法苑珠林 82.96

82.96

Furthermore, the New Vibhāṣā says: It has been heard that formerly, in this Bhadrakalpa, there was a king named Kali. At that time there was a ṛṣi known as Kṣānti, who dwelt in a forest diligently cultivating austerities. At that time King Kali, having sent away the men, was making various kinds of music with the retinue of his inner palace, roaming and sporting through the forest and indulging in pleasure. After a long time, becoming exhausted and weary, he went to sleep. The women of the inner palace, seeking flowers and fruits, roamed through the forest. Seeing the ṛṣi from afar, upright in body and silently meditating in his dwelling place, they hastened toward him and all gathered at his place. Having arrived, they paid homage at his feet and sat around him. The ṛṣi then preached to them the faults of desire: "Namely, all desires are impure and foul phenomena; they are blameworthy, they are to be abhorred. Who that has wisdom would consort with them? Sisters, you should all give rise to revulsion and cast them aside." When the king woke from sleep and did not see the women, he thought: "Could someone have seduced and carried them off?" Drawing a sharp sword, he searched for them everywhere, and then saw the women sitting around the ṛṣi. Growing greatly furious, [he thought:] "What great demon is this that has seduced my women?" He stepped forward and questioned him: "Who are you?" He replied: "I am a ṛṣi." He asked again: "What are you doing here?" He replied: "I cultivate the path of patience (kṣānti)." The king thought: "Seeing my anger, this man says, 'I cultivate patience.' I will test him now." He then asked again: "Have you attained the absorption of the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception?" He replied: "I have not." Questioning and reproaching him in sequence, [he went] down to: "Have you attained the first dhyāna?" He replied: "I have not." The king was doubly incensed and said to him: "You are a person who has not yet parted from desire! How can you gaze at my women as you please, and yet say, 'I am a person who cultivates patience'? Extend one arm, and let us test whether you can endure it or not!" Thereupon the ṛṣi extended one arm, and the king severed it with his sharp sword; like cutting a lotus root, it fell to the ground. The king reproached and questioned him again: "What kind of person are you?" He replied: "I am a person who cultivates patience." The king then ordered him to extend the other arm, and severed that too. Reproaching and questioning him as before, the ṛṣi also replied as before: "I am a person who cultivates patience." In this way he sequentially severed his two feet, then cut off his two ears, and further sliced off his nose. Questioning and reproaching him for each one, his replies were all as before. Causing the seven parts of the ṛṣi's body to fall to the ground and having inflicted seven wounds, the king's anger then ceased. The ṛṣi said to him: "Why does the king now become weary of his own accord? Even if you cut through every part of my body until it is like mustard seeds or even fine dust, I still would not give rise to a single thought of anger. That which is called patience is utterly devoid of duplicity." Furthermore, he made this vow: "Just as you today, though I am truly innocent, have cut my body into seven parts and inflicted seven wounds, so in a future life when I attain anuttara-saṃbodhi, with a mind of great compassion and without waiting for your request, I will first cause you to cultivate the sevenfold path and sever the seven latent afflictions (anuśaya)." One should know that the Kṣānti-ṛṣi of that time was none other than the present World-Honoured One, Śākyamuni; King Kali was none other than the present Venerable Kauṇḍinya. Therefore, after Kauṇḍinya had seen the noble truths, the Buddha with his supernatural power eliminated his dark obscurations and caused him to recollect his past lives, enabling him to see for himself that he had been King Kali and the Buddha had been the ṛṣi; that he had personally severed seven limbs of the Buddha with a sharp sword and inflicted seven wounds, and that the Buddha, far from bearing anger or hatred, made a vow wishing to benefit him. How could the Buddha go against his former vow? When Kauṇḍinya heard this, he was deeply ashamed, and joined his palms in reverent devotion.