world’s blind who are without a guide, a tathāgata, an arhat, a totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, a sugata, a knower of the world, a tamer of persons, a charioteer, an unsurpassed one, a teacher of humans and gods—the blessed buddha known as Jalataraṅga.”

The Story of Vijaya

When¹⁸⁸ the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, the king of North Pañcāla and the king of South Pañcāla were engaged in hostilities, and from time to time a great many people were killed. King Prasenajit was a beloved friend of both, and he thought, “How can I reconcile these two?” Then the thought came to him, “The Blessed One tames those who have not been tamed. I will put this request before the Blessed One.”

King Prasenajit went to see the Blessed One, and upon his arrival he bowed down at the Blessed One’s feet and took a seat at one side. Then he put this request to the Blessed One: “Lord, the king of North Pañcāla and the king of South Pañcāla

do not get along, and from time to time a great many people are killed. Since the Blessed One tames those who have not been tamed, I beseech you, out of compassion for them, please strive to purge them of enmity.” The Blessed One assented to King Prasenajit by his silence. King Prasenajit then praised this assurance from the Blessed One, rejoiced, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and took leave of him.

The Blessed One disappeared from the garden of Prince Jeta and traveled to the border between North and South Pañcāla, where he performed a miracle that caused the kings to feel ineluctably compelled to battle. So the king of North Pañcāla and the king of South Pañcāla arrayed the four divisions of their armies and set out to wage war. As they began waging war, due to the power of the Blessed One neither was able to win. Each had the perception that the other would defeat him, so they both mounted their chariots and went to see the Blessed One.

Upon their arrival they touched their heads to the Blessed One’s feet and took seats to one side. The Blessed One performed a miracle so that neither could see the other, and thought, “Of these two, one will go forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship. The other will pursue unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment with single-minded resolve.”

To the first he gave a discourse on the four truths of noble beings. To the other he gave a discourse that would spur him on to unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment.

Thereupon the king of South Pañcāla 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.

Then the king of North Pañcāla 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, “For three months I would like to provide the Blessed One and the rest of the saṅgha of monks with provisions of clothing, food, bedding, seats, and medicines for the sick. Blessed One, please permit me to do so.” The Blessed One assented to the king of North Pañcāla by his silence.

Understanding that by his silence the Blessed One had given his assent, the king of North Pañcāla then invited the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks to his own country. There he respectfully served the Blessed One and the rest of the saṅgha of monks with all their necessities for three months. On the last day he offered the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks food of a hundred flavors, and to the Blessed One he offered a very costly robe.

After that he also offered each of the other monks a set of robes fashioned from cotton, and

he prayed for unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment, saying, “By this root of virtue may I become a protector for the world’s blind who are without a guide, a tathāgata, an arhat, a totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, a sugata, a knower of the world, a tamer of persons, a charioteer, an unsurpassed one, a teacher of humans and gods—a blessed buddha.”

The Blessed One said to the king of North Pañcāla, “Very good, great king, very good. Great king, in the future you will be a protector for the world’s blind who are without a guide, a tathāgata, an arhat, a totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, a sugata, a knower of the world, a tamer of persons, a charioteer, an unsurpassed one, a teacher of humans and gods—the blessed buddha known as Vijaya.”

Part Nine

1. The Sons
2. The Crevasse
3. The Ransom
4. The Attack
5. Trapped
6. The Partridge
7. Father, or The Story of Sudarśana¹⁸⁹
8. The Bandits
9. The Piśācas
10. The Story of Head of Indra

The Sons

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, there lived a certain brahmin. When the time came for him to marry he took a wife, 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.

Now desires are like salt water—the more you use to slake your thirst, the more you need. Over time, the brahmin eventually had one, and then two, and so on, up to seven sons. They named them according to their clan, and raised them on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and

milk solids.

As they grew up they 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, they became masters of the six types of brahminical activities.

One day the brahmin gave his home to his sons, apportioning what wealth was in the house and distributing it among them. Then, after the brahmin’s wife died and the brahmin himself had become old and could no longer see, they threw him out of the house, so he frequented others’ houses, and sustained himself by begging.

The blessed buddhas, teachers of the one path to be traversed, with mastery over wisdom and the two types of knowable objects, in command of the three kinds of sterling equanimity, fearless by means of the fourfold fearlessness, freed from migration through the five destinies, keen in the six sense bases, practiced in the seven limbs of enlightenment, focused on the eight liberations, absorbed in the nine successive meditative absorptions, possessing all ten of the ten powers, whose proclamations are the great roaring of a perfect lion, by nature regard the world with their buddha eyes six times throughout the day and night—three times by day and three times by night.

These are their thoughts as they look out in wisdom: “Who is in decline? Who will flourish? Who is destitute? Who is in a dreadful state? Who is being harmed? Who is destitute, in a dreadful state, and being harmed? Who is veering toward the lower realms? Who is descending through the lower realms? Who has descended to the lower realms? Whom shall I pull up from the lower realms, and establish in the resultant state of heaven and liberation?

Whom, mired in misdeeds, shall I lift up by the hand? Whom, lacking the seven jewels of the noble ones, shall I lead to command of the seven jewels of the noble ones? Whom, not having produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to produce them? Whom, having already produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to ripen their roots of virtue? Whom, having already ripened their roots of virtue, shall I slice open with the blade of wisdom? For whom shall I cause this world, adorned with a buddha’s presence, to be fruitful?”

The ocean, home of creatures fierce,
Could fail to send its tides on time.
But when the time has come to tame
Their offspring, buddhas never fail.

