法苑珠林 91.60

91.60

The *Aśokāvadāna* says: Formerly, King Aśoka’s consort, Lady Padmavatī, gave birth to a son whose countenance was upright and handsome (according to the *Fu fazang zhuan*, his name was Dharmavivardhana), and whose eyes resembled those of a kuṇāla bird; thus he was named Kuṇāla. The king loved and respected him deeply, and when he grew up, took a wife for him named Kañcanamālā. Later, he accompanied the king to the elder’s quarters at Kukkuṭārāma Temple. The elder Yaśas, knowing that [Kuṇāla] was destined to lose his eyes, constantly expounded the Dharma for him on the marks of impermanence in the eyes. The king’s principal consort, Tiṣyarakṣitā, saw that his eyes were handsome and, moved by defiled lust, pressed him. Hearing this, the prince covered his ears and did not submit to her desires. The consort was enraged and constantly sought his faults, wishing to gouge out his eyes. Later, in the northern country of Gandhāra, in the city named Takṣaśilā, the people rebelled. The king dispatched him to subdue it. Subsequently, the king fell ill: a foul odor of feces came from his mouth, and foul fluids flowed out from all the pores of his body, which no one could cure. He issued an edict summoning Kuṇāla, wishing to have him succeed to the royal throne. When Tiṣyarakṣitā heard this, she thought, “If he becomes king, there is no way for me to survive.” She immediately devised an expedient and addressed the king, saying, “I can cure the king.” She then ordered that within the state, all who had an illness similar to the king’s be brought forward: “I will treat them.” At that time, there was a man who had such an illness; his wife inquired of a physician, who told her to bring him to be treated. When they arrived at the physician’s quarters, [the physician] immediately sent him to the consort. The consort killed him, cut open his abdomen, and saw a worm: when it moved upward, feces followed, and when it moved downward, it was likewise. Giving it various medicines could not kill it; later, she gave it garlic, and the worm immediately died. Using this reason, she urged the king to eat garlic. When the king ate it, the worm died and passed out along the path of feces, and the king’s illness was cured. He spoke to the consort, saying, “What wish do you desire?” She answered, “I desire to act as king for seven days.” The king immediately granted it. Having gained kingship, she forged a royal letter telling the people of Takṣaśilā: “Kuṇāla has committed a great crime; urgently gouge out his eyes!” After she had written the letter, she waited until the king was asleep and stole the king’s tooth-seal. The king startled awake from a dream and spoke to the consort, saying, “I dreamed of two vultures wanting to gouge out the eyes of my son Kuṇāla.” Having spoken, he went back to sleep. Again awakening from a dream, he spoke to the consort, saying, “I dreamed that Kuṇāla’s hair was very long and he was sitting on the ground.” The consort consoled the king, and the king went back to sleep. When he had slept, the consort obtained the seal, stamped the letter, and dispatched a messenger carrying it away. The king again dreamed that his teeth fell out; at dawn he summoned a diviner to divine the fortune or misfortune of the dream. The master said, “This dream is surely a sign of the prince losing his eyes.” Hearing this, the king joined his palms and took refuge in the deities of the four directions that protect the Buddha’s path and believe in the Dharma and the Saṃgha: “May you protect my son!” When the letter arrived in that country, Kuṇāla received the letter and immediately believed its words. He hired a caṇḍāla to gouge out his eyes, but none was willing to gouge them. Yet because his karma had ripened, spontaneously there was a man whose face had eight deformities, who came seeking to gouge out the eyes. The prince spoke to the deformed man: “First gouge out one eye and place it in my hand.” As he raised the knife toward the eye, all the people cried out in resentment and wailed loudly, “How strange! How bitter!” weeping and grieving beyond their endurance. Furthermore, the *Fu fazang zhuan* states: He sought an evil man to take out his right eye, placed it in his palm, and observed it. He then recalled Yaśas's former admonitions, and made these words: “It is said that the eyes are impermanent, like an illusion or transformation. Formerly so wondrous, observing it now, what is there to cherish? One should abandon perilous and decaying phenomena, and exclusively seek the most supreme, pure eye of wisdom.” While making this contemplation, he attained the stage of srotāpanna. Taking out the other eye, he contemplated deeply again; his revulsion reached its peak, and he attained the stage of sakṛdāgāmin. When his wife Kañcanamālā heard that her husband’s eyes were gouged out, weeping tears like rain, she came running and wailing in shock; seeing him, she fainted, and only revived after a long time. At that time, Kuṇāla enlightened her with a gāthā, saying: