of the law-books, and at the same time were sorry to see the king's
constant attachment to the Law of Righteousness. Then, in order to rouse
his disaffection towards the Bodhisattva, they proceeded almost in this
manner. 'Your Majesty,' so would they say, 'should not put his
confidence in that wandering monk Bodhi. It is evident that he must be a
kind of spy of some rival king, who having learnt Your Majesty's love of
virtues and inclination towards Righteousness, avails himself of this
clever fellow with his soft, smooth, and deceitful tongue, to entice you
into baleful habits and to be informed of your actions. For this devotee
of Righteousness, as he pretends to be, instructing Your Majesty
exclusively to practise compassionateness and to foster the miserable
feeling of shame, induces you to take upon yourself such vows of a
religious life as are incompatible with your royal and military duties,
prejudicial to the promotion of material interests (artha) and pleasures
(kâma), and subject to the dangers attending a bad policy. Indeed, it is
out of pure charity that, in the way of exhorting you, he suggests the
line of conduct you should follow; nevertheless, he likes to converse
with the messengers of other kings, and is far from being a stranger to
the contents of the manuals of political wisdom which treat of the
duties of kings. Accordingly this matter fills our hearts with
apprehension.' Such language spoken with the intention of causing
estrangement, being often repeated and by many who feigned to have in
view the good of the king, could not fail to have its effect. His
attachment and veneration for the Bodhisattva shrunk under the influence
of his distrust, and his disposition towards him became changed.
5. Whether a succession of loud-roaring tremendous thunderbolts or of
those other thunderbolts, whose name is calumny, pierce the ears of men,
does there exist anybody who can remain unshaken by them, trustful and
firm in the confidence of his own power?
Now, as the absence of trust lessened the king's affection and
veneration for the Great Being, the king was no more, as before, careful
to pay him due honour. But the Bodhisattva, owing to his
pure-heartedness, did not mind it; 'kings are distracted by many
occupations,' so he thought. Still, when he perceived the coolness and
lack of attention from the side of the courtiers, he understood that he
had incurred the king's displeasure, and taking his triple staff, his
waterpot and the other utensils of a wandering ascetic, made
preparations for his departure. The king, hearing his resolution, as he
was partly moved by a remnant of his old affection, partly would not
neglect an act of politeness and civility, went up to him, and in order
to show his trouble and pretended desire to retain him, said:
6. 'For what reason are you determined to go away, leaving us all of a
sudden? Have you perhaps to complain of some lack of attention on our
part, which has roused your fears? If this is the case, you suspect us
without reason, it must have been an omission.'
The Bodhisattva replied:
7. 'My departure has a good reason. Not that so trifling a matter as
ill-treatment has irritated me, but because you have ceased to be a
vessel of righteousness in consequence of your deceitful behaviour, for
this reason I set out from hence.'
At this moment the king's favourite dog came running to the Bodhisattva
in a hostile manner and barked at him with wide-opened mouth. Pointing
at this dog, he said again: 'Why, let this animal bear witness to the
case, Your Majesty.
8, 9. 'Formerly this dog was accustomed to fondle me; then he was
imitating your example. But now he betrays your feelings by his barks,
for he does not know how to feign. Surely, he must have heard from you
harsh words on my account, as will happen when former affection has been
destroyed; and now, forsooth, he is acting up to them, that he may
please you; for such is the behaviour of servants who eat the bread of
their lord.'
This reproof filled the king with shame, and made him cast down his
eyes. The acuteness of mind of the Bodhisattva touched him and moved his
heart. He thought it was not proper to continue his false protestations
of love, and bowing reverentially to him, spoke:
10. 'You were indeed the subject of such conversation as you said.
Audacious people used that language in my council, and I, absorbed in
business, overlooked the matter. You must forgive me, then, and stay
here. Pray, do not go.'
The Bodhisattva said: 'Surely, it is not on account of ill-treatment
that I want to go, Your Majesty, nor am I driven out by resentment. But
considering, it is now no proper time to stay here, Your Majesty, for
this reason I go. Do but take this in view.
11. 'If, either by attachment or from apathy, I should not go of my own
accord now, as I needs must, after the honourable hospitality shown to
me has lost its beauty, having become an ordinary one, verily, would it
not hereafter come to the point that I should be seized by the neck and
turned out?
12. 'Not with a heart sore with hatred am I about to leave you, but
considering this the proper course to follow now. Former benefits are
not effaced from the heart of the pious by the stroke of one affront.
13. 'But an ill-disposed man is not fit to be had for a patron, no more
than a dried-up pond will serve him who is in want of water. If profit
may be gained from the side of such a one, it requires much care to
acquire it, and the result will be meagre and not unmixed.
