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It is worth noting that although the subject of giving away one’s life, bodily parts, or family members is treated in this and similar texts as a rather commonplace aspect of a bodhisattva’s training, it is made abundantly clear in the commentarial treatises that Buddhist tradition does not teach these kinds of “great giving” (gtong ba chen po) or “exceptionally great giving” (shin tu gtong ba) to ordinary practitioners who have not yet attained one of the ten bodhisattva levels (and many texts specify the three highest or “sublime” levels). Only such advanced bodhisattvas have both fully realized emptiness, and also given rise to the vast altruistic intentions that make such an act viable and meaningful. In the meantime, such stories of “ultimate giving” are intended to inspire a commensurate attitude of selfless generosity in the reader.
Jātakas typically relate stories from the Buddha’s past lives, in which the Buddha is either the protagonist of the story or a witness to other events. See Appleton 2010, pp. 3–6, and Rothenberg 1990, pp. 4–5.
For a critical edition and partial translation of this work, see Rothenberg 1990. For text-critical remarks on the text, see de Jong 1979.
Ohnuma (2007) discusses all these tales and the connections between them in her work. She also provides a list of the various versions of the texts in her work’s first appendix, pp. 273–83.
Blessed One (bhagavān), Well-Gone One (sugata), and the Teacher (śāstṛ) are all epithets for the Buddha. The repetition of terms referring to the Buddha is most probably for emphasis.
We chose to translate pho brang as “royal estate” instead of the more usual “palace” as the text says this “palace” included fields and the dwellings of the king’s subjects. A palace is a building; it does not include grounds, fields, or villages.
This translation follows the Narthang edition, which reads khyim ba. The Degé edition reads khyim bya, meaning “chicken.” We assume this is a misspelling.
This translation follows the Degé edition, which reads skyong ba. The Comparative Edition, Narthang, and Lhasa editions read skyob pa, which means “to protect.”
The use of mchog to describe a house is ambiguous; it could mean “the best of houses” or “the (roof)top of a house.” Clues for how to translate the line were found in a similar line from the Newari version of the Candraprabhāvadāna (The Exemplary Tale of Candraprabha). This line reads: etāś candranibhānanā yuvatayo rodanti veśmottame (Matsumura 1980, p. 101, n. 34). This line could be translated as: “These young women, whose faces resemble the moon, cry on the (roof)tops of their houses.” As this text provides more context for the young women’s actions, we have rendered mchog as “(roof)top.” We thank our anonymous reviewer for this reference.
rdo rje lhung is a Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit term vajrapāta, which means “the fall of a thunderbolt” or a “lightning strike.”
This stanza is widely quoted in Buddhist literature across traditions. It is found, for example, in the Vinayavastu and Udānavarga.
Here the Tibetan reads phyir lus, which usually means “turn back” but can also be a Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit term avapṛṣṭhīkṛtaḥ. A synonym of paścānmukhīkṛtaḥ, avapṛṣṭhīkṛtaḥ also has the figurative meaning of “surpassed, outdone.” This is the only meaning that makes sense in the context of this story, so we have chosen to translate phyir lus as “surpassed.” The obtuseness of this usage is most probably compensated for by the familiarity most readers of the avadāna would have with the story of the Buddha offering his body to the tigress.
The Tibetan grammar in this short rendition of a famous tale is less than clear. It could be read to suggest that Maitreya lengthened his period as a bodhisattva by offering his life to the tiger. The idea that such an action would increase the time it took to attain buddhahood runs counter to the rest of the narrative, however, in which Śrisena, a past rebirth of the Buddha Śākyamuni, is trying to hasten buddhahood by offering his body. It also contradicts several other renditions of this tale, all of which explain that a previous incarnation of Maitreya could not offer himself to the tigress but a previous incarnation of the Buddha Śākyamuni did, thereby surpassing the deeds of the bodhisattva Maitreya, who had set out for buddhahood forty eons earlier than the Buddha Śākyamuni. This tale is not only told in both the Śrīsenāvadāna and the Candraprabhāvadāna, but also in the Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra (See translation in Emmerick 1970, pp. 85–97). This last work identifies Maitreya as the older brother Mahāpraṇāda, who had set out for buddhahood forty eons earlier, but does not offer his body to the tigress and is consequently surpassed by his younger brother who does make this sacrifice. Ohnuma (2007, pp. 9–14) discusses this story. She concludes (p. 14) that “[i]t was his (Maitreya’s) failure to act in the same exalted manner as Śākyamuni that made him lose the cosmic race toward perfect buddhahood.” Among all the other retellings of the tigress tale, one that is particularly helpful for understanding this passage is a parallel passage in the Sanskrit and Tibetan editions of the Candraprabhāvadāna (Matsumura 1980). This avadāna includes a reminiscence by another of the Buddha Śākyamuni’s incarnations, Candraprabha, about the same offering to the tigress. The passage in question reads, in Sanskrit: esa eva devate sa pradeśo yatra mayā vyāghryātmanam parityajya catvārimsat-ka[lpa sam]prasthito maitreyo bodhisatvaḥ ekena śirasā parityāgena avapṛṣṭhīkṛtaḥ (Matsumura, pp. 111–12). And, in Tibetan: lha mo gang du ngas stag mo la bdag nyid yongs su btang ste / lus yongs su gtong ba gcig gis byang chub sems dpa’ byams pa bskal pa bzhi bcur zhugs pa / phyir ’dums par byas pa’i sa phyogs ni ’di yin no // (Matsumura 1980, p. 267). It could be translated: “Goddess, this is the very place in which I gave myself to the tigress. By this one act of completely giving my head (body in Tibetan), I surpassed the bodhisattva Maitreya who had set out (for buddhahood) forty eons earlier (than I).” In this passage, the use of the Sanskrit pronoun mayā clearly indicates that it was Candraprabha’s previous incarnation (and, therefore, the Buddha Śākyamuni’s and Śrīsena’s previous incarnation) who offered his body (or head) to the tigress, not the previous incarnation of the bodhisattva Maitreya. As explained in the preceding note, the use of ambiguous phrases in the present rendition of this tale was probably compensated for by the familiarity most readers had with the tale of the hungry tigress. We are much indebted to one of our anonymous reviewers for helping to understand this short but complicated vignette and to refine our translation of it.
Puṇḍarīka is a white lotus flower, Nelumbium speciosum. Agaru is agarwood, taken from the inside of the Aquilaria and Gyrinops trees after they have been attacked by mold. Tagara incense is made from the milky sap of Tabernaemontana divaricata. Indian tradition has it that the mandārava tree growing in Indra’s garden is the Erythrina variegata, or Indian coral tree.
King Śrīsena’s royal estate.
The king of Magadha and a great patron of the Buddha. His birth coincided with the Buddha’s, and his father, King Mahāpadma, named him “Essence of Gold” after mistakenly attributing the brilliant light that marked the Buddha’s birth to the birth of his son by Queen Bimbī (“Goldie”). Accounts of Bimbisāra’s youth and life can be found in The Chapter on Going Forth (Toh 1-1, Pravrajyāvastu).
King Śreṇya Bimbisāra first met with the Buddha early on, when the latter was the wandering mendicant known as Gautama. Impressed by his conduct, Bimbisāra offered to take Gautama into his court, but Gautama refused, and Bimbisāra wished him success in his quest for awakening and asked him to visit his palace after he had achieved his goal. One account of this episode can be found in the sixteenth chapter of The Play in Full (Toh 95, Lalitavistara). There are other accounts where the two meet earlier on in childhood; several episodes can be found, for example, in The Hundred Deeds (Toh 340, Karmaśataka). Later, after the Buddha’s awakening, Bimbisāra became one of his most famous patrons and donated to the saṅgha the Bamboo Grove, Veṇuvana, at the outskirts of the capital of Magadha, Rājagṛha, where he built residences for the monks. Bimbisāra was imprisoned and killed by his own son, the prince Ajātaśatru, who, influenced by Devadatta, sought to usurp his father’s throne.
“The Garden of Chariots”; one of the four parks in Sudarśana city, home of Śakra (Indra) and his thirty-two gods, located on the summit of Mount Meru.
A divine city filled with crowds of gods.
One of the three realms of saṃsāra, it is comprised of the traditional six realms of saṃsāra, from the hell realm to the realm of the gods, including the human realm. Rebirth in this realm is characterized by intense cravings via the five senses and their objects.
The Buddha’s disloyal cousin.
Indian preceptor and translator.
Fourth of the six perfections and one of the seven limbs of awakening, the five abilities, the four bases of magical power, and the five powers.
See ”generosity.“
The act of giving motivated by the wish to attain awakening for all sentient beings. It is the first of the six or ten perfections, often explained as the essential starting point and training for the practice of the others perfections. Also translated here as “giving.”
See ”generosity.“
The act of giving motivated by the wish to attain awakening for all sentient beings. It is the first of the six or ten perfections, often explained as the essential starting point and training for the practice of the others perfections. Also translated here as “giving.”
In the most general sense the devas—the term is cognate with the English divine—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who attend and celebrate the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni and other buddhas and bodhisattvas. In Buddhist cosmology the devas occupy the highest of the five or six “destinies” (gati) of saṃsāra among which beings take rebirth. The devas reside in the devalokas, “heavens” that traditionally number between twenty-six and twenty-eight and are divided between the desire realm (kāmadhātu), form realm (rūpadhātu), and formless realm (ārūpyadhātu). A being attains rebirth among the devas either through meritorious deeds (in the desire realm) or the attainment of subtle meditative states (in the form and formless realms). While rebirth among the devas is considered favorable, it is ultimately a transitory state from which beings will fall when the conditions that lead to rebirth there are exhausted. Thus, rebirth in the god realms is regarded as a diversion from the spiritual path.
It can also refer to a deity in the human world and is sometimes (as in the present work) used as a term of endearment for a ruler or leader (translated as “lord”).
One of the wives of Prince Siddhārtha, prior to his leaving his kingdom and attaining awakening as the Buddha.
The second heaven of the desire realm located above Mount Meru and reigned over by Indra, otherwise known as Śakra, and thirty-two other gods.
In Buddhism, inference is one of the two sources of valid knowledge (pramāṇa), the other being direct perception (pratyakṣa).
The name of the southern continent in Buddhist cosmology, which can signify either the known human world, or more specifically the Indian subcontinent, literally “the jambu island/continent.” Jambu is the name used for a range of plum-like fruits from trees belonging to the genus Szygium, particularly Szygium jambos and Szygium cumini, and it has commonly been rendered “rose apple,” although “black plum” may be a less misleading term. Among various explanations given for the continent being so named, one (in the Abhidharmakośa) is that a jambu tree grows in its northern mountains beside Lake Anavatapta, mythically considered the source of the four great rivers of India, and that the continent is therefore named from the tree or the fruit. Jambudvīpa has the Vajrāsana at its center and is the only continent upon which buddhas attain awakening.
King Śrīsena’s wife.
“One who belongs to the Kuśika lineage.” An epithet of the god Śakra, also known as Indra, the king of the gods in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven. In the Ṛgveda, Indra is addressed by the epithet Kauśika, with the implication that he is associated with the descendants of the Kuśika lineage (gotra) as their aiding deity. In later epic and Purāṇic texts, we find the story that Indra took birth as Gādhi Kauśika, the son of Kuśika and one of the Vedic poet-seers, after the Puru king Kuśika had performed austerities for one thousand years to obtain a son equal to Indra who could not be killed by others. In the Pāli Kusajātaka (Jāt V 141–45), the Buddha, in one of his former bodhisattva lives as a Trāyastriṃśa god, takes birth as the future king Kusa upon the request of Indra, who wishes to help the childless king of the Mallas, Okkaka, and his chief queen Sīlavatī. This story is also referred to by Nāgasena in the Milindapañha.
See also definition for “Śakra.”
Devadatta’s companion.
This term, literally meaning “god,” is sometimes (as in the present work) used as a term of endearment for a ruler or leader, translated here as “lord.”
A kingdom on the banks of the Ganges (in the southern part of the modern day Indian state of Bihar), whose capital was at Pāṭaliputra (modern day Patna). During the life of the Buddha Śākyamuni, it was the dominant kingdom in north central India and is home to many of the most important Buddhist sites, including Bodh Gayā, Nālandā, and its capital Rājagṛha.
King Śrīsena’s chief minister.
