Karmashataka 37: Bam po 37

and thousands upon thousands of brahmins and householders of Magadha with a taste of the holy Dharma, establishing them in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

The Quarrel

One time when the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, many in Śrāvastī were caught up in strife, reproof, conflict, and contention.

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 come to tame all of these people. I shall turn them away from this strife, reproof, conflict, and contention, and establish them in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.” In the morning he donned his lower garment and Dharma robes, and, carrying his alms bowl, we went to Śrāvastī for alms and traveled to where those people were.

The people saw the Blessed One coming from a distance, and they were filled with wonder at the sight of him. They prepared a seat for him and requested him, “This way, Blessed One—if you please! Welcome, Blessed One, very good! O Blessed One, please have a seat on this cushion we have prepared for you!”

After the Blessed One had taken his place, he questioned them all, saying, “Friends, what are you doing? If you need to quarrel with others, is there anyone else with whom you could quarrel?”

“Tell us, Blessed One,” they replied, “with whom should we quarrel?”

The Blessed One said, “Please be seated, friends, and I shall tell you in detail.” They touched their heads to the Blessed One’s feet and sat before him to listen to the Dharma. Then the Blessed One said to them, “It is your afflictive emotions you must fight. You should struggle to cast away your afflictive emotions.”

The Blessed One taught the Dharma particularly suited to them and they were no longer bound by their anger.

When they heard it, they 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. As arhats, free from the attachments of the three realms, their minds regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of their hands as like space itself. They became cool like wet sandalwood. Their insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. They achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. They had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. They became objects of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed One, “tell us why the Blessed One pacified the conflict among those many people and established them in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well I placed them in the four meditative states and the five superknowledges. Listen well!

“Monks, in times gone by,

in a remote mountain village, a certain brahmin performed a sacrifice. When the sacrifice was being performed, some other brahmins fought over a seat. There was a certain sage living in a forest devoted to austerities with five hundred attendants. The sage was at that sacrifice, so he taught them the Dharma particularly suited to them in order to pacify the brahmins’ conflict, and thus the conflict was pacified. The brahmins became disillusioned with saṃsāra and went forth in his presence. After they went forth, they 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. Those who were the brahmins then are none other than all these brahmins. At that time I pacified their conflict and placed them in the four meditative states and the five superknowledges. Now as well I have pacified their conflict and established them in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.

“They also went forth in the teaching of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa. At that time, having practiced pure conduct all their lives, their faculties ripened and now they have been liberated.”

The Nāga (2)

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, one of King Prasenajit’s high ministers had everything he possessed confiscated on account of a dispute²³¹ and was thrown into the dungeon where he suffered from hunger and thirst and died.

Now he had made very wicked prayers, and after he died and transmigrated, he took rebirth as a vicious yakṣa. Then he set a plague upon people all over Kośala, and after a great many had died the soothsayers declared, “At his death the high minister made very wicked prayers. Now he has taken rebirth as a vicious yakṣa.

It is he who set this plague upon us.”

When the people heard this, they were desperate and did not know what to do. King Prasenajit thought, “No one can tame him. I shall have to implore the Blessed One right now to do so.” He approached the Blessed One, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and took a seat at one side.

Once he had taken a seat at one side, King Prasenajit implored the Blessed One, “Lord, the Blessed One has tamed vicious nāgas like Nanda, Upananda, and others besides. You have tamed even the vicious yakṣa lord Aṭavika, and others besides. How wonderful it would be if, out of compassion, the Blessed One could tame this vicious yakṣa as well.” The Blessed One assented 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 the Blessed One.

By means of a miracle the Blessed One set the yakṣa down near the garden of Prince Jeta, and to tame him he emanated a great fire. The yakṣa saw the great fire surrounding him on every side, and that it was peaceful only at the feet of the Blessed One. Afraid for his life, the vicious yakṣa approached the Blessed One, and the Blessed One said to him, “My friend, you were executed by King Prasenajit for a previous nonvirtuous action.

