經律異相 48.34

48.34

King Prasenajit had four great ministers, whom he appointed as generals. Marshalling the fourfold army, he wished to attack a small country. The four ministers went to see the Buddha and bowed their heads at his feet. The Bhagavat asked them, "Good sirs, where are you going?" They answered in full with the matter: "We have accomplished much for this king, yet we constantly fear for our lives; now we are about to launch an attack." The Bhagavat praised them, saying: "Well done, virtuous ones! This is repaying kindness and being steadfast. Not only in this life have you acted thus for a king: in the past, in the kingdom of Sāgara, a flock of crows gathered and dwelt in that land. The crow king was named Ikṣu (Sugar Cane), ruling over eighty thousand crows. The crow king had a wife named Jiulini. Being pregnant, she craved strange food and spoke with utmost sincerity to the king: 'My body is indisposed; I desire to eat the meat of the gentle deer king before I can live—otherwise, I shall die.' Thereupon the crow king, hearing her words, assembled the flock of crows and said: 'You must go to the kingdom of Sāgara. The king of Sāgara has a great deer king named Xuju (Sugu); I desire to obtain its meat.' Four crows responded to the call: 'We are capable of this task. Sparing neither body nor life, we shall accomplish this matter.' Then the four crows repeatedly went to the gathering place. When the prince of the kingdom saw the crows, he was terrified and ran back to report to the king: 'I have seen four crows of such appearance frequently coming to the deer park.' The king immediately ordered men to capture them. The bird catchers devised an expedient method and spread nets to catch the crows, forthwith capturing them alive and presenting them to the king. The king questioned the four crows and scolded them: 'Why do you repeatedly come here, trespassing upon my realm?' The crows replied: 'Indeed, Heavenly King, it was not of our own desire. There is a king named Anzhu (Firm Abode), whose wife is pregnant; she desires the meat of the gentle deer Xuju. That king sent us here, and we obeyed our lord's command.' The king was astonished and marvelled at it: 'Obeying their king's command, they devised this plan, casting away their bodies and lives—truly beyond what is expected! Even among worldly men, to seek such steadfastness in obeying the commands of a lord or father is hard to find; how much more so for birds and beasts!' The king said to the crows: 'I now pardon your offense.' (Extracted from the Sūtra on the Vessel of Honey, also called the Sūtra on the Crow King of the Country of Kosala).