The bodhisattva Maitreya is an important figure in many Buddhist traditions, where he is unanimously regarded as the buddha of the future era. He is said to currently reside in the heaven of Tuṣita, as Śākyamuni’s regent, where he awaits the proper time to take his final rebirth and become the fifth buddha in the Fortunate Eon, reestablishing the Dharma in this world after the teachings of the current buddha have disappeared. Within the Mahāyāna sūtras, Maitreya is elevated to the same status as other central bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara, and his name appears frequently in sūtras, either as the Buddha’s interlocutor or as a teacher of the Dharma. Maitreya literally means “Loving One.” He is also known as Ajita, meaning “Invincible.”
For more information on Maitreya, see, for example, the introduction to Maitreya’s Setting Out (Toh 198).
One of the Buddha’s two principal monastic disciples.
The great mountain at the center of the universe according to ancient Indian cosmology. At its summit lies Sudarśana city, home of Śakra (Indra) and his thirty-two gods. The mountain is also referred to as Mount Meru.
“The Pleasure Grove”; the chief of the parks in Sudarśana city, where the resident gods of the city, headed by Śakra (Indra), go for their amusement.
In Indian mythology, a tree in Indra’s heaven that is said to fulfill all desires.
A person’s particular preceptor within the monastic tradition. They must have at least ten years of standing in the saṅgha, and their role is to confer ordination, to tend to the student, and to provide all the necessary requisites, therefore guiding that person for the taking of full vows and the maintenance of conduct and practice. This office was decreed by the Buddha so that aspirants would not have to receive ordination from the Buddha in person, and the Buddha identified two types: those who grant entry into the renunciate order and those who grant full ordination. The Tibetan translation mkhan po has also come to mean “a learned scholar,” the equivalent of a paṇḍita, but that is not the intended meaning in Indic Buddhist literature.
Latent propensity to certain behaviors.
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, into which beings are born as the karmic fruition of past miserliness. As the term in Sanskrit means “the departed,” they are analogous to the ancestral spirits of Vedic tradition, the pitṛs, who starve without the offerings of descendants. It is also commonly translated as “hungry ghost” or “starving spirit,” as in the Chinese 餓鬼 e gui.
They are sometimes said to reside in the realm of Yama, but are also frequently described as roaming charnel grounds and other inhospitable or frightening places along with piśācas and other such beings. They are particularly known to suffer from great hunger and thirst and the inability to acquire sustenance. Detailed descriptions of their realm and experience, including a list of the thirty-six classes of pretas, can be found in The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma, Toh 287, 2.1281– 2.1482.
Tibetan scholar and translator.
The lord of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three (trāyastriṃśa). Alternatively known as Indra, the deity that is called “lord of the gods” dwells on the summit of Mount Sumeru and wields the thunderbolt. The Tibetan translation brgya byin (meaning “one hundred sacrifices”) is based on an etymology that śakra is an abbreviation of śata-kratu, one who has performed a hundred sacrifices. Each world with a central Sumeru has a Śakra. Also known by other names such as Kauśika, Devendra, and Śacipati.
One of the principal śrāvaka disciples of the Buddha, he was renowned for his discipline and for having been praised by the Buddha as foremost of the wise (often paired with Maudgalyāyana, who was praised as foremost in the capacity for miraculous powers). His father, Tiṣya, to honor Śāriputra’s mother, Śārikā, named him Śāradvatīputra, or, in its contracted form, Śāriputra, meaning “Śārikā’s Son.”
Tibetan scholar and translator.
(1) A name sometimes used for King Śrīsena’s country. (2) The name of a country he once ruled in previous lifetimes.
A king, who was a past life of the Buddha. He was a bodhisattva renowned for his unstinting generosity and spiritual resolve.
Tuṣita (or sometimes Saṃtuṣita), literally “Joyous” or “Contented,” is one of the six heavens of the desire realm (kāmadhātu). In standard classifications, such as the one in the Abhidharmakośa, it is ranked as the fourth of the six counting from below. This god realm is where all future buddhas are said to dwell before taking on their final rebirth prior to awakening. There, the Buddha Śākyamuni lived his preceding life as the bodhisattva Śvetaketu. When departing to take birth in this world, he appointed the bodhisattva Maitreya, who will be the next buddha of this eon, as his Dharma regent in Tuṣita. For an account of the Buddha’s previous life in Tuṣita, see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 2.12, and for an account of Maitreya’s birth in Tuṣita and a description of this realm, see The Sūtra on Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy, (Toh 199).
In Buddhist mythology, a universal monarch who rules the four continents and is willing to use force (Skt. bala; Tib. stobs) if necessary.
The awakening of the buddhas, so-named to distinguish it from the limited realizations of lesser beings such as arhats, solitary buddhas, and the like.
The term stands for indestructibility and perfect stability. According to Indian mythology, the vajra is the all-powerful god Indra’s weapon, likened to a thunderbolt, which made him invincible. It also relates to the diamond which is the hardest physical material.
Name of the ancient sacred scriptures of Hinduism, the most famous of which is the Ṛg Veda.
Literally “maker of sundry things,” Viśvakarma is the architect of the gods. He was an important deity in the Vedic tradition. In the Ṛg Veda, he is regarded as the personification of ultimate reality, the abstract creative power inherent in deities, living, and nonliving being in this universe.
A person who has accomplished the final fruition of the path of the hearers and is liberated from saṃsāra.
Daughter of Śākya Daṇḍadhara (more commonly Daṇḍapāṇi), sister of Iṣudhara and Aniruddha, she was the wife of Prince Siddhārtha and mother of his only child, Rāhula. After Prince Siddhārtha left his kingdom and attained awakening as the Buddha, she became his disciple and one of the first women to be ordained as a bhikṣunī. She attained the level of an arhat, a worthy one, endowed with the six superknowledges.
dpal gyi sde’i rtogs pa brjod pa (Śrīsenāvadāna). Toh 349, Degé Kangyur vol. 76 (mdo sde, ah), folios 31b–50a.
dpal gyi sde’i rtogs pa brjod pa (Śrīsenāvadāna). bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–2009, vol. 76, pp. 91–136.
dpal gyi sde’i rtogs pa brjod pa (Śrīsenāvadāna). Stok Palace Kangyur (stog pho brang bris ma bka’ ’gyur) vol. 68 (mdo sde, tsa), 370b–398a.
dpal gyi sde’i rtogs pa brjod pa (Śrīsenāvadāna). bka’ ’gyur (lha sa), vol. 76, pp. 101–61. Lha sa: Zhol bka’ ’gyur par khang.
dpal gyi sde’i rtogs pa brjod pa (Śrīsenāvadāna). bka’ ’gyur (shel mkhar bris ma), vol. 47, (mdo sde, tsa), folios 340a–365a.
dpal gyi sde’i rtogs pa brjod pa (Śrīsenāvadāna). bka’ ’gyur (urga), vol. 76, pp. 64–104. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1990.
Appleton, Naomi. Jātaka Stories in Theravāda Buddhism: Narrating the Bodhisatta Path. London: Ashgate, 2010.
Chakraborty, Uma. Kṣemendra, the Eleventh Century Kashmiri Poet: A Study of His Life and Works. Delhi, India: Sri Satguru Publications, 1991.
Chattopadhyay, J. Bodhisattva Avadānakalpalatā: A critical study. Calcutta: Atisha Memorial Pub. Society, 1994.
de Jong, J. W. Textcritical Remarks on the Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā (Pallavas 42–108). Tokyo, Japan: Reiyukai Library, 1979.
Emmerick, R. E., tr. The Sūtra of Golden Light: Being a Translation of the Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra. London: Luzac & Company, Ltd., 1970.
Kṣemendra (1997). Rtogs brjod dpag bsam ’khri shing gi rtsa ’grel. (Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā). Zi ling: Mtsho sngon mi rigs dpe skrun khang.
Kṣemendra (1981). Rtogs brjod dpag bsam ’khri shing (Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā). Delhi: Karmapae Chodhey.
Kṣemendra (1959). Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute.
Matsumura, Hisashi, ed. “Four Avadānas from the Gilgit Manuscripts.” PhD diss., Australian National University, 1980.
Ohnuma, Reiko. Head, Eyes, Flesh, and Blood: Giving Away the Body in Indian Buddhist Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
Roberts, Peter Alan, trans. (2023) The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (1) (Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra, Toh 555). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Rothenberg, Bonnie Lynne. “Kṣemendra’s Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā: A Textcritical Edition and Translation of Chapters One to Five.” PhD diss., University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1990.
In this discourse, the Buddha Śākyamuni describes his past life as King Śrīsena of Ariṣṭa, a bodhisattva renowned for his unstinting generosity and spiritual resolve. In that life, a sage orders his disciple to ask King Śrīsena for his beautiful wife, Jayaprabhā. Out of compassion, King Śrīsena gives his wife to the disciple. Śakra, lord of the gods, then claims that King Śrīsena is also able to give away his own body. The other gods have doubts about this, so to prove his point, Śakra disguises himself as an old brahmin whose lower body has been eaten by a tiger, and then asks King Śrīsena to gift him his own lower body. With altruistic motivation, King Śrīsena agrees to the request and orders carpenters to saw him in half. He offers the bottom half to the brahmin, whose body is magically made whole again. King Śrīsena claims he has felt no regrets and by the power of his words, his own body is restored. During this ordeal, Śakra has kept the king alive and carefully monitored his reactions. Observing nothing but pure altruism, Śakra then confirms that the king is a true bodhisattva who is capable of the highest acts of generosity. With this past life story, the Buddha illustrates the kinds of personal sacrifice a bodhisattva will make to attain awakening, even when these go against the protestations of those closest to him.
This translation was produced by the Lokākṣi Translator Group: Tenzin Ringpapontsang, Ruth Gamble, John Powers, and Harmony DenRonden.
This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena belongs to one of the most beloved narrative genres in Buddhism, the past life story (avadāna). It deals with one of the most powerful and pervasive themes in this genre, the bodhisattva’s bodily sacrifice for the benefit of living beings. In this avadāna, the act of bodily sacrifice performed by the Buddha’s previous incarnation, the bodhisattva king Śrīsena, forms the centerpiece of an elaborate morality tale extolling the virtues and far-reaching benefits of selfless generosity.
Most past-life stories of the Buddha are found within two genres of Buddhist literature: avadāna and jātaka. The term avadāna, broadly meaning “narrative” or “tale,” denotes a type of exemplary story that is common to most Indian religious traditions. In the Buddhist context, avadāna is traditionally specified as the tenth of the twelvefold subdivision of Buddhist scripture (pravacana), classified according to content, thematic structure, and literary style. Although this class of works is as varied as it is voluminous, the stories typically illustrate the results of good and bad karma, indicating how past deeds have shaped present circumstances. In this vein, many avadānas, the present one included, set out to show how the exemplary lives of the Buddha, or, more often, his followers, have resulted from their meritorious deeds in past lives. Avadānas may also, in certain cases, include prophecies of future spiritual attainments.
Avadānas recounting past deeds, such as the one translated here, typically follow a three-part narrative structure: a story from the present life of the Buddha or another protagonist, a story of an exemplary past deed, and a connecting conclusion that shows how the past protagonist and his circle were prior incarnations of the present protagonist and his circle. In this regard, avadānas bear a close relationship to jātakas (“birth stories” of the Buddha). One notable difference, however, is that the protagonist of an avadāna is often not the Buddha himself, as it is in most jātaka stories, but one of his followers or prospective followers. Another difference is that avadānas generally concern past human lives of realized beings, not those of animals or nonhumans, as is the case in many jātaka tales. Finally, while jātaka stories had wide popular appeal, with plots, characters, and motifs drawn from pan-Indian folklore, the avadānas seem to have originally been intended primarily for monastics, as suggested by their frequent references to attendant monks, their moral tone, and their specific prescriptions for Buddhist practice that are interspersed throughout the narratives. Yet, in the course of their historical diffusion, these edifying tales of spiritual and moral accomplishment eventually gained wide popularity and came to inspire and educate Buddhist monastics and lay followers alike.
To our knowledge, there is no extant Sanskrit version of the Śrīsenāvadāna. Colophons of the Tibetan canonical translations of this text indicate that it was translated from Sanskrit by the Indian preceptor Dharmaśrībhadra, a chief editor called Sherab Lekpa, and the famous translator Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055
In the version of the Śrīsenā narrative translated here, the deeds of its protagonist are related by the Buddha Śākyamuni. At the beginning of the text, the Buddha explains to his disciples that King Śrīsena was a bodhisattva who ruled from the city of Ariṣṭa. He was aided in his royal duties by his devoted queen Jayaprabhā and chief minister Mahāmati. He is renowned for his generosity and the prosperity he has brought to his kingdom. After he performs the exceedingly generous act of giving away his queen, his fame reaches the god realms. At this point, Śakra, lord of the gods, decides to test the authenticity of Śrīsena’s generosity by disguising himself as the victim of a tiger attack who is missing the lower half of his body, and who has been brought to the king to beg for the monarch’s lower body as a replacement. As Śrīsena sets out to fulfil the man’s request, his loyal subjects rise in protest and none will agree to help. It is only after Śakra enchants two of the king’s carpenters that they agree to perform the grisly task.