Even now, since taking rebirth here you have killed many. When you die and transmigrate, what will be your next birth? Where will you go?”

“Blessed One, what advice can you give me?” the yakṣa beseeched him.

“Give up these evil acts,” the Blessed One instructed. “Go for refuge and maintain the fundamental precepts.”

“I shall do just as the Blessed One says,” said the yakṣa. He went for refuge, took the fundamental precepts, and swore to the Blessed One, “Lord, I have given up evil acts. From this day forth, Lord, I shall guard and protect all the many inhabitants of Śrāvastī.”

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed Buddha, “tell us why the Blessed One tamed this vicious yakṣa, thereby granting many freedom from fear.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way, I tamed this vicious yakṣa, and thereby granted many freedom from fear. Listen well!

“Monks, in times gone by, during King Brahmadatta’s reign in the city of Vārāṇasī, a certain poisonous, extraordinarily venomous nāga appeared in Kāśi and emptied both the villages and the countryside. King Brahmadatta heard that it was headed in the direction of Vārāṇasī, and upon hearing this he flushed with terror. He armed the four divisions of his army and ordered them, ‘Go, kill the poisonous nāga!’

“But they bowed down at his feet and said, ‘Deva, a host of armies could not slay it. Mantras and medicine cannot slay it. Perhaps the ascetics or brahmins

could tame it with their virtuous ways?’

“Now at that time there lived in Vārāṇasī a certain young untouchable with a loving nature, great compassion, and a love for beings. As he saw that the people were confused about what to do, he felt immense compassion for them, and assured them, ‘There is no need for such desperate uncertainty, for I shall tame this poisonous nāga.’

“To this his parents replied, ‘Its very breath is poisonous—you will not be able to tame it.’

“ ‘If I don the armor of love,’ the child said, ‘it cannot harm me in the least.’ With that the child set out in the direction the poisonous nāga had gone. As the child approached, the wicked snake saw him from a distance, and blew its poisonous breath at him in anger.

“The child centered himself in love, and looked up at the poisonous nāga with love. No sooner had he cast this gaze than the poison disappeared. Then the boy picked up the nāga-snake in his two hands and set it down in a region where no people lived.

“King Brahmadatta and the others heard that young untouchable so-and-so had tamed the poisonous nāga. As soon as they heard this, the king himself approached the young untouchable and bid the child request some type of boon as his reward, saying, ‘I will grant you some type of boon.’

“The child replied, ‘Take the path of the ten virtuous actions and there remain. Then set the people of your country on the path of the ten virtuous actions.’

“At that, King Brahmadatta heaped material comforts upon him, adopted the path of the ten virtuous actions, and there remained while also setting the people of his country on the path of the ten virtuous actions.

“O monks, what do you think?

I am the one who was that young untouchable then, and lived the life of a bodhisattva. The one who was the poisonous nāga then is none other than this vicious yakṣa. Those who were all those many people then are now the many inhabitants of Kośala. At that time I tamed that poisonous nāga, thereby granting many freedom from fear. Now as well I have tamed this vicious yakṣa, and thereby granted many freedom from fear.

“They also went forth in the teaching of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa. After practicing pure conduct all their lives then, their faculties ripened, and now they have been liberated.”

Two Stories about King Śibi

The First Story about King Śibi

As²³² the Blessed One was traveling through the province of Mallā, he stepped off the road that led to the Antavān River and to Kuśinagarī and said to Venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda, make four folds in the Tathāgata’s upper garment, and lay it out. I will rest my sore back awhile.”

Venerable Ānanda said, “As you please, Lord.” Heeding the word of the Blessed One, he made four folds in the upper garment, laid it out, and informed the Blessed One, “Lord, I have made four folds in the Tathāgata’s upper garment and laid it out. Blessed One, please know that the time has come.”

