經律異相 29.28

29.28

Formerly, there was a king who was selecting a wise and discerning person from the state to serve as his assisting minister. At that time, the king, through expedients and boundless wisdom, selected a person who was intelligent and broadly learned, whose intentions were vast and refined, who was majestic without being tyrannical, and who was fully endowed with fame and virtue. The king wished to test him. Therefore, pretending to accuse him of a grave crime, he filled an almsbowl brimful with oil and made him hold it aloft while walking twenty li, decreeing that if a single drop fell, he would be executed without further appeal. The ministers accompanied him, and onlookers crowded the road. It was like still water stirred by the wind, its waves surging, the mind uneasy. The man thought to himself: "I am certainly to die today. Only if I can hold aloft the bowl so that the oil does not drop and reach that state will I be able to live." Thinking only of the bowl of oil, he walked gently with slow paces. At that time, the ministers, soldiers, his parents, clan relatives, and the people of the state all assembled, following along to watch. Furthermore, an elephant in great musth came galloping onto the road, roaring and bellowing wildly like the sound of thunder. It trampled and killed elephants, horses, oxen, sheep, pigs, calves, and their kind on the road, smashing carriages and scattering them in disarray. People saw it in terror and fled east and west, like clouds blown by the wind. People also shot arrows at it. Yet the man holding the bowl aloft was completely unaware of the elephant's coming, nor did he notice the elephant's departure. Fire broke out in the city, burning various palaces. Moreover, stinging wasps discharged venom and stung people, while government troops extinguished the fire. Five-coloured clouds also arose, and great thunder roared in the sky; wild winds blew over the ground, and dust, sand, tiles, and gravel clogged the royal road, uprooting trees, breaking branches, and stripping flowers and fruits; lightning flashed, peals of thunder clapped, peacocks all cried, and disaster-laden hailstones fell from the sky. Although these transformations occurred, the man was completely unaware of them and heard nothing. Holding aloft the brimming bowl of oil, he managed to reach that state without dropping a single drop. The king was filled with joy and appointed him as a great minister. (Extracted from the Sūtra on Cultivating Joy)