The bodhisattva king passes Śakra’s test by not only suffering the pain of having his body cut in half, but by undertaking, enduring, and recalling the ordeal with nothing but joy, love, and equanimity. He is able to do this, the account explains, because he is motivated by the mind of awakening—the wish to attain awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. At the end of the story, the Buddha reveals that he was King Śrīsena in a past life, his wife Yaśodharā was Queen Jayaprabhā, his ordained disciple Śāriputra was his minister Mahāmati, his lay disciple King Bimbisāra was the god Śakra, and his duplicitous cousin Devadatta was one of the carpenters.
Like most of the past life tales of the Buddha, both avadāna and jātaka, The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena is a morality tale that explains and illustrates the relationship between karma and its results. It demonstrates how the performance of good deeds causes beings to experience happiness and, conversely, the performance of harmful deeds causes them to suffer. It also highlights variations in the efficacy of good and bad deeds—good and bad deeds can be big and small, powerful and trifling. Even small deeds, however, can significantly impact an individual’s future behavior and experiences, whether positively or negatively.
As the narrative demonstrates, much of a deed’s power comes not from the action itself, but from the intention behind it. The two carpenters did not reap the severe karmic consequence that would typically result from sawing a bodhisattva in half because they were enchanted while they performed the deed and had no control over what they did. Nevertheless, their inability to withstand the enchantment did not bode well for them, and we are told that they will continue to act out of ignorance in future lives. The bodhisattva’s actions, by contrast, were deemed to be both powerful and virtuous because they were inspired by the mind of awakening. From the Buddhist perspective, this intention infuses ordinary positive actions with tremendous power and makes extraordinary actions universally significant.
All the various traditions of Buddhism agree that the Buddha awakened by perfecting these practices over eons, and many past life stories exemplifying this process can be found throughout Buddhist literature. Many of these stories exist in multiple versions, which vary according to the guiding aims and presuppositions of the traditions that have preserved them. Within these traditions, there are dissimilar lists of the behaviors that need to be perfected; some lists include ten behaviors that need to be perfected, others suggest only six. These six perfections appear in all the lists: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and insight.
The perfection of generosity heads these lists, and it is a central theme in many past life stories, and certainly the main focus of The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena. Within this narrative, the Buddha demonstrates how important it is not just to perform an act of generosity, but to do so with altruistic motivation and to dedicate any merit that results. King Śrīsena’s altruistic motivation is noted no fewer than thirteen times in the course of the text, and he repeatedly dedicates the benefit accruing from his acts of compassion to the welfare of others.
This account not only describes an act of perfect generosity, but also highlights the moral and spiritual implications of this deed. Throughout the sūtra, there is a recurring discussion about the purpose of giving away one’s body. King Śrīsena is presented with many reasons from loved ones why he should not perform this act, such as the grief it will cause his family, the detriments it will inflict on his subjects, and the pointlessness of giving up such a rare and precious life. King Śrīsena responds to all these objections by patiently explaining that although he is fortunate to have met with such a valuable opportunity, he will not have fulfilled his life’s potential if he does not perform the deeds of a bodhisattva. When his relatives and friends beg him not to leave them, he reminds them that saṃsāra’s impermanent nature means that sooner or later all those who are close to each other must part. If, however, he awakens to buddhahood, he will have the ability to lead all sentient beings out of this cycle of meeting and parting. Time and again, he responds to those in his circle who beg him to forego his own suffering with a plea to think about the greater cycles of suffering that he and others will all endure if they do not attain liberation from saṃsāra.
The conversations that King Śrīsena has about generosity, and the narrative details concerning his sacrificial deed, are reminiscent of other past life stories featuring bodily sacrifice. Reiko Ohnuma calls these “gift-of-the-body stories” and describes how they are found throughout all Buddhist canons, most commonly in avadāna and jātaka works but elsewhere as well. A few of these bodily sacrifice stories were well known across Buddhist traditions. Indeed, as Śrīsena argues with Mahāmati about the merits of his impending deed, he cites several previous gift-of-the-body stories to make his case. These include the stories of a king of Śibi who gives his eyes to a brahmin, another king of Śibi who gives his flesh to a hawk in order to save a pigeon, and King Candraprabha who gives his head to a brahmin.
The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena not only alludes to these other, more famous gift-of-the-body stories, but also follows their literary conventions closely. There are some obvious thematic similarities. Like the bodhisattvas in the other perfection of giving stories, for example, King Śrīsena is overjoyed at having the opportunity to perform such an enormous act of generosity. It is not every day that a person comes and asks a bodhisattva for his or her body. From the bodhisattva’s perspective, the opportunity to give away one’s body presents an opportunity to perfect generosity in a very direct way. It is also seen as an opportunity to shorten the time it will take the aspirant to become a buddha. As in related works, the bodhisattva in this story exercises equanimity in offering his body; indeed, it is a stranger that asks for his body, while his close relatives and friends plead with him not to perform the act.
These bodhisattva bodily sacrifice narratives also share many symbols and tropes. Tigers, for example, and other flesh-eating animals, like hawks, are often involved. Limbs and eyes are the most commonly offered body parts, and, perhaps by necessity, swords, saws, and other types of knives also make regular appearances in these stories, as well as sharp teeth.
Along with the content of these texts—their symbols, language, and narratives—the form of gift-of-the-body stories is also similar. Most of them follow the standard avadāna narrative structure, beginning with the Buddha teaching monks and concluding with the Buddha explaining who the people in the story famously became, typically the Buddha himself and his closest disciples. By way of this framing narrative, the Buddha emphasizes the importance of giving wisely—giving, that is, because the bodhisattva sees saṃsāra for what it is: unsatisfactory, impermanent, and empty of selves. The Buddha-as-narrator then reappears throughout the tale to remind his audience of monks of the importance of the altruistic deed that is about to be performed, thus repeatedly reinforcing the moral of the story.
In producing this translation, we have based our work on the Degé xylograph while consulting the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), as well as the Stok Palace manuscript.
Homage to the Three Jewels!
When they were at Śrāvastī, the Blessed One said to the monks, “Monks, I know the fruits of generosity. I also know how the fruits of generosity ripen. What if, like me, sentient beings too knew the fruits of generosity? What if, like me, they knew how the fruits of generosity ripen? Were this so and were someone to ask them for their last mouthful, the last remaining mouthful of their food, they would not eat it so long as they had not offered it or shared it. The growth of miserliness would not continue to completely entangle their minds. I know the fruits of generosity. I also know how the fruits of generosity ripen. But unlike me, sentient beings do not know the fruits of generosity. Unlike me, they do not know how the fruits of generosity ripen. This ignorance is why their minds grasp at everything, why they are not generous, and why they eat without generosity. The growth of miserliness continues to completely entangle their minds.”
This is what the Blessed One said. After the Well-Gone One had said this, the Teacher also said:
When the Blessed One delivered this discourse, the earth shook in six different ways and light rays shone from the Blessed One’s body. When the monks saw the Blessed One’s inconceivable and marvelous miracles, they were amazed and inquired of the Buddha, the Blessed One, “Honorable One, the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha would not display such marvelous miracles without causes or conditions. That being so, Honorable One, what are the causes and conditions of such marvelous miracles?”
“Monks, would you like to hear what caused a miracle like this?” asked the Blessed One. The monks requested just this. Then the Blessed One replied, “Monks, if this is so, listen carefully, remember my words, and I will tell you.
“Monks, at one time there was a royal estate called Ariṣṭa. It was wealthy, vast, joyous, with good harvests, and full of people. It was twelve leagues long and seven leagues wide. It was partitioned into quadrants. Parasols, victory banners, and flags were erected over its archways.
“At this royal estate lived a king named Śrīsena, who was a universal monarch who ruled through force. He had a lovely physique, and was beautiful, pleasing to the eye, and had a good complexion. He possessed the best attributes in abundance. He could remember his past lives naturally, and he was righteous. He was a Dharma king who ruled Jambudvīpa through righteousness.
“King Śrīsena’s power caused the plants to blossom and bear fruit continuously, the gods to make the rains fall at the right times, and the harvests to be exceedingly abundant. The beings there were free from illness and they all maintained a loving attitude toward each other.
“The king’s noble queen was called Jayaprabhā. She had a lovely figure and was beautiful and pleasing to the eye. She had all her major and minor body parts. She was the perfect daughter of that land, and King Śrīsena loved, adored, and cherished her.
“Monks, King Śrīsena levied no taxes on any of Jambudvīpa’s people; he collected neither road tolls nor boat fares. The harvests made all the people wealthy, and they were peaceful. Families filled the lands, cities, towns, countryside, and the king’s estate.
“Monks, King Śrīsena was a bodhisattva, so he gave away everything. He let go of everything completely—indeed, he let go of everything completely and without attachment. Absorbed in great giving, he even gave away his own flesh. There was nothing that he would not give away or let go.
“Monks, at the eastern edge of the city, at Ariṣṭa Estate, King Śrīsena created a site for gift offerings from which he distributed gifts and performed meritorious deeds. He distributed gifts and performed meritorious deeds at the city’s southern, western, and northern gates as well, and he distributed gifts and performed meritorious deeds at its intersections. He would, for example, give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty. He distributed gifts and performed meritorious deeds by giving food, drink, lamps, flower garlands, scents, perfumes, clothes, blankets, mattresses, back supports, shelters, images, horse-carts, elephants, horses, ornaments, golden containers filled with silver dust, silver containers filled with gold dust, oxen with golden horns and silver hoofs, bronze milking containers that were twice covered with cloth, and maidens who were adorned with various ornaments.
“Monks, King Śrīsena gave gifts until everyone in Jambudvīpa was affluent, prosperous, and deeply contented. At that time, 960 million people lived in the city where the king’s royal estate, Ariṣṭa, was located. King Śrīsena was loved and adored by all. What was more, when men and women saw him, they experienced insatiable delight.
“Monks, King Śrīsena had twelve thousand ministers. The supreme one among them was called Mahāmati. He was learned, bright, wise, his charisma affected all, and he took great care of the king. King Śrīsena loved, adored, and esteemed him. Mahāmati would never tire of gazing upon the king’s form, his complexion, his features, or his shape. He could not be separated from the king for even a moment.
“Monks, King Śrīsena acquainted all of Jambudvīpa’s people with the path of the ten virtuous actions. He said to them, ‘People of Jambudvīpa, you must follow the path of the ten virtuous actions. You must adopt the path of the ten virtuous actions correctly.’ Monks, this is how King Śrīsena instructed his subjects. Thus, during the reign of this universal monarch, when people in Jambudvīpa would die and their bodies would perish, they were reborn in one of the six god realms. Most were born in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, and the divine city Darśanīya was filled with crowds of gods from the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. When it became too crowded and there was not enough space in the divine city, the gods dwelled on the outskirts of Darśanīya at the Pārijāta and in groves such as Caitraratha, Nandanavana, and so forth. Following this influx, the gods who had been born earlier in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three viewed the perfect accomplishments of the newcomers and were overjoyed. They spoke to Śakra, lord of the gods, saying, ‘Kauśika, how is it that Mount Sumeru is filled with gods, and the divine assembly has increased, while the demigods’ assembly has decreased? We are beholding something marvelous.’
“After hearing about this from the gods, Śakra, lord of the gods, inspected Mount Sumeru, and as soon as he did, he too saw that Mount Sumeru was teeming with multitudes of gods. Seeing this, he thought, ‘What causes and conditions led this many sentient beings to be born here?’ With this in mind, he began to inspect all of Jambudvīpa, and as soon as he did, he saw that it was a result of King Śrīsena’s influence. Then, with great joy, Śakra, lord of the gods, said to the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three:
“When the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three heard these words, their minds were overjoyed, and they celebrated. With such joy in their minds, they exclaimed, ‘This king aspires to fulfill his wish to give away his major and minor body parts—this is marvelous! Yet it is difficult to give away one’s major and minor body parts. Since there is no one as dear as oneself, he will not be able to give away his major and minor body parts without concern for his own suffering. This act of giving is not something that one can simply infer.’
“ ‘Friends,’ replied Śakra, ‘do not say these things! This king is powerful. He has magical powers and intense compassion. This is why he can give away even his own flesh. There is nothing that he cannot relinquish.’
“Shortly thereafter, on another occasion, Śrīsena’s queen, Jayaprabhā, went to sleep on her large mattress, and just before dawn she dreamt four dreams. First, she dreamt that Śrīsena carried her down off the mattress and then lifted her back onto it. Then he gouged out his own eyes, but they were later restored. He chopped off his right arm, which fell to the ground, but it was also restored. Finally, she dreamt of a nonhuman that resembled a stone grinder, made from silver. It suddenly pulled off King Śrīsena’s left arm. After it was thus stolen, however, that too was restored. Then she woke up. Filled with fear, she gasped and the hairs on her body stood on end. She thought, ‘Either the lord or I will experience nothing but suffering.’ She told King Śrīsena of her dreams. He had been trained to interpret dreams, so he thought, ‘As she has seen in her dream, someone will soon come to ask for my wife.’ But he comforted her and said, ‘Do not be afraid—what is the point of thinking about illusion-like dreams? Do you not see Śrīsena sitting on his mattress? My eyes are as they were, and my right and left arms are intact.’ The queen sat silently.
“The second night after this, the supreme one among the ministers, the one named Mahāmati, dreamt a dream in which King Śrīsena’s mansion, which was built of various precious stones, collapsed. The precious stones were then taken away by fearful-looking demons. Later, however, he dreamt that the mansion was rebuilt. He awoke terrified and distressed, with the hairs on his body standing on end. He thought, ‘Could someone come to ask for Lord Śrīsena’s body? Could they ask for the body of he who pleases and is affectionate toward all sentient beings, the lord who offers everything, who gives everything completely, he who gives without attachment? There is nothing that he would not give to lesser, blind, hungry, suffering, and deprived beings. I will not speak of my dream to King Śrīsena. He would be too delighted about it!’
“He then called a soothsayer and commanded him, ‘Wise one, you must foretell the significance of the dream that I had.’ The soothsayer said, ‘According to the dream, someone will come soon to ask for the lord’s body.’ When he heard the significance of the dream, the great minister Mahāmati was struck by deep sorrow. His eyes filled with tears, he rested his hand on his cheek, and he sat depressed, pondering how the force of impermanence had arrived too soon for the loving and compassionate King Śrīsena, he who had been so affectionate toward all sentient beings and possessed so many great qualities.
“Then, on the third night, twelve thousand ministers dreamt five dreams. They dreamt that ten thousand beings robbed King Śrīsena of his parasol and crown, but they were then handed back to him; that everyone’s heads were chopped off, but then restored; that the eyes of every human in Jambudvīpa were gouged out, but then restored; that the hands and feet of every human in Jambudvīpa were chopped off, but then restored; and that King Śrīsena attempted to ascend the lion throne again after he had descended from it. The terrified, distressed, and despairing ministers thought, ‘Will the force of impermanence come for King Śrīsena? Will it be the end of this protector of a vast land, he who is so loving and compassionate, he who brings joy and rouses affection in all sentient beings? Will we live without the king? Will we be separated? Will we be parted? Will we be alone? Will Jambudvīpa lose its protector and defender?’
“The ministers then called for soothsayers to ask about the dreams’ significance. After a while, the soothsayers foretold that things would be just as they had dreamt.
“After hearing about the dreams, the populace of Ariṣṭa city was wretched and started to weep aloud. Word spread from person to person, and soon everyone in Jambudvīpa wailed because of their suffering and intense grief. King Śrīsena heard of this and thought, ‘How pleasing and delightful that someone would ask for my body!’ Thus, he made an announcement: ‘Wise ones, people of Jambudvīpa, engage in virtue with joy and calmness. What is the point of thinking about illusion-like dreams?’ When the people of the world heard King Śrīsena’s announcement, they were relieved.
“In those days, five hundred sages lived on a mountain about two miles north of the royal estate of Ariṣṭa. A short time after the dreams, one of the sages came to the king’s estate to do the sages’ bidding. At that time, King Śrīsena and Queen Jayaprabhā were strolling in the garden. The sage exclaimed, ‘May the king be victorious and live for a long time!’ The sage also saw Queen Jayaprabhā adorned with ornaments. In a past life the queen had been his wife. The influence of this previous desire and their previous relationship caused him to have inappropriate thoughts. Thinking these inappropriate thoughts, he walked along the path, completed his chores in Ariṣṭa city, and went back to his dwelling.
“A little while later, on another occasion, a student of this same sage, a brahmin boy, completed his recitation of the Vedas, touched his preceptor’s feet, and asked in gratitude, ‘Preceptor, what wealth can I offer you?’
“The sage replied, ‘Son, if you wish, go ask for King Śrīsena’s supreme queen, Jayaprabhā. Give her to me as your offering, a gift for your preceptor, an homage to your guru.’
“When this was said, the brahmin boy was overwhelmed by great sorrow and acute despair; he was like a deer whose vital organ has been pierced. He thought, ‘This situation will only come about with difficulty, and it will be no easy task to acquire her. How could a troubled brahmin like me ask the king to give him Queen Jayaprabhā? Why am I being asked to get something that is unattainable? The preceptor clearly wants to place a curse on me.’
“The change in the boy’s facial expression allowed the sage to realize his thoughts, and the sage said, ‘Son, do not be afraid. Why are you so depressed? The king is a great being. He gives away everything. He lets go of everything. He lets go of everything completely and without attachment. He would even give away his own flesh. There is nothing that he would not relinquish in this way. Therefore, son, do not despair; the king will give you his supreme queen.’
“Then the boy thought, ‘If I do not go, I will be cursed.’ And out of fear of this curse, he said to the sage, ‘Preceptor, if that is so, I will go.’ After touching the sage’s feet, he traveled to the king’s estate, Ariṣṭa.
“Having applied dust to his body, wearing tree-bark cloth, and holding a staff and a little vase in his hands, the boy went to the site where King Śrīsena was and exclaimed, ‘May the king be victorious and may his life be long!’ Then he thought, ‘Should I ask? Or will he give her to me without my having to ask? Or will he not give her to me? Will my wishes be fulfilled or not?’ And he stood in front of the king with an unsettled look on his face, castigating himself, not speaking.
“Thinking that the brahmin boy had come to beg something from him, King Śrīsena asked him, ‘Brahmin, what is it that you want? Today, I will fulfill your wishes completely.’
When the king said this, the brahmin boy gained confidence and replied to the bodhisattva, ‘This is good. Lord, on a certain mountain my preceptor lives with his companions; they are five hundred sages who recite the Vedas. I have completed my Vedic studies with him. Great King, through your compassion give me Queen Jayaprabhā, and I will offer her to my preceptor as a gift, an homage to my guru.’
“When these words were spoken, King Śrīsena was distraught. He loved the queen. ‘If Queen Jayaprabhā were separated from me,’ he thought, ‘will we survive?’ For a while, all the members of the king’s and queen’s retinues were as quiet as the oceans’ depths. Then it was as if a great pain were piercing their vital organs. ‘What is this?’ they cried out. ‘What is this?’
“The bodhisattva remained silent, in thought. ‘Unsurpassed and perfect awakening cannot be attained without giving up sons, wife, and so forth,’ he pondered. ‘Therefore, I must happily give my wife to this brahmin.’ This thought lifted him out of his sadness at losing a loved one. He descended from the lion throne immediately, and keeping in mind the aspirational mind of awakening, he took the goddess-like, intensely beautiful Queen Jayaprabhā with his left hand and held a golden vase in his right. The queen felt great pain at the prospect of being separated from her husband and sighed heavily. Her eyes filled with tears and her face dropped. She suffered as if she had fallen into a deep, dark abyss.
“ ‘Come here, come here great brahmin,’ the king said to the brahmin boy:
“Then, maintaining the mind of awakening, he poured water onto the brahmin’s palm.
“Monks, at the very instant that King Śrīsena poured the water, the earth shook in six different ways. Having witnessed how a bodhisattva gives, a great act of giving, an extremely difficult act of giving, the brahmin boy was utterly seized with wonder. The act even caused hundreds of thousands of sky-dwelling gods to murmur in amazement. Instantly, meteors fell, blazing in all directions, and the celestial gods beat their drums.
“Fearing that the king might change his mind, the brahmin boy praised the bodhisattva, uttered some prayers for his prosperity, and left quickly for home, taking Queen Jayaprabhā with him. He then gave the queen to his teacher. For Queen Jayaprabhā, being separated from her beloved was like being a fish taken out of water. She was wretched, but she knew that thinking about or following the bodhisattva would be in vain, like wandering from shadows into pitch darkness. Therefore, she merely lamented, ‘Alas, Great King. Alas, Great King.’ Her sadness even caused her to refuse food.
“As the queen suffered, the shaking caused by King Śrīsena’s deed rattled even Śakra’s abode. The gods spontaneously know what happens below them but not what happens above them. Śakra, lord of the gods, therefore wondered:
“He began to search all over Jambudvīpa. After a while, he discovered that the shaking was a result of the bodhisattva’s extremely difficult act. When he understood this, he was awed. To the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, he said, ‘Consider the incredible, amazing act King Śrīsena has performed. Who can give away such a loving, beautiful, and dear wife without any hesitation, as if they were giving away straw? Friends, through this act we know the great being will give away even his major and minor body parts, without hesitation.’
“ ‘Kauśika,’ replied the gods, ‘we believe that he can give away his sons and daughters. But we do not believe he can give away his major and minor body parts. It is too difficult.’
“Śakra, lord of the gods, responded, ‘Friends, leave it be, leave it be. Do not measure the ocean against a drop of water so small it rests on the tip of a hair strand. Do not measure space with your arms. Do not compare the light of a firefly to the sun. Do not compare the size of a seed to Mount Sumeru. I will produce evidence for you all.’
“At dawn, Śakra, lord of the gods, spoke again to the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. ‘Look, friends! Now you shall understand!’ That morning, he and four other gods from the Heaven of the Thirty-Three descended to earth, alighting in a forest near Ariṣṭa city. Śakra transformed himself into an old brahmin whose body had been hacked away below the navel, as if by a saw. Blood gushed from all sides of the wound. The other four gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three emanated as this old brahmin’s sons. They lifted him onto a stretcher while wailing wretchedly at the agony of losing their father. They left the forest at sunrise, traveling toward the city, intending to claim that the old brahmin’s lower body had been eaten by a tiger. They arrived at the city gate quickly. Hawks, gulls, and vultures hovered in the sky above them, drawn by the smell of the old brahmin’s blood. Dogs and foxes trailed behind them on the ground.
“The old brahmin looked pitiful. His plight moved the men and women who saw him. Some asked each other, ‘Friends, how is the old brahmin still alive when he has no lower body? How are his organs intact?’ Others speculated, ‘He must be a nonhuman demon who has come to devour us. How else would someone survive without his lower body?’ When the fainthearted heard this, they ran away out of fear. But one brave man thought, ‘He must be a demon. If he isn’t a demon, how could he appear to have his faculties despite his imperiled state? I will ask him if he is a nonhuman or a demon. It will be difficult for him to speak, but if he does, that would be astonishing.’ A while later, one of the others who saw the spectacle asked, ‘Brahmin! Are you a human or a demon? Who cut off the lower half of your body and left you in this state? Where did you come from?’
“Then Śakra, lord of the gods, in the form of the old brahmin, lying on the stretcher and acting as if he were in tremendous pain, replied in verse:
“In this manner, the old brahmin kept wailing pitifully, uttering weak and disheartened words as he made his way along the path toward the gate of King Śrīsena’s royal estate. Hundreds and thousands of astonished beings followed after him. As they proceeded, crowds of gods, nāgas, yakṣas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, those who understood the physical damage and bodily pain King Śrīsena was about to endure, were tormented by sadness and began to lament. ‘Alas,’ they cried, ‘it is painful to learn that the loving, compassionate King Śrīsena, who is peaceful and affectionate toward all sentient beings, is about to suffer and will be overpowered by impermanence.’
“Hearing this, the throngs of people began to lament, too. At this time, the whole of Jambudvīpa descended into turmoil and chaos spread everywhere. Smoke darkened the land, meteors fell blazing in all directions, and the celestial gods beat their drums.
“While all this was happening, the brahmin who lived in the mountains, who had been offered Queen Jayaprabhā, noticed her distress at being separated from her husband. He noticed that she sighed heavily, refused to eat, and gave no thought to him. His heart trembled with compassion for her, and he thought, ‘I should give her back to King Śrīsena.’ Queen Jayaprabhā was greatly relieved when he assured her that he would do this.