The Blessed One, seeing that his Dharma robes and patched raiment had been folded up and set out, sat himself down, and then mindful, self-possessed, and with clear perception, he lay down on his right side, placing one leg upon the other.

The Blessed One thought,

“Of all those ascetics here in the assembly who are ordinary persons, whom might the Buddha tame, and whom might his disciples tame?” Then the Blessed One thought, “There are some here to be tamed by the Buddha, and some to be tamed by his disciples.” With this thought the Blessed One instructed Venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda, speak with eloquence about the wings of enlightenment,”²³³ and performed a miracle so that the sound of his voice carried across the whole assembly.

Many of the monks thus heard the sound of his voice and thought, “The Blessed One has exhorted Venerable Ānanda to give a discourse on the wings of enlightenment. Now Venerable Ānanda will teach the Dharma that is sweet as honey from the hive.” They approached the Blessed One and upon their arrival sat in a circle around him.

Venerable Ānanda addressed the monks: “Venerable Ones! When the Blessed One became a totally and completely awakened buddha he used his perfect knowledge and taught the limbs of enlightenment.²³⁴ Right mindfulness means to commit oneself to solitude, to commit oneself to freedom from attachment, to commit oneself to cessation of the afflictive emotions,²³⁵ and to transform oneself through complete detachment.

“Venerable Ones! When the Blessed One became a totally and completely awakened buddha with perfect knowledge, he taught the limbs of enlightenment. Analysis of phenomena, diligence, joy, mental and physical pliancy, meditative stabilization, and equanimity likewise mean to commit oneself to solitude, to commit oneself to freedom from attachment, to commit oneself to cessation of the afflictive emotions, and to transform oneself through complete detachment.”

After Venerable Ānanda

had set forth the limbs of enlightenment, he gave the monks the relevant Dharma teaching such that the disciples and those with the right roots of virtue cast away all afflictive emotions and manifested arhatship right where they sat.

When the Blessed One understood that Venerable Ānanda had completed his discourse, he sat down cross-legged, with his body straight, and his mind completely recollected, and then asked Venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda, did you teach diligence?”

“Yes, Blessed One,” he replied, “I taught diligence.”

“Ānanda, did you teach diligence?”

“Yes, Sugata, I taught diligence.”

“Ānanda,” the Blessed One declared, “diligence leads to unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment.”

After the Blessed One had set forth the wings of enlightenment, he taught the Dharma particularly suited to them such that those connected to the Blessed One and the roots of virtue cast away all afflictive emotions and manifested arhatship, right where they sat.

As arhats, free from the attachments of the three realms, their minds regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of their hands as like space itself. They became cool like wet sandalwood. Their insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. They achieved insight, superknowledge, and discrimination. They had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. They became objects of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

On that occasion one monk spoke in verse:

“Monks, the teacher asked to hear
The sweet Dharma, as he was ill.

Now you have the limbs of enlightenment,
So teach it wherever you will!

“Elder Ānanda, skilled, respected,
And learned, consented to teach.
He is a master of all the pure teachings
That you, the hero, have preached.

“Mindfulness, analysis, diligence,
Joy, pliancy, meditation,
And equanimity—these are the pure limbs
Of your enlightenment.

“Told of the heart of the limbs of enlightenment,
He realized the heart of the limbs of enlightenment.
The Blessed One thus recovered from his injury,
Which was more painful than a severe illness.²³⁶

“If even the Lord of Dharma himself,
Who taught this precious, holy Dharma,
Asked to hear the holy Dharma,
Why should others not listen to him?

“He who has all ten powers
Declared Upatiṣya
Wisest of monks, but even he
Is overcome with desire to hear the Dharma.

“They hold the sūtra, vinaya, and mātṛkā—
They’re wise and they see what’s true.
If they hearken to this holy Dharma,
Why should others not listen too?

“The wise, intent on learning,
Who lend their ears as they should,
Also take great joy in
The Buddha’s flawless teaching.

