ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 6
The Hundred Deeds 6
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and you will be restored to your former glory and fortune.”
When Yaśodharā received the message, she related it to Gopā, saying, “Gopā, Devadatta sent me quite a message.”
Gopā responded, “Let’s trick him into coming here. If we disgrace him and throw him out, he’ll know his place.” So they sent an envoy to Devadatta with the following response:
“Dear Devadatta,
Please come to the royal palace. When you get here we can talk about how to make you king.”
When Devadatta got their message he was very pleased. “Now that the women are excited,” he thought, “the kingdom is within my grasp!”
He traveled to the royal palace, but as he was preparing to sit on the Bodhisattva’s⁵¹ throne, the gods made it vanish. Gopā had taken a seat at the top of the staircase near the side door to the women’s quarters.
“Devadatta, why don’t you have a seat!” she called down. “Come into the women’s quarters where we can talk.”
When he heard this, Devadatta sat down in front of her and interlaced his fingers. Then Gopā took his folded hands into her own and squeezed them so tight that blood ran from his fingers, and Devadatta was helpless with pain as she wrung them out. Gopā led him up the stairs, kicked him in the head, and threw him from the top of the staircase.⁵² Some of the other women smeared cow dung all over his body. Others poured scalding oil on him.
Then, his body wounded and weak, he went to see Kokālika, Khaṇḍadravya, Kaṭamorakatiṣya, and Samudradatta. When they saw him, they joked, “Ah, Devadatta! It seems you’ve experienced the pleasures of the royal harem!”
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When the monks heard about all this they asked the Blessed One, “Lord, tell us why Devadatta was humiliated by Gopā.”
“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way, Devadatta was humiliated by Gopā. Listen well!
“Monks, in times past King Brahmadatta reigned in the city of Vārāṇasī and King Mahendrasena reigned in Videha. The two did not agree with one another, and from time to time a great many people were killed.
“One day King Brahmadatta of Kāśi called together an assembly of his ministers and began a discussion on the topic of women. ‘Who among you has seen a woman who is well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful?’ he asked.
“Those who had seen such women told the king about them as he had requested. Then each of them said in turn, ‘Deva, you can forget them all! How could any woman ever compare to the face and form of the queen of Videha?’
“When the king heard this an arrow of lust shot through him, and he thought, ‘Since I don’t get along with King Mahendrasena, there’s no way for me to have any contact with her. Let me enter into negotiations with him. After that it will be easy.’
“So it was that King Brahmadatta entered into negotiations with the king of Videha, whereupon he sent a messenger to King Mahendrasena’s queen with a message that said, ‘I want you to know that my negotiations with King Mahendrasena are all for your sake, so that you and I might meet face to face.’
“After she received this message Mahendrasena’s queen told the king, ‘Deva, King Brahmadatta is making overtures to me.
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Deva, with your permission I wish to humiliate him.’
“ ‘As you wish,’ he replied. ‘But whatever you do, make sure he falls into my hands.’
“ ‘Not to worry, Deva,’ she said. ‘I shall act in accord with your wishes.’
“Then she sent an envoy with the following message:
“ ‘Dear Brahmadatta,
As my king yet lives, I shall not be able to meet you face to face. Dispatch with him! After that, I shall meet with you.’
“Brahmadatta thought, ‘Failing some dispute, I cannot kill him. Let me then fabricate some dispute with him.’ So King Brahmadatta began a dispute with King Mahendrasena. He armed the four divisions of his army and advanced on Videha, where they besieged the city, massacring many of the inhabitants in the siege.
“Thereupon Queen Mahendrasena sent an envoy with the following message:
“ ‘Dear Brahmadatta,
If you have come here and done all this for my sake, then what need have we for so many to die? By disguising yourself as an ordinary person you can come into the city to see me now.’
“Now no sooner had King Brahmadatta of Kāśi heard this than he entered the royal palace by just the method she had suggested. When she saw him there, Queen Mahendrasena seized him, brought him before the king, and said, ‘Deva, here is Brahmadatta. Do with him as you please.’
“King Mahendrasena assembled all his princes and ministers, chiefs of merchandise, aristocrats, and caravan leaders,
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and they kicked Brahmadatta, King of Kāśi, in the head.
“ ‘Let’s kill him, so he can never sleep with another man’s wife again!’ they cried.