“He also saw that the whole of Jambudvīpa had descended into great turmoil, and chaos had spread everywhere. Seeing this, he said to his disciple, the brahmin boy, ‘Brahmin boy, Jambudvīpa is dark with smoke in every direction; it has descended into great turmoil, and chaos has spread everywhere. Not even the sun and moon are shining, bright and steady. Surely, in a short time Jambudvīpa’s great being will cease to exist.’ Then the brahmin recited the following verses:
“ ‘Alas, brahmin boys,’ the sage continued, ‘just as these trees are being blown in the direction of the Ariṣṭa royal estate, so it is certain, brahmin boys, that there will long be tremendous fear of harm and destruction in Ariṣṭa.’
“At the same time, in Ariṣṭa, the bodhisattva was seated on the top floor of his mansion. Hearing a large crowd of people lamenting below, he came down from his mansion made of precious stones and sat on his large lion throne. Urgently he asked, ‘Wise ones, what is it? What is happening?’
“The four gods carried Śakra, lord of the gods, into the king’s court on his stretcher, and then placed the stretcher on the floor. Blood dripped from his bisected body, but he still extended his right hand and in a pitiable voice called out salutations of victory and long life to the bodhisattva. As his eyes filled with tears, he displayed his bisected body to the bodhisattva, and implored him, ‘You are this world’s compassionate one. You suffer the pains of others. Lord, protect me. Give me half your body.’
“Hearing this request, Mahāmati, supreme among ministers, said, ‘Lord, this person is not human. He must be a demon or someone possessed by demons. A human would not survive being sliced in half at the waist. It is impossible and unheard of.’
“To this, Śakra, lord of the gods, responded, ‘People of Śibi, you need not be afraid. I am not a demon. On the contrary, I am a brahmin. I left my wife and children because we were poor and, intent on creating wealth, I traveled in King Śrīsena’s direction. I came to the royal estate slowly, and by the time I arrived the sun had set, and the city’s gates were closed. I stayed at a manor not far from the city. While I was there, I was overcome by the weariness of traveling and fell into a deep sleep. Because of my previous negative deeds, during the night a tiger came along and used its sharp, saw-like teeth to cut my body in half and steal away the lower half. When I awoke, I experienced an extreme sensation. The tiger may have used its saw-like teeth to cut my body in half, but because I recognized this was caused by my previous actions, I did not die. Still, my suffering was incomparable. It was incomparably violent. It was incomparably harsh. It was incomparably intense. It was an incomparably overwhelming pain, and how I screamed in my misery!
“ ‘When the celestial gods overheard my cries, they consoled me. A goddess said:
“ ‘Having said this, the goddess disappeared. As I heard these words from the goddess, my hope of survival grew, and the pain subsided. Then I became dejected again as I realized I could not get up, let alone walk, with only half of my body. Coincidentally, at dawn, my four kin arrived. They started to cry when they saw my desperate state and thought I would die. To console them, I told them in detail about the goddess’s words. They placed me on this stretcher and carried me here.’
“Having spoken these words, the face of Śakra, lord of the gods, was awash with waves of tears. He then said to the bodhisattva:
“Upon hearing these words, the bodhisattva’s past habits of virtue and his stores of positive predispositions infused his mind, causing him to shake with compassion. ‘Great brahmin,’ he consoled him, ‘do not be afraid. Your body will soon be whole. Your wishes will be fulfilled. With an unwavering mind, I offer you half my body.’ His heart filled with joy, the bodhisattva then spoke the following verses:
“The bodhisattva had heard Śakra’s words, which he had spoken in the form of a brahmin. Therefore, with an entirely satisfied mind and his eyes open, he said, ‘Brahmin, I will give you half my body. Take it without any qualms.’
“Looking around, he saw his attendants and said to one of them, ‘O, you, go quickly and bring me an exceedingly sharp saw.’
“As he had been enchanted by Śakra, the attendant quickly found a saw and brought it to the bodhisattva. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘here is a saw.’
“Promptly, the bodhisattva said to his ministers, ‘Quickly cut off my lower body and give it to the brahmin, before the Lord of Death takes him to the other world. I offer it to the brahmin.’
“The sound of the bodhisattva’s utterly horrifying words created panic in the city as if they were lightning strikes. ‘Oh, the sorrow, the sorrow!’ the people cried in secret and from on high. Then Mahāmati, the great minister, was wretched with intense pain, as if a vital organ had been pierced, and his face was as wet from crying as from the rain. He feared the bodhisattva would give away his body without any attachment to it, and seeking to change his mind, he bowed down at his feet and said, ‘Lord, this is not possible. If your body is cut by a saw, you will certainly die. If you die, you will become a useless corpse. A useless corpse is no good to this brahmin. Giving your life to him is pointless. Cutting one person’s limb off and attaching it to another does not work. Your divine efforts will be in vain. Please, be patient. Do not kill yourself in vain. Do not give up your life.’
“Consoling the great minister Mahāmati, the bodhisattva replied, ‘Mahāmati, leave it be, leave it be. At some point, I hope to attain unsurpassed, perfect awakening and liberate saṃsāra’s beings. Do not hinder my awakening. It is the nature of our existence that we must all separate, even from those who have been very dear to us for a long time, like our children.’ Having said this, he glanced once again at the saw and said, ‘This saw is an incomparable object that will direct my merit toward unsurpassed and perfect awakening.’ This is how he thought of it, and again he said to his minister, ‘Cut off the lower half of my body as soon as you can, before the brahmin dies. Otherwise, my intent will be fruitless.’
“Mahāmati, the great minister, knew then that the bodhisattva was determined to give away his body. He held the bodhisattva’s feet in both his hands and kissed them. As tears flowed down his face like rain, he despaired and, overwhelmed with compassion, said to the bodhisattva, ‘Alas, the force of impermanence will strike the lord today. The lord takes care of all of Jambudvīpa, he is the compassionate one, he has innumerable qualities, and he pleases and is affectionate to all sentient beings. But, alas, impermanence is powerful! Whoever has seen the lord was fortunate.’
“Having spoken, he stared at the bodhisattva’s face for a long time without blinking. Then, as he contemplated how he could not bear to witness the bodhisattva’s death, his eyes closed and he fell to the ground unconscious. The bodhisattva then spoke to two carpenters who happened to be present: ‘Good people, will you help me complete the perfection of generosity? Will you take this saw and quickly cut off the lower half of my body? Let us fulfill the brahmin’s wish. Let us fulfill my wish to attain awakening.’
“Tears of immense sadness covered the two carpenters’ faces like stormy weather. They touched the bodhisattva’s feet and said, ‘Lord, your words are inappropriate. If someone else were to challenge you, we could oppose them. But how are we to use a weapon against you? You are compassionate, loving, pleasing, and affectionate toward all sentient beings. You take care of all of Jambudvīpa. If we were to use this saw to cut through your body, our actions would cause us to fall instantly into hell.’
“ ‘Sons,’ responded the bodhisattva, ‘do not block the final outpouring of the immortal elixir of a bodhisattva’s patience. Come here, help me to awaken. Cut off the lower half of my body while the brahmin is still alive.’
“Śakra, lord of the gods, used his power to compel the two carpenters to begin the process. A little while later, hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in the royal estate and hundreds of thousands of gods had gathered in the sky. They had flocked to see the bodhisattva perform this extremely difficult task, a task so difficult it made their body hairs stand on end. The bodhisattva stepped down instantly from his lion throne. His intention to give away his body gave him extreme joy, and he was overwhelmed by his love for the brahmin who asked for it.
“Monks, at the very instant the bodhisattva Śrīsena stepped down from his lion throne, all of Jambudvīpa’s parasols, banners, and flags bent toward Ariṣṭa Estate. Meteors fell toward it from the four directions. But those who dwelled in the city wailed with the pain of separation. ‘This evil brahmin is going to kill King Śrīsena!’ they shouted. ‘Throw him out of here!’
“Śakra, lord of the gods, prevented the people from hearing what was happening. They were stupefied. The yakṣas, those who dwell in space and on the ground, came to know that the bodhisattva was unconcerned with his body and wailed in the torment of their immense sorrow. ‘Alas,’ they cried, ‘King Śrīsena! He who takes care of everyone in Jambudvīpa, he who is compassionate toward all sentient beings, he will give up his entire body!’ A deity who lived on the royal estate also came to know that he would give up his entire body, and lamented aloud, ‘King Śrīsena, he who is endowed with so many qualities, is not going to survive because of this beggar!’
“After this, the bodhisattva looked around in the four directions. ‘Gods, nāgas, yakṣas, and kinnaras, all you who dwell in this city, listen! Make pure prayers for me! I am making this gift today. I am making the greatest of gifts, the gift of one’s body. I am not making this gift for myself, the king, nor to attain rebirth in a higher realm. I am not making it for Śakra or for Brahmā. I am not making it to become a universal monarch. I make this gift to attain unsurpassed and perfect awakening. I make it to liberate sentient beings who are not yet liberated. I make it to console those who need consoling, to unbind those who are bound. By the truth of my words, may it be accomplished. May some small sign of my awakening appear!’
“To the brahmin, he said, ‘By this action, may you attain all you have imagined. May all your wishes be fulfilled. And may I realize unsurpassed awakening completely.’
“The bodhisattva asked his relatives and the city’s inhabitants for patience. He consoled the poor and stricken, before speaking to the two carpenters. ‘Good people, come here. Before the brahmin’s time runs out, saw at my navel. May I protect all beings who suffer!’ In this way, with love suffusing all, and with the help of a man who supported him, he promptly lay down on his back and stretched out his legs.
“Monks, as the bodhisattva was lowered onto the ground, the great earth shook in six different ways. The ladies of the court were deeply tormented when they heard the news and rushed to the bodhisattva’s side. Tears poured down their faces like rain. They let their hair fall and beat their chests in mourning. ‘Alas,’ they cried, ‘the pain!’ They were no longer attractive like goddesses. They touched the bodhisattva’s feet briefly and wailed, ‘Please have mercy!’ ‘Alas,’ they cried, ‘it pains us that the power of impermanence is now at hand and today will separate, isolate, detach, and remove us from our relationships with this lord. He is the lord who protects all of Jambudvīpa, who pleases and is affectionate toward all sentient beings, who has immense compassion, and who has innumerable good qualities.’
In this discourse, the Buddha Śākyamuni describes his past life as King Śrīsena of Ariṣṭa, a bodhisattva renowned for his unstinting generosity and spiritual resolve. In that life, a sage orders his disciple to ask King Śrīsena for his beautiful wife, Jayaprabhā. Out of compassion, King Śrīsena gives his wife to the disciple. Śakra, lord of the gods, then claims that King Śrīsena is also able to give away his own body. The other gods have doubts about this, so to prove his point, Śakra disguises himself as an old brahmin whose lower body has been eaten by a tiger, and then asks King Śrīsena to gift him his own lower body. With altruistic motivation, King Śrīsena agrees to the request and orders carpenters to saw him in half. He offers the bottom half to the brahmin, whose body is magically made whole again. King Śrīsena claims he has felt no regrets and by the power of his words, his own body is restored. During this ordeal, Śakra has kept the king alive and carefully monitored his reactions. Observing nothing but pure altruism, Śakra then confirms that the king is a true bodhisattva who is capable of the highest acts of generosity. With this past life story, the Buddha illustrates the kinds of personal sacrifice a bodhisattva will make to attain awakening, even when these go against the protestations of those closest to him.
This translation was produced by the Lokākṣi Translator Group: Tenzin Ringpapontsang, Ruth Gamble, John Powers, and Harmony DenRonden.
This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena belongs to one of the most beloved narrative genres in Buddhism, the past life story (avadāna). It deals with one of the most powerful and pervasive themes in this genre, the bodhisattva’s bodily sacrifice for the benefit of living beings. In this avadāna, the act of bodily sacrifice performed by the Buddha’s previous incarnation, the bodhisattva king Śrīsena, forms the centerpiece of an elaborate morality tale extolling the virtues and far-reaching benefits of selfless generosity.
Most past-life stories of the Buddha are found within two genres of Buddhist literature: avadāna and jātaka. The term avadāna, broadly meaning “narrative” or “tale,” denotes a type of exemplary story that is common to most Indian religious traditions. In the Buddhist context, avadāna is traditionally specified as the tenth of the twelvefold subdivision of Buddhist scripture (pravacana), classified according to content, thematic structure, and literary style. Although this class of works is as varied as it is voluminous, the stories typically illustrate the results of good and bad karma, indicating how past deeds have shaped present circumstances. In this vein, many avadānas, the present one included, set out to show how the exemplary lives of the Buddha, or, more often, his followers, have resulted from their meritorious deeds in past lives. Avadānas may also, in certain cases, include prophecies of future spiritual attainments.