The Blessed One thought, “The time has now come to tame those brahmins.”¹⁹⁰ In the morning the Blessed One donned his lower garment and Dharma robes, and, carrying his alms bowl, he went for alms in Śrāvastī. As the Blessed One was walking through Śrāvastī, he saw a brahmin, aged and infirm, carrying a walking stick and bowl, begging at the houses of others. The Blessed One spoke to him, saying, “Brahmin, you are aged and infirm. Why is it you carry a walking stick and bowl, and beg at others’ houses?”

“Oh, Gautama,” the brahmin replied, “I had seven sons. I made sure they were cared for and raised well, and that their education was complete. And after I arranged for their marriages,¹⁹¹ apportioned among them what wealth was in the house, and gave it to them, they threw me out of the house. That’s why I carry a walking stick and bowl, and go about begging at others’ houses.”

The Blessed One asked the brahmin, “Brahmin, would you be able to learn some verses from me, and when you’ve learned them all, to proclaim them to all your sons?”

“Yes, Gautama, I can do that,”

replied the brahmin.

Thereupon the Blessed One spoke these verses to him:

“Those at whose birth I was happy,
For whom I saved up all my wealth,
And whose weddings I arranged¹⁹²
Have now driven me from home.

“While using up my wealth,
They cast me out.¹⁹³
Monsters all, parading as sons—
Still I have not forgotten their cries of ‘Papa!’¹⁹⁴

“My youth has faded,
Like an old horse who’s lost his strength.
An aged father of young men,
I beg at other’s houses.

“Since my sons are no support,
I’ve taken up this stick instead.
With its help
I fend off cattle and move along,

“Warding off the snakes and dogs,
Walking on in darkness,
Counting my paces in fear,
And when I stumble, it’s my sole support.”

After the brahmin had heard these verses from the Blessed One, he went and related them to his sons. When they heard him, they begged his forgiveness at once and made him master of the house again.

One day the brahmin thought, “Whatever glory and fortune I have is all by the grace of the Blessed Gautama, so I will offer the Blessed Gautama food and very costly robes.” So the brahmin extended an invitation to the Blessed One, offering him many good, wholesome foods, and presenting him with very valuable clothes. Then the Blessed One taught the brahmin and his sons the Dharma particularly suited to them. When they heard it, the brahmin and his sons 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 they sat.

After seeing the truths, they rose from their seats, drew down the right shoulder of their upper garments, bowed toward the Blessed One

with palms pressed together, and requested the Blessed One, “Lord, if permitted we wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya so well spoken, complete our novitiates, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, we too wish to practice the holy life.”

With the words “Come, join me, monks!” the Blessed One led them to go forth as novices, conferred on them full ordination, and instructed them. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, they manifested arhatship.

“Lord,” the monks requested of the Blessed One, “tell us why this brahmin, aged and infirm, was thrown out of his house by his sons, and the Blessed One, possessed of skillful means, restored him to his former condition 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, this brahmin was thrown out of his house by his sons, and I restored him to his former condition and established him in the four meditative states and the five superknowledges. Listen well!

“Monks, in times gone by, in the city of Campā there lived a certain householder who over time had seven children. When they had grown and been educated in the eight types of examination, the householder gave his home to his sons, apportioning among them all that he possessed and giving it to them. When the householder had become old and could no longer see, they threw him out of the house, so he gathered up his few things and went to another country.

“At that time there lived in a place devoted to austerities a certain sage, a person of great miracles and great power.

Seeing the householder nearing his place devoted to austerities, the sage said, ‘Householder, you are aged and infirm. Why are you traveling in a foreign land?’

“The householder related the story to him in detail, whereupon the sage said, ‘Householder, I shall make it so your children venerate and serve you no matter what.’ The sage brought the householder back to his own dwelling and taught the householder’s sons the Dharma particularly suited to them, such that the sons welcomed their father back to the house and restored things to the way they were. To repay his previous kindness, the householder offered food to the sage and went forth in his presence. After he had gone forth in his presence, he generated the four meditative states and 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 householder then is none other than this brahmin. Those who were his sons then are none other than his sons today. At that time he was aged and infirm, and thrown out of his house, and I, possessed of skillful means, restored him to his former condition and placed him in the four meditative states and the five superknowledges. Now as well he is aged and infirm and has been thrown out of his house, and I, possessed of skillful means, have restored him to his former condition and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.

“He also went forth in the teaching of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa. After practicing pure conduct all his life then, his faculties ripened, and now he has been liberated.”

The Crevasse

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, there lived a certain householder. When the time came for him to marry, he took a wife, 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. As he grew up, he studied letters, tallying, and arithmetic; the study of seals, lending, deposits, and commerce; and the examination of cloth, jewels, gems, incense, medicine, elephants, horses, and arms and armor. He became skilled in writing, skilled at reading, learned, decisive, and industrious, a master of the eight types of examination.

One day his father had him join a social club. The members of this social club would argue among themselves about different views and theories, and when they agreed with what someone said they would commend him. The householder’s son was naturally astute. When he questioned everyone’s philosophical systems, some would answer him. But when they answered, he didn’t accept their various views and considered them untenable and incorrect.

One day a lay vow holder spoke correctly in praise of the Buddha, and as soon as the householder’s son heard this, he said, “I’ve never heard the term buddha before. Who is this one you call Buddha?”

Then the lay vow holder praised the Buddha in a way that particularly appealed to the householder’s son, causing him to feel a strong desire to see the Blessed One. He left everything behind and went to see the Blessed One, and when he arrived he touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet and sat before him to listen to the Dharma. The Blessed One taught him the Dharma