Then the queen said to King Mahendrasena, ‘Deva, is this humiliation not worse than being killed? What need is there now to kill him? Let him go.’ So they released him and spared his life.
“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was Mahendrasena, King of Videha then, and who lived the life of a bodhisattva. The one who was the queen then is none other than Gopā. The one who was King Brahmadatta of Kāśi then is none other than Devadatta. At that time many people kicked and humiliated him, just as they have now.”
The Story of Keśinī
When the Bodhisattva was dwelling in Tuṣita Heaven, King Siṃhahanu reigned in Kapilavastu. As he and the queens enjoyed themselves and coupled, the queens gave birth to four sons named Śuddhodana, Śuklodana, Droṇodana, and Amṛtodana, and four daughters named Śuddhā, Śuklā, Droṇā, and Amṛtā.
At the same time, as King Śākya Suprabuddha and his queens enjoyed themselves and coupled in Vṛji, the queens gave birth to two daughters. One they named Māyā, and the other Mahāmāyā. They reared them on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and they flourished like lotuses in a lake. When the priests versed in reading signs examined them, they predicted that their daughter Māyā would give birth to a child of marvelous character, and that Mahāmāyā would give birth to a universal monarch. Both daughters’ hair grew like a drop of sesame oil poured into water.
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When King Siṃhahanu heard this, he sent an envoy to King Śākya Suprabuddha with a message saying, “Betroth your two daughters to my son. Though the Śākyas have an agreement among themselves that no one may take two wives in marriage, if I can get them to agree to this then you can marry them both.” King Siṃhahanu made a request of all the Śākyas, and, in accord with the tradition among householders, Śuddhodana took both young women as his queens. After marrying them, King Śākya Suprabuddha granted them a young woman named Keśinī to look after their hair.
Seven days after the Bodhisattva’s birth, Mahāmāyā passed away and took rebirth in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Young Keśinī missed her so much that she clutched at strands of Mahāmāyā’s hair and flung herself on the ground in grief, wailing and beating her chest. She was inconsolable.
When the Bodhisattva had grown, upon witnessing old age, sickness, and death, he went to live in the forest, where he practiced austerities for six years until he achieved unexcelled wisdom. His actions for the benefit of those to be tamed eventually led him to stay in Kapilavastu and he led many Śākyas there to go forth, including Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī. Keśinī too was not only ordained, she also cast away all afflictive emotions and manifested arhatship, and the Blessed One commended her for her superlative efforts.
Afterward, the monks asked the Blessed One, “Lord, what action did Keśinī take that ripened into her birth as a Śākya, into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth? What action did she take that ripened into her becoming a servant of other women?”
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“It came about by the power of her prayers,” replied the Blessed One.
“Lord, where did she make these prayers?”
“Monks, in times past, in the ninety-first eon, when the tathāgata, the arhat, 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 Vipaśyin was in the world, after he fully and completely awakened unto unexcelled, total, and complete enlightenment, he visited the city of Bandhumatī.
“Two women there offered him food, and one of them prayed, ‘May I give birth to one as precious as this. May I please and not displease him,’ while the other prayed, ‘Wherever I am born, may it be as your sibling. May I rear one as precious as this.’
“The young woman who looked after the two sisters’ hair was also there, and she overheard them making their prayers. As soon as she heard them, she began to venerate the totally and completely awakened Buddha Vipaśyin herself, praying, ‘Oh, but by this root of virtue, wherever these two are born, may I again look after their hair and serve them with great respect! May I please and not displease their precious children.’ Such were her prayers.”
“Lord, what action did she take that she pleased the Blessed One, and did not displease him; that she went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship; and that the Blessed One also commended her
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for her superlative efforts?”
The Blessed One replied, “She went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa, and the preceptor who led her to go forth was also commended for her superlative efforts by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa.
“Then after practicing pure conduct all her life, at the time of her death she prayed, ‘While I may not have attained any great virtues, still I have gone forth in the teaching of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa and practiced pure conduct all my life. Therefore, may I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship. Just as the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa commended my⁵³ preceptor for her superlative efforts, may Buddha Śākyamuni, king of the Śākyas, also commend me for my superlative efforts.’