14. 'He, however, who desires ease and dislikes trouble, must attend
only on such a patron who has composed his mind and by his placidity
resembles a great lake of pure water in autumn. So is the well-known
line of conduct approved of men.
15. 'Further, he who is averse to one intent on showing his attachment;
likewise he who, attending on somebody who dislikes him, afflicts
himself; thirdly, he who is slow in remembering former benefits--such
persons bear only the shape of a man and raise doubts as to their real
nature.
16. 'Friendship is destroyed both by lack of intercourse and profusion
of attentions, also by frequent requests. Therefore, desiring to protect
this remnant of our affection from the dangers of my residing here, I
now take my leave.'
The king said: 'If Your Reverence has a strong determination to go,
thinking your departure to be indispensable, pray, deign to favour us by
coming back here again, will you? Friendship ought to be kept safe also
from the fault of lack of intercourse, did you not say so?' The
Bodhisattva replied: 'Your Majesty, sojourning in the world is something
subject to many hindrances, for a great many adversaries in the shape of
various calamities attend it. Thus considering, I cannot make the
positive promise, that I shall come again. I can only express my wish to
see you another time, when there may be some indispensable reason for
coming.' Having in this way appeased the king, who dismissed him in the
most honourable manner, he set off from his realm, and feeling his mind
troubled by intercourse with people living in the world, took up his
abode in some forest-place. Staying there, he directed his mind to the
exercise of meditation and before long came to the possession of the
four ecstatic trances (dhyâna) and the five kinds of transcendent
knowledge (abhi_gñ_â).
Now, while he was enjoying the exquisite happiness of tranquillity, the
remembrance of the king, accompanied by a feeling of compassion,
appeared to his mind. And, as he was concerned about the present state
of that prince, he directed his thoughts towards him, and saw[165] that
his ministers were each enticing him to the tenets of the (false)
doctrine which he professed. One among them endeavoured to win him for
the doctrine according to which there should be no causality, taking for
examples such instances, where it is difficult to demonstrate causality.
[165] Viz. as the effect of his divine eye (divya_m_ _k_akshu_h_),
one of the five abhi_gñ_âs.
17. 'What,' said he, 'is the cause of the shape, the colour, the
arrangement, the softness and so on of the stalks, the petals, the
filaments and the pericarps of the lotuses? Who diversifies the feathers
of the birds in this world? In just the same manner this whole universe
is the product of the work of essential and inherent properties, to be
sure.'
Another, who held a Supreme Being (Î_s_vara) for the first cause,
expounded him the tenets of his lore.
18. 'It is not probable that this universe should exist without a cause.
There is some being who rules it, Eternal and One. It is He who in
consequence of the fixation of His mind on His transcendental volition,
creates the world and again dissolves it.'
Another, on the contrary, deceived him by this doctrine: This universe
is the result of former actions, which are the cause of fortune, good
and ill; personal energy has no effect at all to modify it.
19. 'How, indeed, may one being create at the same time the manifold and
boundless variety of the different substances and properties? No, this
universe is the product of former actions. For even he who is skilled
in striving for his happiness comes into mishap.'
Another again enticed him to be solely attached to the enjoyment of
sensual pleasures, by means of such reasoning as is heard from the
adherents of the doctrine of annihilation.
20. 'Pieces of wood, differing in colour, properties, and shape, cannot
be said to exist as the result of actions, and yet they exist, and once
perished they do not grow up again. Something similar is to be said of
this world. For this reason one must consider pleasures the main object
of life.'
Another, pretending to instruct him in his royal duties, recommended to
him such practices as are taught in the science of the Kshatriyas, and
which, following the winding paths of political wisdom (nîti), are
soiled by cruelty and contrary to righteousness (dharma).
21. 'You must avail yourself of men, as of shady trees, considering them
fit objects to resort to. Accordingly, endeavour to extend your glory by
showing them gratitude, only as long, until your policy ceases to want
their use. They are to be appointed to their task in the manner of
victims destined for the sacrifice.'
So those ministers desired to lead the king astray, each on the path of
his own false doctrines.
The Bodhisattva, then, perceiving that the king, owing to his
intercourse with wicked people and his readiness to allow himself to be
guided by others whom he trusted, was about to fall into the precipice
of false doctrines, was affected with compassion and pondered on some
means of rescuing him.
22. The pious, in consequence of their constant practice of virtues,
retain in their mind the good done to them, whereas the evil they
experienced drops from their mind, like water from a lotus-petal.
Having taken his resolution as to the proper thing to be done in the
case, he created in his own hermitage, by dint of magic, a large monkey,
whose skin he stripped off, making the rest of his body disappear.