Avadānas recounting past deeds, such as the one translated here, typically follow a three-part narrative structure: a story from the present life of the Buddha or another protagonist, a story of an exemplary past deed, and a connecting conclusion that shows how the past protagonist and his circle were prior incarnations of the present protagonist and his circle. In this regard, avadānas bear a close relationship to jātakas (“birth stories” of the Buddha). One notable difference, however, is that the protagonist of an avadāna is often not the Buddha himself, as it is in most jātaka stories, but one of his followers or prospective followers. Another difference is that avadānas generally concern past human lives of realized beings, not those of animals or nonhumans, as is the case in many jātaka tales. Finally, while jātaka stories had wide popular appeal, with plots, characters, and motifs drawn from pan-Indian folklore, the avadānas seem to have originally been intended primarily for monastics, as suggested by their frequent references to attendant monks, their moral tone, and their specific prescriptions for Buddhist practice that are interspersed throughout the narratives. Yet, in the course of their historical diffusion, these edifying tales of spiritual and moral accomplishment eventually gained wide popularity and came to inspire and educate Buddhist monastics and lay followers alike.
To our knowledge, there is no extant Sanskrit version of the Śrīsenāvadāna. Colophons of the Tibetan canonical translations of this text indicate that it was translated from Sanskrit by the Indian preceptor Dharmaśrībhadra, a chief editor called Sherab Lekpa, and the famous translator Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055
In the version of the Śrīsenā narrative translated here, the deeds of its protagonist are related by the Buddha Śākyamuni. At the beginning of the text, the Buddha explains to his disciples that King Śrīsena was a bodhisattva who ruled from the city of Ariṣṭa. He was aided in his royal duties by his devoted queen Jayaprabhā and chief minister Mahāmati. He is renowned for his generosity and the prosperity he has brought to his kingdom. After he performs the exceedingly generous act of giving away his queen, his fame reaches the god realms. At this point, Śakra, lord of the gods, decides to test the authenticity of Śrīsena’s generosity by disguising himself as the victim of a tiger attack who is missing the lower half of his body, and who has been brought to the king to beg for the monarch’s lower body as a replacement. As Śrīsena sets out to fulfil the man’s request, his loyal subjects rise in protest and none will agree to help. It is only after Śakra enchants two of the king’s carpenters that they agree to perform the grisly task.
The bodhisattva king passes Śakra’s test by not only suffering the pain of having his body cut in half, but by undertaking, enduring, and recalling the ordeal with nothing but joy, love, and equanimity. He is able to do this, the account explains, because he is motivated by the mind of awakening—the wish to attain awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. At the end of the story, the Buddha reveals that he was King Śrīsena in a past life, his wife Yaśodharā was Queen Jayaprabhā, his ordained disciple Śāriputra was his minister Mahāmati, his lay disciple King Bimbisāra was the god Śakra, and his duplicitous cousin Devadatta was one of the carpenters.
Like most of the past life tales of the Buddha, both avadāna and jātaka, The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena is a morality tale that explains and illustrates the relationship between karma and its results. It demonstrates how the performance of good deeds causes beings to experience happiness and, conversely, the performance of harmful deeds causes them to suffer. It also highlights variations in the efficacy of good and bad deeds—good and bad deeds can be big and small, powerful and trifling. Even small deeds, however, can significantly impact an individual’s future behavior and experiences, whether positively or negatively.
As the narrative demonstrates, much of a deed’s power comes not from the action itself, but from the intention behind it. The two carpenters did not reap the severe karmic consequence that would typically result from sawing a bodhisattva in half because they were enchanted while they performed the deed and had no control over what they did. Nevertheless, their inability to withstand the enchantment did not bode well for them, and we are told that they will continue to act out of ignorance in future lives. The bodhisattva’s actions, by contrast, were deemed to be both powerful and virtuous because they were inspired by the mind of awakening. From the Buddhist perspective, this intention infuses ordinary positive actions with tremendous power and makes extraordinary actions universally significant.
All the various traditions of Buddhism agree that the Buddha awakened by perfecting these practices over eons, and many past life stories exemplifying this process can be found throughout Buddhist literature. Many of these stories exist in multiple versions, which vary according to the guiding aims and presuppositions of the traditions that have preserved them. Within these traditions, there are dissimilar lists of the behaviors that need to be perfected; some lists include ten behaviors that need to be perfected, others suggest only six. These six perfections appear in all the lists: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and insight.
The perfection of generosity heads these lists, and it is a central theme in many past life stories, and certainly the main focus of The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena. Within this narrative, the Buddha demonstrates how important it is not just to perform an act of generosity, but to do so with altruistic motivation and to dedicate any merit that results. King Śrīsena’s altruistic motivation is noted no fewer than thirteen times in the course of the text, and he repeatedly dedicates the benefit accruing from his acts of compassion to the welfare of others.
This account not only describes an act of perfect generosity, but also highlights the moral and spiritual implications of this deed. Throughout the sūtra, there is a recurring discussion about the purpose of giving away one’s body. King Śrīsena is presented with many reasons from loved ones why he should not perform this act, such as the grief it will cause his family, the detriments it will inflict on his subjects, and the pointlessness of giving up such a rare and precious life. King Śrīsena responds to all these objections by patiently explaining that although he is fortunate to have met with such a valuable opportunity, he will not have fulfilled his life’s potential if he does not perform the deeds of a bodhisattva. When his relatives and friends beg him not to leave them, he reminds them that saṃsāra’s impermanent nature means that sooner or later all those who are close to each other must part. If, however, he awakens to buddhahood, he will have the ability to lead all sentient beings out of this cycle of meeting and parting. Time and again, he responds to those in his circle who beg him to forego his own suffering with a plea to think about the greater cycles of suffering that he and others will all endure if they do not attain liberation from saṃsāra.
The conversations that King Śrīsena has about generosity, and the narrative details concerning his sacrificial deed, are reminiscent of other past life stories featuring bodily sacrifice. Reiko Ohnuma calls these “gift-of-the-body stories” and describes how they are found throughout all Buddhist canons, most commonly in avadāna and jātaka works but elsewhere as well. A few of these bodily sacrifice stories were well known across Buddhist traditions. Indeed, as Śrīsena argues with Mahāmati about the merits of his impending deed, he cites several previous gift-of-the-body stories to make his case. These include the stories of a king of Śibi who gives his eyes to a brahmin, another king of Śibi who gives his flesh to a hawk in order to save a pigeon, and King Candraprabha who gives his head to a brahmin.
The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena not only alludes to these other, more famous gift-of-the-body stories, but also follows their literary conventions closely. There are some obvious thematic similarities. Like the bodhisattvas in the other perfection of giving stories, for example, King Śrīsena is overjoyed at having the opportunity to perform such an enormous act of generosity. It is not every day that a person comes and asks a bodhisattva for his or her body. From the bodhisattva’s perspective, the opportunity to give away one’s body presents an opportunity to perfect generosity in a very direct way. It is also seen as an opportunity to shorten the time it will take the aspirant to become a buddha. As in related works, the bodhisattva in this story exercises equanimity in offering his body; indeed, it is a stranger that asks for his body, while his close relatives and friends plead with him not to perform the act.
These bodhisattva bodily sacrifice narratives also share many symbols and tropes. Tigers, for example, and other flesh-eating animals, like hawks, are often involved. Limbs and eyes are the most commonly offered body parts, and, perhaps by necessity, swords, saws, and other types of knives also make regular appearances in these stories, as well as sharp teeth.
Along with the content of these texts—their symbols, language, and narratives—the form of gift-of-the-body stories is also similar. Most of them follow the standard avadāna narrative structure, beginning with the Buddha teaching monks and concluding with the Buddha explaining who the people in the story famously became, typically the Buddha himself and his closest disciples. By way of this framing narrative, the Buddha emphasizes the importance of giving wisely—giving, that is, because the bodhisattva sees saṃsāra for what it is: unsatisfactory, impermanent, and empty of selves. The Buddha-as-narrator then reappears throughout the tale to remind his audience of monks of the importance of the altruistic deed that is about to be performed, thus repeatedly reinforcing the moral of the story.
In producing this translation, we have based our work on the Degé xylograph while consulting the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), as well as the Stok Palace manuscript.
Homage to the Three Jewels!
When they were at Śrāvastī, the Blessed One said to the monks, “Monks, I know the fruits of generosity. I also know how the fruits of generosity ripen. What if, like me, sentient beings too knew the fruits of generosity? What if, like me, they knew how the fruits of generosity ripen? Were this so and were someone to ask them for their last mouthful, the last remaining mouthful of their food, they would not eat it so long as they had not offered it or shared it. The growth of miserliness would not continue to completely entangle their minds. I know the fruits of generosity. I also know how the fruits of generosity ripen. But unlike me, sentient beings do not know the fruits of generosity. Unlike me, they do not know how the fruits of generosity ripen. This ignorance is why their minds grasp at everything, why they are not generous, and why they eat without generosity. The growth of miserliness continues to completely entangle their minds.”
This is what the Blessed One said. After the Well-Gone One had said this, the Teacher also said:
When the Blessed One delivered this discourse, the earth shook in six different ways and light rays shone from the Blessed One’s body. When the monks saw the Blessed One’s inconceivable and marvelous miracles, they were amazed and inquired of the Buddha, the Blessed One, “Honorable One, the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha would not display such marvelous miracles without causes or conditions. That being so, Honorable One, what are the causes and conditions of such marvelous miracles?”
“Monks, would you like to hear what caused a miracle like this?” asked the Blessed One. The monks requested just this. Then the Blessed One replied, “Monks, if this is so, listen carefully, remember my words, and I will tell you.
“Monks, at one time there was a royal estate called Ariṣṭa. It was wealthy, vast, joyous, with good harvests, and full of people. It was twelve leagues long and seven leagues wide. It was partitioned into quadrants. Parasols, victory banners, and flags were erected over its archways.
“At this royal estate lived a king named Śrīsena, who was a universal monarch who ruled through force. He had a lovely physique, and was beautiful, pleasing to the eye, and had a good complexion. He possessed the best attributes in abundance. He could remember his past lives naturally, and he was righteous. He was a Dharma king who ruled Jambudvīpa through righteousness.
“King Śrīsena’s power caused the plants to blossom and bear fruit continuously, the gods to make the rains fall at the right times, and the harvests to be exceedingly abundant. The beings there were free from illness and they all maintained a loving attitude toward each other.
“The king’s noble queen was called Jayaprabhā. She had a lovely figure and was beautiful and pleasing to the eye. She had all her major and minor body parts. She was the perfect daughter of that land, and King Śrīsena loved, adored, and cherished her.
“Monks, King Śrīsena levied no taxes on any of Jambudvīpa’s people; he collected neither road tolls nor boat fares. The harvests made all the people wealthy, and they were peaceful. Families filled the lands, cities, towns, countryside, and the king’s estate.
“Monks, King Śrīsena was a bodhisattva, so he gave away everything. He let go of everything completely—indeed, he let go of everything completely and without attachment. Absorbed in great giving, he even gave away his own flesh. There was nothing that he would not give away or let go.
“Monks, at the eastern edge of the city, at Ariṣṭa Estate, King Śrīsena created a site for gift offerings from which he distributed gifts and performed meritorious deeds. He distributed gifts and performed meritorious deeds at the city’s southern, western, and northern gates as well, and he distributed gifts and performed meritorious deeds at its intersections. He would, for example, give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty. He distributed gifts and performed meritorious deeds by giving food, drink, lamps, flower garlands, scents, perfumes, clothes, blankets, mattresses, back supports, shelters, images, horse-carts, elephants, horses, ornaments, golden containers filled with silver dust, silver containers filled with gold dust, oxen with golden horns and silver hoofs, bronze milking containers that were twice covered with cloth, and maidens who were adorned with various ornaments.
“Monks, King Śrīsena gave gifts until everyone in Jambudvīpa was affluent, prosperous, and deeply contented. At that time, 960 million people lived in the city where the king’s royal estate, Ariṣṭa, was located. King Śrīsena was loved and adored by all. What was more, when men and women saw him, they experienced insatiable delight.