“O monks, what do you think? The one who went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa and became a nun then is this very Keśinī. There she practiced pure conduct all her life, and at the time of her death, she prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship. Just as the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa commended my⁵⁴ preceptor for her superlative efforts, may Buddha Śākyamuni,
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king of the Śākyas, also commend me for my superlative efforts.’
“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means—that she has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship, and that I have now commended her for her superlative efforts.”
The Story of Lotus Color
Once when the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, Venerable Upasena was making his way through the countryside in the country of Avanti, where in time he came to a mountainside hermitage.
Now at that time in the mountainside hermitage there lived a certain householder, prosperous and wealthy, a person of vast and magnificent means, endowed with the wealth of Vaiśravaṇa—with wealth to rival Vaiśravaṇa’s.
When the time came for him to marry he took a wife, and they enjoyed themselves and coupled. But even though they enjoyed themselves and coupled, they had no children. Head in hands, the householder sat and brooded, thinking, “My house may be filled with all kinds of riches, but seeing as I have no heir, after I die, all I have will become property of the king.”
The ascetics and brahmins, fortune tellers, his friends, his close family, and his other kin all told him, “You should supplicate a deity.” So, since he had no heir and desired a son, he supplicated the gods.
He prayed to Paśupati, Varuṇa, Kubera, Śakra, Brahmā, and the rest, and to the deities of the pleasure groves, the forest deities, the deities of the crossroads, the deities of forks in the road, the deities who receive strewn oblations, the deities of his inherited tradition, and the deities who are in constant attendance of righteous persons.
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While it is often said that praying to the deities can cause a boy or a girl to be born, this is not true. If children could be made just by praying, every family would have them a thousand times over, like a universal monarch. In fact, there are three circumstances that allow for the birth of a child: a child is born when (1) lust arises in the parents and they have intercourse, (2) the mother still has her menstrual cycle and is approached by a gandharva, and (3) the gandharva’s mind is either attached or angry.
Nevertheless, he remained intent on his prayers, and a great being took birth in his wife’s womb who was well renowned and had gained his final birth, had the good fortune to soon be liberated due to gathering the accumulations, had his sights set on nirvāṇa and had turned away from saṃsāra, had no desire for the states of rebirth in cyclic existence, and who had now assumed his final body.
A woman wise in nature possesses five extraordinary qualities. She knows (1) whether a man is attracted to her, (2) the time of her menstrual cycle, (3) that she has conceived, (4) from whom she has conceived, and (5) whether the child is a boy or a girl, for if it is a baby boy it will stay on the right side of the womb, and if it is a girl it will stay on the left side of the womb.
When the householder’s wife conceived a child she was overjoyed and told her husband, “My Lord, I have conceived a boy. He is staying on the right side of my womb, so rejoice, for it is sure to be a boy!”
At this the householder too was very happy. He puffed out his chest, put his right hand in the air, and expressed his joy, saying, “I shall see the face of the son for whom I have prayed for so long! May everything be right with my son, may nothing go wrong with him, and may he carry on my work! As I care for him, may he care for me in return! May he enjoy my inheritance! May my lineage endure for a long time! And after our passing, when we die, may he give gifts,
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be they great or small, and make merit! When he does, may he dedicate the merit thus: ‘Wherever these two are born, may this go to them!’ ”
Now that he knew his wife was pregnant, he ensconced her on the upper levels of their house in order to care for the baby. He provided her with what she needed for winter in the winter, what she needed for summer in the summer, with food that was not too bitter, too sour, too salty, too sweet, too spicy, or too astringent as instructed by the healer, and he served her food that was not bitter, sour, salty, sweet, spicy, or astringent. He draped her body with garlands and strings of precious stones, and he moved her from divan to divan and seat to seat like a goddess through a joyous garden, never letting her descend to the ground, and never letting her hear an unpleasant word even for a moment.
Then after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful, with a fine complexion the color of the center of a lotus, a well-rounded head, long arms, a broad brow, a fine and prominent nose, and eyebrows that met. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named him, saying, “Since this child has a complexion like the color of the center of a lotus, his name will be Lotus Color.”
They reared young Lotus Color 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,
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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.
Venerable Upasena was one of the householder’s relatives, and with his support, young Lotus Color found faith in the doctrine of the Blessed One. He asked for his parents’ permission, went forth as a novice, and received full ordination in the presence of Venerable Upasena. One day he left his mountainside hermitage on an errand without notifying his preceptor. He made his way through the countryside and eventually arrived in Mathurā, where he stayed at Donkey Grove. Then Venerable Lotus Color donned his lower garment and Dharma robes, and, carrying his alms bowl, went for alms in Mathurā.
