Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s3.t7.19

v2.c10.s3.t7.19

Bodhisattva once ruled with great reputation. Jiushi lives in another country and is a king as well, but he is covetous, shameless and cruel, and leads an army to seize Bodhisattva’s kingdom. Looking down from a great height, the king finds that the army is large, and he and the queen escape into the forest. As a conqueror, Jiushi governs with greed and cruelty, and he kills the faithful and promotes the cunning. People endure difficulties, and they weep and mourn for their old king. The king and the queen are in the deep forest. An evil dragon in the sea, captivated by the queen’s beauty, turns into a monk, and the king picks fruits every day to feed him. When the king is away, the dragon carries the queen away. On its way towards the sea, a huge bird appears to stop and fight with the dragon, but gets its right wing wounded, and the dragon returns to the sea. Back from fruit picking, finding that the queen disappears, the king brings a bow and arrows with him to find the queen. In the course of this, he follows a flow of water to find a monkey weeping. The monkey says: “I am also the king, but Jiushi seizes my followers. Why are you here?” Bodhisattva answers: “I have the same trouble. Now my queen has disappeared and I don’t know where to find her.” The monkey says: “You can help me fight and recover my followers, and I will help you recover your wife”. On the following day, the monkey fights with Jiushi, and the king draws the bow. The Jiushi fears and halts. Monkey king orders his returning followers: “The king has lost his queen in this mountain. Go and search her”. Monkeys disperse towards various directions, seeing a wounded bird, asks: “The queen has disappeared, and the king could not find her, and we are searching for her”. The bird says: “She is abducted by the dragon and now on an island in the sea”. After saying this, the bird dies. The monkey king leads the army to the sea but is at a loss how to cross it. Sakra assumes the form of a monkey and comes to suggest: “Our army is so numerous as to exceed the number of sea sand. Let everyone carry stones to cross the sea, and these stones will turn into a high mountain. In this way, access to the island will be easy”. The army thus cross the sea and come over to surround the island. The dragon produces poisonous fog, and monkeys all fall ill and scrawl on the ground. A little monkey puts a celestial herb into their noses. The dragon then produces wind, cloud and thunder, but the king shoots an arrow to the chest of the dragon and kills it. The monkeys are joyous, and the little monkey opens the door to let the queen out of her prison. The two kings return to the forest together. Since Jiushi has died without any heir, courtiers and people go to implore the king. The king returns and rules with amnesty and benevolence, and people lead a happy life. The king says to his wife one day: “People are doubtful when a wife is away is husband for one night, while you were separated from me for a number of days. As ancient customs requires, I cannot take you back”. The queen says: “While at that obscene place, I was just like a lotus in the mud. If my word is true, the earth will open and swallow me up”. Just then, the ground opens. The queen says: “My word is true”. The king says: “Yes, it is”. Since chastity is a Buddhist requirement. From then on, merchants surrender part of profit, the learned resigns their position, the noble can safeguard the humble, and the strong does not