“When the mind is glad, and body supple,
And all experience is bliss—
From out of bliss, your mind can touch
The depths of meditation.

“With equipoise, the mind knows
That all objects are conditioned.
It becomes weary of saṃsāric birth.
Without attachment, the mind is freed.

“Weary of perpetual rebirth in saṃsāra,
Not attached to the realm of gods or humans,
Gone like fire when the fuel is spent
The arhats enter nirvāṇa.

“The Conqueror also taught the many
Benefits of hearing the holy Dharma.
Reflecting upon how this is so,
Let us listen to our teacher’s word.”

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed Buddha, “tell us why the Blessed One, who teaches pithy teachings,

requested a pithy teaching, and how the Blessed One exhorted Venerable Ānanda for a pithy teaching. We who venerate you are listening with respect. Please tell us why.”

“Monks,” the Blessed One explained, “just as now the Tathāgata, who teaches pithy teachings, has requested a pithy teaching, in past times as well, and in the same way, the Tathāgata, who teaches pithy teachings, requested a pithy teaching, and I performed a magnificent austerity for the sake of a pithy teaching. Listen well!

“Monks, it took place in times gone by, during King Śibi’s reign in the royal palace of Catuṣka. The kingdom was prosperous, flourishing, happy, and well populated. The harvest was good. Quarreling and arguments had ceased, there was no fighting or infighting, and there were no robbers, thieves, illness, or famine. Rice, sugarcane, cattle, and buffalo were plentiful. His was a reign in accord with the Dharma. He ruled the kingdom gently and mercifully, as a parent cares for a beloved only child.

“This king was also of a loving nature and quite compassionate, with a love for beings, and wanted deeply to perform acts of charity. He began to give gifts and make merit. To those who wished for food he gave food. To those who wished for something to drink he gave something to drink. To those who wished for clothes he gave clothes. To those who wished for adornments he gave adornments. To those who wished for bedding and seats he gave bedding and seats. To those who wished for mounts he gave mounts. To those who wished for other goods, he gave other goods, and to the sick and to homes for the sick he provided everything that they needed, appointing healers and attendants.

“He served the ill and the orphaned.

He prepared a great deal of food and drink and made gifts of it to the creatures that flew through the sky, dwelt in the water, or made their homes in the fields. ‘From this day forth, to all I shall give all,’ he promised. ‘I shall set the whole world on the path of the ten virtuous actions.’ After they died, their embrace of the path of the ten virtuous actions was cause for the greater part of those beings to take birth among the gods, until they began to fill all the gods’ residences.

“Śakra, King of the Gods, thought, ‘What is this? Is someone practicing to attain the state of Indra, or perhaps to attain the state of Brahmā?’ Śakra, King of the Gods, looked out, and saw that there was one who was practicing to attain unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment. He thought, ‘I will go for a time and see for myself whether he is of firm resolve. If this being’s resolve is firm, I shall worship him. If this being’s resolve is not firm, I shall steady him.’ With this in mind, Śakra, King of the Gods, emanated in the form of a rākṣasa, sat on the canopy above King Śibi’s house, and spoke half a verse:

“ ‘Sad that once formed, nothing can last,
But only arise and expire….’

“With that, Śakra, King of the Gods, in his nonhuman guise fell silent.

“Now King Śibi heard what Śakra, King of the Gods, in nonhuman guise had said, and when he heard it he thought, ‘This alone is the foundation of nirvāṇa and opens the gate of dependent origination. This alone shows the path to unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment.’

“King Śibi saw Śakra, King of the Gods, in nonhuman guise

sitting on the canopy above his house, and when he saw him he rose quickly, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed with palms pressed together toward Śakra, King of the Gods, in nonhuman guise, and said, ‘Speak, my friend, complete the verse. I will be your disciple, and listen.’