Being unfamiliar with the area, he eventually came to the house of a sex worker while going for alms. The sex worker was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, beautiful, and alluring. She saw Venerable Lotus Color in the distance, and an arrow of lust shot through her. Compelled by lust, she rose without delay, went up to Venerable Lotus Color, and said, “Noble one, please have a seat on this cushion.”
And as Venerable Lotus Color sat on the seat, wondering, “Who is this lay vow holder?” the intensity of her lust grew too much for her to bear, and she said to him, “Lord, your young body is in full bloom, and every inch of me is so enticing. Sleep with me.”
As soon as she said this Venerable Lotus Color covered his ears with his hands
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and said, “To commit such a sin would be to forsake all the Buddha has taught us. I could not bear it.”
“How dare you spurn me like this!” the woman said. “Why have you come to the house of a sex worker, if not to indulge your desires?”
“I’m new here,” Venerable Lotus Color replied, “and I’m not familiar with the area. That’s why I ended up here. I’m not chasing after desires. It wouldn’t be right for me to do such a thing.”
“If you refuse me, I shall put a spell on you,” she said. “Come to bed.”
At this, Venerable Lotus Color rose from his seat in fear and returned to the monastery⁵⁵ without taking alms. After all this had taken place and he was gone, the sex worker, searing with lust, sent for a woman of lower caste who had the power to cast spells.
She told her the story in detail and then said, “Bring me together with that monk, and I shall give you a great deal of gold.”
“As you wish,” she replied. Then the woman of lower caste adorned herself, and once she had set up the house as a kind of temple, she spread a circle of cow dung on the floor. After setting forth the ritual incense, flowers, and food, she lit a fire, cast a mantra onto white mustard seeds, and tossed them into the flames.
The venerable monk returned to the house of the sex worker, drawn there by the power of the mantra. When the woman of lower caste saw that Venerable Lotus Color had come to the house, she looked at him and said, “Lord, now that you have returned to this house, you have but two choices. Sleep with this sex worker, or leap into the fire!”
When he heard this, Venerable Lotus Color thought, “If the Tathāgata’s appearance in this world is so rare it can be likened only to the udumbara flower, and if birth as a human
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in a central land is also difficult to achieve, then it’s better for me to jump into the fire than to be with this woman.” With this thought he took off his garments and handed them to the woman of lower caste, saying, “Elder sister, take these garments to the monastery and offer them to my fellow practitioners of the holy life.”
“Venerable One, what are you doing?” the woman of lower caste asked.
“Jumping into the fire,” Venerable Lotus Color replied.
When she heard his words, the woman of lower caste was distraught, and thought, “Alas, because of my poverty all I do is cause trouble for those worthy of offerings like him. It’s not my place to make such beings unhappy.” With this thought, she gave up performing all those rituals and prostrated herself at his feet with the greatest respect, saying, “Pure being, please forgive me! I am mired in misdeeds! Please reach down and lift me up!”
“I forgive you,” Venerable Lotus Color said. “But you will not be forgiven by your actions.”
Seeing all this, the sex worker’s lust suddenly gave way, and she felt joy toward him. Full of such joy she prostrated herself at his feet and said, “Fortunate One, driven by my lust I’ve caused you such unhappiness. Please forgive me.”
The young sex worker and the woman of lower caste both sat down in front of Venerable Lotus Color to listen to the Dharma. Venerable Lotus Color taught them the Dharma particularly suited to them, and they manifested the resultant state of stream entry right where they sat. Having seen the truths, they requested, “Lord, if permitted we wish to go forth in 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.”
Venerable Lotus Color
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brought them to the nunnery and presented them to the nuns. The nuns 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.
Venerable Lotus Color thought, “So far, I’ve been able to purify the mindstreams of others, but not my own mindstream. The Blessed One tells us, ‘Studying well has five benefits for those who undertake it: knowledge of the aggregates, knowledge of the elements, knowledge of the sense bases, knowledge of dependent arising, and knowledge of the proper and the improper.’ Thus, I too must strive to eliminate afflictive emotions.”