“Monks, King Śrīsena had twelve thousand ministers. The supreme one among them was called Mahāmati. He was learned, bright, wise, his charisma affected all, and he took great care of the king. King Śrīsena loved, adored, and esteemed him. Mahāmati would never tire of gazing upon the king’s form, his complexion, his features, or his shape. He could not be separated from the king for even a moment.
“Monks, King Śrīsena acquainted all of Jambudvīpa’s people with the path of the ten virtuous actions. He said to them, ‘People of Jambudvīpa, you must follow the path of the ten virtuous actions. You must adopt the path of the ten virtuous actions correctly.’ Monks, this is how King Śrīsena instructed his subjects. Thus, during the reign of this universal monarch, when people in Jambudvīpa would die and their bodies would perish, they were reborn in one of the six god realms. Most were born in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, and the divine city Darśanīya was filled with crowds of gods from the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. When it became too crowded and there was not enough space in the divine city, the gods dwelled on the outskirts of Darśanīya at the Pārijāta and in groves such as Caitraratha, Nandanavana, and so forth. Following this influx, the gods who had been born earlier in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three viewed the perfect accomplishments of the newcomers and were overjoyed. They spoke to Śakra, lord of the gods, saying, ‘Kauśika, how is it that Mount Sumeru is filled with gods, and the divine assembly has increased, while the demigods’ assembly has decreased? We are beholding something marvelous.’
“After hearing about this from the gods, Śakra, lord of the gods, inspected Mount Sumeru, and as soon as he did, he too saw that Mount Sumeru was teeming with multitudes of gods. Seeing this, he thought, ‘What causes and conditions led this many sentient beings to be born here?’ With this in mind, he began to inspect all of Jambudvīpa, and as soon as he did, he saw that it was a result of King Śrīsena’s influence. Then, with great joy, Śakra, lord of the gods, said to the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three:
“When the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three heard these words, their minds were overjoyed, and they celebrated. With such joy in their minds, they exclaimed, ‘This king aspires to fulfill his wish to give away his major and minor body parts—this is marvelous! Yet it is difficult to give away one’s major and minor body parts. Since there is no one as dear as oneself, he will not be able to give away his major and minor body parts without concern for his own suffering. This act of giving is not something that one can simply infer.’
“ ‘Friends,’ replied Śakra, ‘do not say these things! This king is powerful. He has magical powers and intense compassion. This is why he can give away even his own flesh. There is nothing that he cannot relinquish.’
“Shortly thereafter, on another occasion, Śrīsena’s queen, Jayaprabhā, went to sleep on her large mattress, and just before dawn she dreamt four dreams. First, she dreamt that Śrīsena carried her down off the mattress and then lifted her back onto it. Then he gouged out his own eyes, but they were later restored. He chopped off his right arm, which fell to the ground, but it was also restored. Finally, she dreamt of a nonhuman that resembled a stone grinder, made from silver. It suddenly pulled off King Śrīsena’s left arm. After it was thus stolen, however, that too was restored. Then she woke up. Filled with fear, she gasped and the hairs on her body stood on end. She thought, ‘Either the lord or I will experience nothing but suffering.’ She told King Śrīsena of her dreams. He had been trained to interpret dreams, so he thought, ‘As she has seen in her dream, someone will soon come to ask for my wife.’ But he comforted her and said, ‘Do not be afraid—what is the point of thinking about illusion-like dreams? Do you not see Śrīsena sitting on his mattress? My eyes are as they were, and my right and left arms are intact.’ The queen sat silently.
“The second night after this, the supreme one among the ministers, the one named Mahāmati, dreamt a dream in which King Śrīsena’s mansion, which was built of various precious stones, collapsed. The precious stones were then taken away by fearful-looking demons. Later, however, he dreamt that the mansion was rebuilt. He awoke terrified and distressed, with the hairs on his body standing on end. He thought, ‘Could someone come to ask for Lord Śrīsena’s body? Could they ask for the body of he who pleases and is affectionate toward all sentient beings, the lord who offers everything, who gives everything completely, he who gives without attachment? There is nothing that he would not give to lesser, blind, hungry, suffering, and deprived beings. I will not speak of my dream to King Śrīsena. He would be too delighted about it!’
“He then called a soothsayer and commanded him, ‘Wise one, you must foretell the significance of the dream that I had.’ The soothsayer said, ‘According to the dream, someone will come soon to ask for the lord’s body.’ When he heard the significance of the dream, the great minister Mahāmati was struck by deep sorrow. His eyes filled with tears, he rested his hand on his cheek, and he sat depressed, pondering how the force of impermanence had arrived too soon for the loving and compassionate King Śrīsena, he who had been so affectionate toward all sentient beings and possessed so many great qualities.
“Then, on the third night, twelve thousand ministers dreamt five dreams. They dreamt that ten thousand beings robbed King Śrīsena of his parasol and crown, but they were then handed back to him; that everyone’s heads were chopped off, but then restored; that the eyes of every human in Jambudvīpa were gouged out, but then restored; that the hands and feet of every human in Jambudvīpa were chopped off, but then restored; and that King Śrīsena attempted to ascend the lion throne again after he had descended from it. The terrified, distressed, and despairing ministers thought, ‘Will the force of impermanence come for King Śrīsena? Will it be the end of this protector of a vast land, he who is so loving and compassionate, he who brings joy and rouses affection in all sentient beings? Will we live without the king? Will we be separated? Will we be parted? Will we be alone? Will Jambudvīpa lose its protector and defender?’
“The ministers then called for soothsayers to ask about the dreams’ significance. After a while, the soothsayers foretold that things would be just as they had dreamt.
“After hearing about the dreams, the populace of Ariṣṭa city was wretched and started to weep aloud. Word spread from person to person, and soon everyone in Jambudvīpa wailed because of their suffering and intense grief. King Śrīsena heard of this and thought, ‘How pleasing and delightful that someone would ask for my body!’ Thus, he made an announcement: ‘Wise ones, people of Jambudvīpa, engage in virtue with joy and calmness. What is the point of thinking about illusion-like dreams?’ When the people of the world heard King Śrīsena’s announcement, they were relieved.
“In those days, five hundred sages lived on a mountain about two miles north of the royal estate of Ariṣṭa. A short time after the dreams, one of the sages came to the king’s estate to do the sages’ bidding. At that time, King Śrīsena and Queen Jayaprabhā were strolling in the garden. The sage exclaimed, ‘May the king be victorious and live for a long time!’ The sage also saw Queen Jayaprabhā adorned with ornaments. In a past life the queen had been his wife. The influence of this previous desire and their previous relationship caused him to have inappropriate thoughts. Thinking these inappropriate thoughts, he walked along the path, completed his chores in Ariṣṭa city, and went back to his dwelling.
“A little while later, on another occasion, a student of this same sage, a brahmin boy, completed his recitation of the Vedas, touched his preceptor’s feet, and asked in gratitude, ‘Preceptor, what wealth can I offer you?’
“The sage replied, ‘Son, if you wish, go ask for King Śrīsena’s supreme queen, Jayaprabhā. Give her to me as your offering, a gift for your preceptor, an homage to your guru.’
“When this was said, the brahmin boy was overwhelmed by great sorrow and acute despair; he was like a deer whose vital organ has been pierced. He thought, ‘This situation will only come about with difficulty, and it will be no easy task to acquire her. How could a troubled brahmin like me ask the king to give him Queen Jayaprabhā? Why am I being asked to get something that is unattainable? The preceptor clearly wants to place a curse on me.’
“The change in the boy’s facial expression allowed the sage to realize his thoughts, and the sage said, ‘Son, do not be afraid. Why are you so depressed? The king is a great being. He gives away everything. He lets go of everything. He lets go of everything completely and without attachment. He would even give away his own flesh. There is nothing that he would not relinquish in this way. Therefore, son, do not despair; the king will give you his supreme queen.’
“Then the boy thought, ‘If I do not go, I will be cursed.’ And out of fear of this curse, he said to the sage, ‘Preceptor, if that is so, I will go.’ After touching the sage’s feet, he traveled to the king’s estate, Ariṣṭa.
“Having applied dust to his body, wearing tree-bark cloth, and holding a staff and a little vase in his hands, the boy went to the site where King Śrīsena was and exclaimed, ‘May the king be victorious and may his life be long!’ Then he thought, ‘Should I ask? Or will he give her to me without my having to ask? Or will he not give her to me? Will my wishes be fulfilled or not?’ And he stood in front of the king with an unsettled look on his face, castigating himself, not speaking.
“Thinking that the brahmin boy had come to beg something from him, King Śrīsena asked him, ‘Brahmin, what is it that you want? Today, I will fulfill your wishes completely.’
When the king said this, the brahmin boy gained confidence and replied to the bodhisattva, ‘This is good. Lord, on a certain mountain my preceptor lives with his companions; they are five hundred sages who recite the Vedas. I have completed my Vedic studies with him. Great King, through your compassion give me Queen Jayaprabhā, and I will offer her to my preceptor as a gift, an homage to my guru.’
“When these words were spoken, King Śrīsena was distraught. He loved the queen. ‘If Queen Jayaprabhā were separated from me,’ he thought, ‘will we survive?’ For a while, all the members of the king’s and queen’s retinues were as quiet as the oceans’ depths. Then it was as if a great pain were piercing their vital organs. ‘What is this?’ they cried out. ‘What is this?’
“The bodhisattva remained silent, in thought. ‘Unsurpassed and perfect awakening cannot be attained without giving up sons, wife, and so forth,’ he pondered. ‘Therefore, I must happily give my wife to this brahmin.’ This thought lifted him out of his sadness at losing a loved one. He descended from the lion throne immediately, and keeping in mind the aspirational mind of awakening, he took the goddess-like, intensely beautiful Queen Jayaprabhā with his left hand and held a golden vase in his right. The queen felt great pain at the prospect of being separated from her husband and sighed heavily. Her eyes filled with tears and her face dropped. She suffered as if she had fallen into a deep, dark abyss.
“ ‘Come here, come here great brahmin,’ the king said to the brahmin boy:
“Then, maintaining the mind of awakening, he poured water onto the brahmin’s palm.
“Monks, at the very instant that King Śrīsena poured the water, the earth shook in six different ways. Having witnessed how a bodhisattva gives, a great act of giving, an extremely difficult act of giving, the brahmin boy was utterly seized with wonder. The act even caused hundreds of thousands of sky-dwelling gods to murmur in amazement. Instantly, meteors fell, blazing in all directions, and the celestial gods beat their drums.
“Fearing that the king might change his mind, the brahmin boy praised the bodhisattva, uttered some prayers for his prosperity, and left quickly for home, taking Queen Jayaprabhā with him. He then gave the queen to his teacher. For Queen Jayaprabhā, being separated from her beloved was like being a fish taken out of water. She was wretched, but she knew that thinking about or following the bodhisattva would be in vain, like wandering from shadows into pitch darkness. Therefore, she merely lamented, ‘Alas, Great King. Alas, Great King.’ Her sadness even caused her to refuse food.
“As the queen suffered, the shaking caused by King Śrīsena’s deed rattled even Śakra’s abode. The gods spontaneously know what happens below them but not what happens above them. Śakra, lord of the gods, therefore wondered:
“He began to search all over Jambudvīpa. After a while, he discovered that the shaking was a result of the bodhisattva’s extremely difficult act. When he understood this, he was awed. To the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, he said, ‘Consider the incredible, amazing act King Śrīsena has performed. Who can give away such a loving, beautiful, and dear wife without any hesitation, as if they were giving away straw? Friends, through this act we know the great being will give away even his major and minor body parts, without hesitation.’
“ ‘Kauśika,’ replied the gods, ‘we believe that he can give away his sons and daughters. But we do not believe he can give away his major and minor body parts. It is too difficult.’
“Śakra, lord of the gods, responded, ‘Friends, leave it be, leave it be. Do not measure the ocean against a drop of water so small it rests on the tip of a hair strand. Do not measure space with your arms. Do not compare the light of a firefly to the sun. Do not compare the size of a seed to Mount Sumeru. I will produce evidence for you all.’
“At dawn, Śakra, lord of the gods, spoke again to the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. ‘Look, friends! Now you shall understand!’ That morning, he and four other gods from the Heaven of the Thirty-Three descended to earth, alighting in a forest near Ariṣṭa city. Śakra transformed himself into an old brahmin whose body had been hacked away below the navel, as if by a saw. Blood gushed from all sides of the wound. The other four gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three emanated as this old brahmin’s sons. They lifted him onto a stretcher while wailing wretchedly at the agony of losing their father. They left the forest at sunrise, traveling toward the city, intending to claim that the old brahmin’s lower body had been eaten by a tiger. They arrived at the city gate quickly. Hawks, gulls, and vultures hovered in the sky above them, drawn by the smell of the old brahmin’s blood. Dogs and foxes trailed behind them on the ground.