“ ‘What good is it, if you’re my disciple?’ Śakra, King of the Gods, asked. ‘Tormented by hunger and thirst, I sit and speak in desperate uncertainty of what I shall eat.’

“ ‘Speak, my friend, complete the verse,’ the Bodhisattva urged him. ‘I shall give you your fill of food.’

“Śakra, King of the Gods, in nonhuman guise replied, ‘My friend, how can you give me my fill? Being what they are, my food and drink will be difficult for you to give.’

“ ‘What are your food and drink?’ the Bodhisattva asked.

“ ‘I eat the flesh and drink the warm blood of humans freshly killed,’ he replied.

“Thereupon the Bodhisattva thought, ‘That kind of flesh and blood can’t be had without killing. I can’t do harm to another being for the sake of a pithy teaching.’ So he said, ‘If you can eat and drink my flesh and blood, my friend, I can give you all the more. Therefore, speak, and complete the verse. For your pithy teaching I shall give you my own flesh and blood.’

“Thereupon Śakra, King of the Gods spoke, completing the verse:

“ ‘Sad that once formed, nothing can last,
But only arise and expire.
Sad that once born, all things must cease.
Their pacification is bliss.’

“In reverence the Bodhisattva pondered the entire verse, and for a long time he practiced reciting it, thinking, ‘This is the foundation of the city of nirvāṇa and the gate of dependent arising.

It is the path that leads to the city of nirvāṇa, the path by which every totally and complete awakened buddha has gone forth.’ Taking up a very sharp knife, he said, ‘An offering for your pithy teaching, my friend,’ and to Śakra, King of the Gods, in nonhuman guise he handed flesh cut from his side.

“ ‘My friend, will this satisfy you?’ he asked.

“ ‘No,’ came the reply. ‘It will not.’

“So he handed him flesh cut from his other side, and in the same way flesh cut from his shoulders and cut from all over his body, asking, ‘My friend, will this satisfy you?’

“ ‘No,’ came the reply. ‘It will not.’ Finally the Bodhisattva thought, ‘The time is here at last to completely let go of my whole body,’ 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, without any guide at all, without anyone to show them the way—a tathāgata, an arhat, a totally and completely awakened buddha endowed with perfect knowledge 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.’ And he said in verse:

“ ‘By this great gift may I become
A self-arisen buddha for all the worlds.
May I rescue and liberate the many beings
Not liberated by the victorious lords who came before me.’

“Having thus prayed for unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment, he said, ‘My friend, you may do as you please with my body.’²³⁷

No sooner had the Bodhisattva conceived the spirit of enlightenment than the earth quaked six different ways. The gods who lived in the sky let fall a rain of flowers and said, ‘How good, friend,

how good it is. What a magnificent austerity you undertook!’

“Śakra, King of the Gods, thought, ‘This bodhisattva took on extraordinary hardship. I can restore his body, but first I must finish measuring his commitment.’

So he asked the Bodhisattva, ‘My friend, are you not even a little unhappy to cut away your own²³⁸ flesh and to sever your sinews and veins?’

“ ‘Oh, I’m not the least bit unhappy to cut away my flesh or to sever my sinews and veins,’ the Bodhisattva replied. ‘I am compelled to undergo this suffering by compassion for beings born as hell beings, animals, or anguished spirits.’

“Śakra, King of the Gods, in nonhuman guise scoffed at him, ‘Who could believe your words, my friend?’

“ ‘With an invocation of the truth, I shall bring you to believe them,’ the Bodhisattva replied.

“ ‘If your invocation is true, may your body be as it was before,’ said Śakra. And just as he said this, the Bodhisattva stated, ‘If it is true that I’m not the least bit unhappy to cut away my flesh and to sever my sinews and veins, and that I am compelled to undergo this suffering by compassion for beings born as hell beings, animals, or anguished spirits, then by these words of truth may my body be restored.’ As soon as the Bodhisattva said this, his body was restored.

“Śakra, King of the Gods, rejoiced at this sight.