With this thought, he cast away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, and 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. His state was such that Indra, Upendra, and
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the other gods worshiped and venerated him and addressed him with respect.
After achieving arhatship and staying long enough in Mathurā, he traveled to Śrāvastī. When he got there, he told the story in detail to the monks. The monks asked the Blessed One, “Lord, tell us why this young sex worker was driven by her lust to make Venerable Lotus Color unhappy, but then with his support went forth, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”
“For five hundred lifetimes this young woman was his wife,” the Blessed One explained. “It was on the basis of her previous habitual tendencies that she fell in love with him at first sight.”
“Lord, what action did Venerable Lotus Color take that ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth, and that he pleased⁵⁶ the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?”
“It came about by the power of his prayers,” replied the Blessed One.
“Lord, where did he make these prayers?”
“Monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years and the tathāgata, the arhat, 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, there lived a certain householder in Vārāṇasī who had two wives.
“One day the householder found faith in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa,
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and told his wives, ‘My dears, I am going to go forth in the doctrine of the Buddha Kāśyapa. You should continue with your duties at home.’
“ ‘Lord, if you are going to go forth, then afterward we will go forth too,’ they said.
“The householder replied, ‘If you also wish to go forth, then let you two go forth first, and I shall go forth after you.’ Having said this, the householder brought both his wives to the nunnery and presented them to the nuns.
“The nuns led them to go forth as novices and conferred on them full ordination. After they had gone forth, the householder gave gifts, made merit, and went forth in the doctrine of the Buddha Kāśyapa. Once he had gone forth, he studied the Tripiṭaka and became a proponent of the Dharma with all the eloquence of his wisdom and freedom. He acquired provisions of clothing, food, bedding, a seat, and medicines for the sick.
“After their going forth, the two women became quarrelsome and abusive. One of them called out to the other nuns, ‘You untouchables!’ and the other shouted ‘You whores!’ at them. The monk soon put a stop to the nuns being so quarrelsome, and he inspired them to give gifts and to share what they had.
“After he had offered food to the Blessed Kāśyapa and the rest of the saṅgha of monks, he venerated the stūpas containing hair and nail relics, and prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. May I be well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa
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to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’
“When the two nuns saw him sitting there praying, they asked him, ‘Noble one, what kind of prayers are you making?’ He told them in detail, and after they listened, they prayed in the same way: ‘With your support, noble one, may we too please and not displease the Blessed Buddha. May we go forth in only his doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship. May we not meet with the results of the act of speaking harshly to the group of nuns.’
“O monks, what do you think? The one who was that monk then is none other than Lotus Color. Those who were those two nuns then are none other than these two nuns now. The monk’s acts at that time of making offerings to the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks, venerating the stūpas containing hair and nail relics, and praying thus ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth.
“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means—that he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.
“Monks, at that time the two nuns prayed, ‘With your support, noble one, may we too please and not displease the Blessed Buddha.
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May we go forth in only his doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’
“So it is that with his support these two have pleased and not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship. But one of them called out to the nuns, ‘You untouchables!’ and the other shouted, ‘You whores!’ so those actions ripened such that one was born into a family of lower caste, and the other became a sex worker.”
“Lord, what action did Lotus Color take that ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth, and that he was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful, with a complexion the color of the center of a lotus?”
“It came about by the power of his prayers,” replied the Blessed One.
“Lord, where did he make these prayers?”
“Monks, in times past the caretaker of a pleasure grove was dwelling on a mountainside in her grove of perfect shade. The grove was full of perfect fruits and flowers and all its perfect ponds teemed with blue lotus, lotus, white water lily, white lotus, and the cries of geese, ducks, and other waterfowl. In times when a blessed buddha has not arisen in the world, the solitary buddhas appear out of compassion for the destitute and suffering and take up residence in remote places. Solitary as the rhinoceros, they are the only ones in the entire world that are worthy of offerings.⁵⁷ So it was that a solitary buddha had taken up residence in that pleasure grove.
“The caretaker of the pleasure grove rose early one morning and went into the grove. She happened upon the solitary buddha
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sitting beneath a tree as if asleep, legs crossed, his body drawn up like a nāga king, and she was delighted to have found him. Tenderly, she requested that the solitary buddha please take his food in that very pleasure grove and offered him something to eat.
