KING ASOKA TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF
Adapted from the book Buddhist
Tales 1 based on the Buddhist sutras
Publisher: Jen Chen Buddhist Book Publisher.
Author: Shih Ta-Lien.
One hundred years after Buddhas Nirvana (liberation from Birth and
Death), there appeared a great King in India by the name of
Asoka.
Asoka means worriless; therefore he was known as both King Asoka
and Worriless King. In his childhood, he was much disliked by his
father for his fiery temper. After the old King died, there came
distressing fights for the throne among these princes. In the end
Prince Asoka succeeded the throne, and only one of his younger
brothers, Tisya, survived from this Cain and Abels fight.
In his initial years as a king, King Asoka was very arrogant and
pitiless. He destroyed temples, banished Sanghas (Buddhist monastic
community), slandered Buddha and treated his rivals cruelly. In
addition, he took the evil Girikas idea to build a huge prison
filled with all sorts of inhumane instruments like the dreadful
Avici Hell of the underworld. There were many different hellish
rooms within the Inhumane Hell. These rooms were fully equipped
with knives, iron-hammers to smash criminals bodies to pieces;
iron-hooks to pull out the criminals tongues; iron-chains to
circle round criminals necks; molten steel to pour into criminals
mouths; burning flames and boiling oil to burn criminals to ashes;
pits of urine and manure to drown criminals; iron-swords and the
iron-forks to pierce through the criminals bodies as well as many
other kinds of instruments of torture.
Besides, King Asoka ordered wherever imprisoned shall never be
released alive. Whenever this man-made hell was mentioned, people
trembled with fear and disgust. So they called their king the
Horrible Asoka.
King Asokas tyranny brought his country into great disorder. One
day a couple was killed by the bandits. Fortunately, the couples
child, Hi, survived but was much frightened and was crying. A
Bhikkhu (monk) happened to pass by, and saw this handsome boy
wailing with fears. He took pity to his misery, and brought the
child to the monastery. The child became a Sramanera and cultivated
devotedly.
Time slipped by, the once naïve and weeping child under the
guidance of Dharma had turned into a solemn and compassionate
Bhikkhu.
One day, on his trip of alms begging, he came by this prison. He
noticed that there was not a single creature around the grand
building. While he was wondering, two husky fellows rushed out from
the prison toward him and yelled at him:
Bhikkhu, how dare you flout the law? Dont you know the Kings
order that whoever comes within one mile from here shall not leave
alive? Without any excuse, Bhikkhu Hi was dragged into the prison.
When he was about to be subjected to torture, he uttered:
Wait, gentlemen! Like all the Buddhas, I do not face death with
fear. However it is a shame that I have not attained enlightenment.
Since there is no way out for me, please give me ten days to repent
my wrongdoings and achieve enlightenment. After ten days, I will be
at your disposal.
Bah! You can attain enlightenment? What a joke! Ten days is too
long, but we need five days to polish our knife sharper and
brighter and to heat up the pans for you. After these words, they
threw Bhikkhu Hi into a deep dungeon and left with a chilling
laughter.
As time wore on, Bhikkhu Hi could not concentrate his mind on
meditation but fearfully looked at the iron-knives, the iron-forks
and the oil pans. It was on the last day when a regular snow and
rosy lady with watery eyes was escorted in. She was said to have
committed adultery and killed her husband.
The rude guard put a blood-stained cloth into her mouth, and caught
her like a sheep and threw her on the iron board. The machine was
turned on and a board with sharp nails started descending swiftly.
Without any cries, the lady was pierced into pieces with blood
shooting and eyes out. Then, the guards let out the hungry dogs to
feed on the corpse. Soon this attractive body became a pile of
bones only.
Shocked at what he saw, Bhikkhu His deep compassion drove him to
meditate on the impurity and impermanence. When he discerned the
nature of impurity and impermanence of worldly life, he was freed
from worldly binding and became a great Arhat (enlightened saint).
Just then the darkness faded away, and came the dawn. It was the
morning of the sixth day.
Early in the morning, the warded Girika came and cried out,
Bhikkhu! Its your turn now.
Bhikkhu Hi remarked unperturbedly,
Since the darkness has
left,
Following the glory of sunshine;
Perceiving the impermanence,
I have no fear of death.