“The old brahmin looked pitiful. His plight moved the men and women who saw him. Some asked each other, ‘Friends, how is the old brahmin still alive when he has no lower body? How are his organs intact?’ Others speculated, ‘He must be a nonhuman demon who has come to devour us. How else would someone survive without his lower body?’ When the fainthearted heard this, they ran away out of fear. But one brave man thought, ‘He must be a demon. If he isn’t a demon, how could he appear to have his faculties despite his imperiled state? I will ask him if he is a nonhuman or a demon. It will be difficult for him to speak, but if he does, that would be astonishing.’ A while later, one of the others who saw the spectacle asked, ‘Brahmin! Are you a human or a demon? Who cut off the lower half of your body and left you in this state? Where did you come from?’
“Then Śakra, lord of the gods, in the form of the old brahmin, lying on the stretcher and acting as if he were in tremendous pain, replied in verse:
“In this manner, the old brahmin kept wailing pitifully, uttering weak and disheartened words as he made his way along the path toward the gate of King Śrīsena’s royal estate. Hundreds and thousands of astonished beings followed after him. As they proceeded, crowds of gods, nāgas, yakṣas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, those who understood the physical damage and bodily pain King Śrīsena was about to endure, were tormented by sadness and began to lament. ‘Alas,’ they cried, ‘it is painful to learn that the loving, compassionate King Śrīsena, who is peaceful and affectionate toward all sentient beings, is about to suffer and will be overpowered by impermanence.’
“Hearing this, the throngs of people began to lament, too. At this time, the whole of Jambudvīpa descended into turmoil and chaos spread everywhere. Smoke darkened the land, meteors fell blazing in all directions, and the celestial gods beat their drums.
“While all this was happening, the brahmin who lived in the mountains, who had been offered Queen Jayaprabhā, noticed her distress at being separated from her husband. He noticed that she sighed heavily, refused to eat, and gave no thought to him. His heart trembled with compassion for her, and he thought, ‘I should give her back to King Śrīsena.’ Queen Jayaprabhā was greatly relieved when he assured her that he would do this.
“He also saw that the whole of Jambudvīpa had descended into great turmoil, and chaos had spread everywhere. Seeing this, he said to his disciple, the brahmin boy, ‘Brahmin boy, Jambudvīpa is dark with smoke in every direction; it has descended into great turmoil, and chaos has spread everywhere. Not even the sun and moon are shining, bright and steady. Surely, in a short time Jambudvīpa’s great being will cease to exist.’ Then the brahmin recited the following verses:
“ ‘Alas, brahmin boys,’ the sage continued, ‘just as these trees are being blown in the direction of the Ariṣṭa royal estate, so it is certain, brahmin boys, that there will long be tremendous fear of harm and destruction in Ariṣṭa.’
“At the same time, in Ariṣṭa, the bodhisattva was seated on the top floor of his mansion. Hearing a large crowd of people lamenting below, he came down from his mansion made of precious stones and sat on his large lion throne. Urgently he asked, ‘Wise ones, what is it? What is happening?’
“The four gods carried Śakra, lord of the gods, into the king’s court on his stretcher, and then placed the stretcher on the floor. Blood dripped from his bisected body, but he still extended his right hand and in a pitiable voice called out salutations of victory and long life to the bodhisattva. As his eyes filled with tears, he displayed his bisected body to the bodhisattva, and implored him, ‘You are this world’s compassionate one. You suffer the pains of others. Lord, protect me. Give me half your body.’
“Hearing this request, Mahāmati, supreme among ministers, said, ‘Lord, this person is not human. He must be a demon or someone possessed by demons. A human would not survive being sliced in half at the waist. It is impossible and unheard of.’
“To this, Śakra, lord of the gods, responded, ‘People of Śibi, you need not be afraid. I am not a demon. On the contrary, I am a brahmin. I left my wife and children because we were poor and, intent on creating wealth, I traveled in King Śrīsena’s direction. I came to the royal estate slowly, and by the time I arrived the sun had set, and the city’s gates were closed. I stayed at a manor not far from the city. While I was there, I was overcome by the weariness of traveling and fell into a deep sleep. Because of my previous negative deeds, during the night a tiger came along and used its sharp, saw-like teeth to cut my body in half and steal away the lower half. When I awoke, I experienced an extreme sensation. The tiger may have used its saw-like teeth to cut my body in half, but because I recognized this was caused by my previous actions, I did not die. Still, my suffering was incomparable. It was incomparably violent. It was incomparably harsh. It was incomparably intense. It was an incomparably overwhelming pain, and how I screamed in my misery!
“ ‘When the celestial gods overheard my cries, they consoled me. A goddess said:
“ ‘Having said this, the goddess disappeared. As I heard these words from the goddess, my hope of survival grew, and the pain subsided. Then I became dejected again as I realized I could not get up, let alone walk, with only half of my body. Coincidentally, at dawn, my four kin arrived. They started to cry when they saw my desperate state and thought I would die. To console them, I told them in detail about the goddess’s words. They placed me on this stretcher and carried me here.’
“Having spoken these words, the face of Śakra, lord of the gods, was awash with waves of tears. He then said to the bodhisattva:
“Upon hearing these words, the bodhisattva’s past habits of virtue and his stores of positive predispositions infused his mind, causing him to shake with compassion. ‘Great brahmin,’ he consoled him, ‘do not be afraid. Your body will soon be whole. Your wishes will be fulfilled. With an unwavering mind, I offer you half my body.’ His heart filled with joy, the bodhisattva then spoke the following verses:
“The bodhisattva had heard Śakra’s words, which he had spoken in the form of a brahmin. Therefore, with an entirely satisfied mind and his eyes open, he said, ‘Brahmin, I will give you half my body. Take it without any qualms.’
“Looking around, he saw his attendants and said to one of them, ‘O, you, go quickly and bring me an exceedingly sharp saw.’
“As he had been enchanted by Śakra, the attendant quickly found a saw and brought it to the bodhisattva. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘here is a saw.’
“Promptly, the bodhisattva said to his ministers, ‘Quickly cut off my lower body and give it to the brahmin, before the Lord of Death takes him to the other world. I offer it to the brahmin.’
“The sound of the bodhisattva’s utterly horrifying words created panic in the city as if they were lightning strikes. ‘Oh, the sorrow, the sorrow!’ the people cried in secret and from on high. Then Mahāmati, the great minister, was wretched with intense pain, as if a vital organ had been pierced, and his face was as wet from crying as from the rain. He feared the bodhisattva would give away his body without any attachment to it, and seeking to change his mind, he bowed down at his feet and said, ‘Lord, this is not possible. If your body is cut by a saw, you will certainly die. If you die, you will become a useless corpse. A useless corpse is no good to this brahmin. Giving your life to him is pointless. Cutting one person’s limb off and attaching it to another does not work. Your divine efforts will be in vain. Please, be patient. Do not kill yourself in vain. Do not give up your life.’
“Consoling the great minister Mahāmati, the bodhisattva replied, ‘Mahāmati, leave it be, leave it be. At some point, I hope to attain unsurpassed, perfect awakening and liberate saṃsāra’s beings. Do not hinder my awakening. It is the nature of our existence that we must all separate, even from those who have been very dear to us for a long time, like our children.’ Having said this, he glanced once again at the saw and said, ‘This saw is an incomparable object that will direct my merit toward unsurpassed and perfect awakening.’ This is how he thought of it, and again he said to his minister, ‘Cut off the lower half of my body as soon as you can, before the brahmin dies. Otherwise, my intent will be fruitless.’
“Mahāmati, the great minister, knew then that the bodhisattva was determined to give away his body. He held the bodhisattva’s feet in both his hands and kissed them. As tears flowed down his face like rain, he despaired and, overwhelmed with compassion, said to the bodhisattva, ‘Alas, the force of impermanence will strike the lord today. The lord takes care of all of Jambudvīpa, he is the compassionate one, he has innumerable qualities, and he pleases and is affectionate to all sentient beings. But, alas, impermanence is powerful! Whoever has seen the lord was fortunate.’
“Having spoken, he stared at the bodhisattva’s face for a long time without blinking. Then, as he contemplated how he could not bear to witness the bodhisattva’s death, his eyes closed and he fell to the ground unconscious. The bodhisattva then spoke to two carpenters who happened to be present: ‘Good people, will you help me complete the perfection of generosity? Will you take this saw and quickly cut off the lower half of my body? Let us fulfill the brahmin’s wish. Let us fulfill my wish to attain awakening.’
“Tears of immense sadness covered the two carpenters’ faces like stormy weather. They touched the bodhisattva’s feet and said, ‘Lord, your words are inappropriate. If someone else were to challenge you, we could oppose them. But how are we to use a weapon against you? You are compassionate, loving, pleasing, and affectionate toward all sentient beings. You take care of all of Jambudvīpa. If we were to use this saw to cut through your body, our actions would cause us to fall instantly into hell.’
“ ‘Sons,’ responded the bodhisattva, ‘do not block the final outpouring of the immortal elixir of a bodhisattva’s patience. Come here, help me to awaken. Cut off the lower half of my body while the brahmin is still alive.’
“Śakra, lord of the gods, used his power to compel the two carpenters to begin the process. A little while later, hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in the royal estate and hundreds of thousands of gods had gathered in the sky. They had flocked to see the bodhisattva perform this extremely difficult task, a task so difficult it made their body hairs stand on end. The bodhisattva stepped down instantly from his lion throne. His intention to give away his body gave him extreme joy, and he was overwhelmed by his love for the brahmin who asked for it.
“Monks, at the very instant the bodhisattva Śrīsena stepped down from his lion throne, all of Jambudvīpa’s parasols, banners, and flags bent toward Ariṣṭa Estate. Meteors fell toward it from the four directions. But those who dwelled in the city wailed with the pain of separation. ‘This evil brahmin is going to kill King Śrīsena!’ they shouted. ‘Throw him out of here!’
“Śakra, lord of the gods, prevented the people from hearing what was happening. They were stupefied. The yakṣas, those who dwell in space and on the ground, came to know that the bodhisattva was unconcerned with his body and wailed in the torment of their immense sorrow. ‘Alas,’ they cried, ‘King Śrīsena! He who takes care of everyone in Jambudvīpa, he who is compassionate toward all sentient beings, he will give up his entire body!’ A deity who lived on the royal estate also came to know that he would give up his entire body, and lamented aloud, ‘King Śrīsena, he who is endowed with so many qualities, is not going to survive because of this beggar!’
“After this, the bodhisattva looked around in the four directions. ‘Gods, nāgas, yakṣas, and kinnaras, all you who dwell in this city, listen! Make pure prayers for me! I am making this gift today. I am making the greatest of gifts, the gift of one’s body. I am not making this gift for myself, the king, nor to attain rebirth in a higher realm. I am not making it for Śakra or for Brahmā. I am not making it to become a universal monarch. I make this gift to attain unsurpassed and perfect awakening. I make it to liberate sentient beings who are not yet liberated. I make it to console those who need consoling, to unbind those who are bound. By the truth of my words, may it be accomplished. May some small sign of my awakening appear!’
“To the brahmin, he said, ‘By this action, may you attain all you have imagined. May all your wishes be fulfilled. And may I realize unsurpassed awakening completely.’
“The bodhisattva asked his relatives and the city’s inhabitants for patience. He consoled the poor and stricken, before speaking to the two carpenters. ‘Good people, come here. Before the brahmin’s time runs out, saw at my navel. May I protect all beings who suffer!’ In this way, with love suffusing all, and with the help of a man who supported him, he promptly lay down on his back and stretched out his legs.
“Monks, as the bodhisattva was lowered onto the ground, the great earth shook in six different ways. The ladies of the court were deeply tormented when they heard the news and rushed to the bodhisattva’s side. Tears poured down their faces like rain. They let their hair fall and beat their chests in mourning. ‘Alas,’ they cried, ‘the pain!’ They were no longer attractive like goddesses. They touched the bodhisattva’s feet briefly and wailed, ‘Please have mercy!’ ‘Alas,’ they cried, ‘it pains us that the power of impermanence is now at hand and today will separate, isolate, detach, and remove us from our relationships with this lord. He is the lord who protects all of Jambudvīpa, who pleases and is affectionate toward all sentient beings, who has immense compassion, and who has innumerable good qualities.’