“Then she scattered lotus, blue lotus, white water lily, and white lotus over him, and prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. May I be well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. May my complexion be the color of the center of a lotus. May I please and not displease a teacher even more exalted than this. May I achieve such great virtues.’
“O monks, what do you think? The one who was the caretaker of that pleasure grove then is none other than Lotus Color. The act of venerating that solitary buddha and saying that prayer ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth, as one who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful, with a complexion the color of the center of a lotus. Monks, I am more exalted than even one hundred billion solitary buddhas, and now he has pleased and not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”
The Butcher
When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī there lived a certain butcher, and when the time came for him to marry he took a wife. One day his wife conceived, and after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. His parents loved and cherished him greatly, and held him dear to their hearts.⁵⁸ At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they named him according to their clan.
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They raised him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and as he grew up his parents gave him many good, wholesome foods, and prevented him from doing any work.
One day, as his father started to teach him his trade, the young man exclaimed, “Father, I would rather kill myself than take a life!”
The butcher’s wife said, “Lord, please don’t harm the child! We can hire help to do this work,” so the butcher let the young man do as he liked.
Soon after that, their son found faith in the doctrine of the Blessed One, and from time to time he would go to the garden of Prince Jeta to hear the Dharma from the Blessed One. One day the idea came to him to go forth, and he thought, “I will give up living at home to go forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One.”
He asked for his parents’ permission, went forth as a novice in the doctrine of the Blessed One, and then received full ordination. 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.
Then, after achieving arhatship, he wondered, “Whom might I tame?” He looked out and saw that he could tame his two parents.
6.22
Recognizing this he went to his parents and gave them a Dharma teaching, turning them away from nonvirtuous actions, establishing them in the truths, and leading them to go for refuge and maintain the fundamental precepts. He inspired them to give gifts and to share what they had, until their home became like an open well for those in need. They supplied their arhat monk son with many good, wholesome foods, and he partook of them himself and shared them with other practitioners of the holy life.
After that, the monks inquired of the Blessed One, “Lord, what action did this monk take that ripened into his birth into a butcher’s family, one of great means, prosperity, and wealth; that he did not think to commit nonvirtuous actions; that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Buddha, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship; that after having been a householder, he went forth; and that he received such good, wholesome foods?”
“It came about by the power of his prayers,” replied the Blessed One.
“Lord, where did he make these prayers?”
“Monks, in times past, a certain group of butchers was living on a mountainside. They had gone into a grove and set forth many good, wholesome foods when a solitary buddha came into the grove seeking alms, and one of the butchers happened upon him. The butcher was delighted to have found the solitary buddha, and cordially offered good, wholesome foods to him. Great persons teach the Dharma not with their words but through their actions, so the solitary buddha accepted the alms and then rose into the sky.
This delighted the butcher,
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and, full of joy, he prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, wherever I am born, may it be into a butcher’s family, one of great means, prosperity, and wealth, where I may enjoy many good, wholesome foods. May I also not perform nonvirtuous actions. May I please and not displease a teacher even more exalted than this. May I achieve such great virtues. Going forth in his doctrine alone, may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’
“O monks, what do you think? The one who was that butcher then is none other than this monk. The actions of offering food to the solitary buddha and saying that prayer ripened such that wherever he was born, it was into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth where he could enjoy many good, wholesome foods, and where he was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful, and where he did not perform any nonvirtuous actions. Monks, I am more exalted than even one hundred billion solitary buddhas, and now he has pleased me and not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.
“Furthermore, he had gone forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa, and after practicing pure conduct all his life, at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’
“Monks,
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the monk who went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa then is none other than this monk. Back then, he practiced pure conduct all his life, and at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’
“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means—that he has pleased me and not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”
The Story of Golden Color
When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, there lived a certain man who belonged to a lower caste. When the time came for him to marry he took a wife. One day his wife conceived, and after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to an exceptionally ugly baby who was ugly in eighteen different ways. As soon as they saw her, her parents were crestfallen.
“A daughter like this is no use to us,” her father said. “When night falls, we’ll toss her out to the dogs!”
“My lord, don’t say such things! Murder is disgraceful. Not only that but this child is our daughter. We can’t just abandon her as soon as she’s born, even if she is ugly in eighteen different ways. Wait until she’s grown—then we’ll throw her out. By that time
Linked texts (1)
- ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ — Classical Tibetan