When he finished, the guards caught him and violently threw him
into the pan of boiling oil in full blast.
Look! a guard shrieked with his finger pointing at the pan and
could not move his eyes from it. Hearing the cries, the cruel
Girika came running and found that the boiling oil had become pure
water, full of great lotuses on which Bhikkhu Hi was sitting in
meditation. From his body, bright, soft light was seen radiating
throughout the dim hell.
On hearing it, King Asoka rushed to the scene. Deeply inspired by
the inconceivable wonder, he pondered on without saying a
word.
Bhikkhu Hi saw it was time to preach to the King Asoka, so he said,
Your Majesty, do you know through what bliss that made you become
a king, and can you remember what Buddha predicated to you in the
past?
Surprisingly, King Asoka replied obediently, Elder, I beg you to
teach me.
Bhikkhu Hi stated, One hundred years ago, once Buddha and his
disciple Ananda were on their way to the town to beg for food,
there were some children building palaces and gardens with sands on
the roadside. One of them saw the light radiating from Buddha; he
offered the sands as if they were precious jewels to the Buddha.
Buddha, then, told Ananda, one hundred years after my Nirvana,
this child will be born as a great king by the name of Asoka. For
believing in the Dharma, he will build eighty four thousand pagodas
to keep my
Sarira. The child who then made offerings to the Buddha is
Your Majesty, and the other children are now Your Majestys
ministers.
King Asoka was much pleased at knowing the predication. While he
was musing on, he heard Girika yelling at him:
Your Majesty should die!
How come? King Asoka asked surprisingly.
Your Majesty ordered that no men should be let out alive and no
exception is permitted. Today Your Majesty and your attendants have
to die here. After these words, Girika swayed his knife and spat,
arrogantly.
King Asoka said with a smile, Quite true, even the King cant
change the law at his will. Yet
you seem to have stayed here for a
log time, dont you? As soon as he had finished these words, his
body guards rushed to grab Girika, and threw him into the burning
flames. Soon the killer was burnt into ashes. King Asoka commanded
to destroy the prison and burned up all the inhumane instruments.
From then on the horrible man-made hell disappeared from the
world.
After King Asoka returned from the prison, evil gradually melted
from his heart, and he wished to learn more of the Dharma. His
compassion was provoked when he witnessed more than one hundred
thousand of his captivates were slaughtered in the Chia-lin-chia
battle. He came to Bhikkhu Hi to repent his evil doings and took
refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Sometimes King Asoka would blame himself for the countless sins he
committed and sighed that he was not able to sight Buddhas solemn
demeanor any better than listened to his teachings personally. It
was owing to his little good deeds in the past that he was given
the glory as a king. So he felt a deep sense of shame, and vowed
before Buddhas image that he would promote Buddhism for the
benefit of sentient beings. Once he even came to pay respect to
Buddhas relics and muttered:
Though I cant personally see the Buddha, I am luckier than the
people living in remote areas who have not even heard Buddhas
name. I should obey Buddhas predication to build the pagodas all
over the world as well as to send Bhikkhus abroad to preach the
Dharma and lead people to live the Right Livelihood. Ill be
compassionate and generous to people and encourage them to practice
the Five Precepts* and the Ten Virtuous Deeds* to build a pure land
in the world; and Ill help them stay away from bad facts: greed,
anger, ignorance and suspicion which make up a hell on Earth. So
he visited Rajagrha city, took about four litre of
Sariras that the late King Ajatasatru buried, and built the
well known eighty four thousand pagodas to keep them.
With deep remorse and under Dharmas guidance, King Asoka ruled his
country with benevolence that brought the country peace and won him
respects.
Five Precepts: Refrain from killing, stealing, lying, sexual
misconduct and consumption of intoxicants.
Ten Virtuous Deeds: Refrain from killing, stealing, lying, sexual
misconduct, frivolous and meaningless talk, tale bearing, abusive
speech, covetousness, ill-will and perverted views.
Note:
you can get the book Buddhist Tales 1 (English) free of charge
and free for distribution (just like any other Jen Chen
Books/CDs/VCDs) in Jen Chen dharma centres in Singapore. Please
privately message me for more information. The story King Asoka
Turns Over A New Leaf is one tale out of thirty Buddhist tales in
the book Buddhist Tales 1.