The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature c9.41

c9.41

King Çivi (Çibi). The story of King Çivi is found in four different versions in Buddhist Sanskrit literature. It is related in the Avadāna-çataka, the Jātaka-mālā and the Avadāna-kalpalatā. According to the Avadāna-çataka,¹²¹ King Çivi, having distributed all his wealth among the people, thinks of the small insects. He inflicts several wounds on his body with a weapon, and feeds the fleas and mosquitoes with his blood, as if they were his children. In the meantime, Çakra, the chief of the devas, assumes the shape of a vulture in order to put King Çivi to the test. The king offers the vulture a feast of his own flesh, and tells him to eat as much as he needs. Çakra then appears in the guise of a Hindu priest (brahmin), and asks for the king's eyes, which are willingly given. Çakra praises and blesses the king for his generosity. In Kṣemendra's first story of Çivi, the king feeds an ogre (rākṣasa) with his flesh and blood as a recompense for a few beautiful verses, which Indra, disguised as an ogre, recites in his presence. Indra asks him if he felt any pain or grief at the sacrifice of his limbs. Çivi replies in the negative, and says: "If it is true that my mind was not touched by that pain, then may I, by the power of this truthful asseveration, regain my body as it was." His body immediately becomes whole and sound again. It may be stated that this device of saty-ādhiṣṭhāna (resolution by Truth) is employed by the later Mahāyānist writers in order to restore their heroes and heroines to their normal physical condition after the mutilation suffered by them in the exercise of charity. In some stories, Indra, who often appears as the tempter, compensates them at the end by his divine power; but Kṣemendra prefers this curious method of saty-ādhiṣṭhāna for avoiding a tragic conclusion of the moving tales. The hero cannot be left torn and bleeding after his superhuman sacrifice. This tendency to finish the stories in a happy vein is most marked in Kṣemendra’s writings, while Ḍūra does not always care to restore his mauled and mangled heroes to their pristine strength and beauty. The same King Ḍivi (or Ḍibi) is also the hero of the second story in Ḍūra’s *Jātaka-mālā*. Ḍakra, in the guise of a blind priest, asks for the gift of one eye, but the king gives him both eyes. Ḍibi remains blind for some time, but Ḍakra restores his eyes to him in the end and bestows on him the power of seeing things at a distance.