Wearing that skin, created by himself, he presented himself at the
entrance-gate of the king's palace. After being ushered in by the
doorkeepers, he was admitted to the royal presence. He passed
successively the guards who were posted outside, and the different
courts filled with officers, Brâhmans, military men, messengers, and
notable townsmen, and entered the audience-hall, the doors of which were
kept outside by doorkeepers with swords and staves; the king was sitting
on his throne surrounded by his assembly of learned and wise men,
magnificently dressed and orderly arranged. The monarch went to meet
him, and showed him every honour and respect due to a guest. After the
usual exchange of compliments and kind reception, when the Bodhisattva
had taken the seat offered to him, the king, who was curious about that
monkey-skin, asked him how he got it, saying: 'Who bestowed this
monkey-skin on the Reverend, procuring by that deed a great favour to
himself?'
The Bodhisattva answered: 'I got to it by myself, Your Majesty, I did
not receive it from anybody else. While sitting or sleeping on the hard
ground strewed only with thin straw, the body suffers, and the religious
duties cannot be performed at ease. Now, I saw a large monkey in the
hermitage and thought so within myself: "Oh! here is the right
instrument I want to perform my religion, if I had but the skin of this
monkey! sitting or sleeping on it, I shall be able to accomplish the
rules of my religion, without caring even for royal couches spread with
the most precious clothes." In consequence of this reflection, after
subduing the animal I took his skin.' On hearing that account, the king
who was polite and well-educated replied nothing to the Bodhisattva, but
feeling something like shame, cast down his eyes. His ministers,
however, who before that already bore a grudge to the Great Being,
seized this opportunity of declaring their opinion, and looking with
beaming faces at the king and pointing at the Bodhisattva, exclaimed:
'How entirely the Reverend is devoted to the love of his religion which
is his only delight! What a constancy is his! What ability to put into
effect the best means for the realisation of his aims! It is a wonder
that being alone and emaciated by penance, he was able to subdue so
large a monkey, who had just entered his hermitage! At all events, may
his penance be successful[166]!' In reply to them, the Bodhisattva,
without losing his placidity of mind, said: 'Your honours, blaming me,
should not disregard the fair tenets of your doctrines. This is not the
way by which to make the glory of learning shine. Your honours must
consider this.
[166] The last words are the usual complimentary blessing said to
ascetics. When asking after their health, it is similarly said: 'is
your penance successful?'
23. 'He who despises his adversaries with such words as are destructive
to his own doctrine, such a one, so to speak, wishes the dishonour of
his enemy at the cost of his own life.'
After thus reproaching those ministers collectively, the Great Being,
wishing to revile them once more individually, addressed that minister
who denied causality in these terms:
24. 'You profess that this universe is the product of essential and
inherent properties. Now, if this be true, why do you blame me? What
fault is mine, if this ape died in consequence of his nature? Therefore,
I have rightly killed him.
25. 'If, however, I committed a sin by killing him, it is evident that
his death is produced by an (external) cause. This being so, you must
either renounce your doctrine of non-causality or use here such
reasoning as does not befit you.
26. 'Further, if the arrangement, colour &c. of the stalks, petals &c.
of lotuses were not the effect of some cause, would they not be found
always and everywhere? But this is not so, they are produced from seeds
being in water &c.; where this condition is found, they appear, not
where it is not found.
'This, too, I would propound to Your Worship, to consider it well.
27. 'He who denies the agency of cause by means of reasoning with
arguments, does not such a one desert his own tenets[167]? On the other
hand, if he is averse to the use of argument, say, what will he do with
his sole tenet (not supported by argument)?
[167] As far as using argument by means of reasoning implies
adherence to causality. Moreover, the word hetu the Bodhisattva
employs here means both 'cause' and 'reason.'
28. 'And he who, not perceiving the cause in some particular case,
proclaims for this very reason, that there does not exist causality at
all, will not such a one, when he learns the manifest power of causality
in that case, grow angry at it and oppose it with invectives?
29. 'And if somewhere the cause is latent, why do you say with
assurance, it does not exist? Though it is, it is not perceived for some
other cause, as for instance the white colour of the sun's disc is not
seen at sunset.
'Moreover, sir,
30. 'For the sake of happiness you pursue the objects you desire, and
will not follow such things as are opposed to it. And it is for the same
purpose that you attend on the king. And notwithstanding this, you dare
deny causality!
31. 'And, if nevertheless you should persist in your doctrine of
non-causality, then it follows that the death of the monkey is not to be
ascribed to any cause. Why do you blame me?'
So with clear arguments the High-minded One confounded that advocate of
the doctrine of non-causality. Then addressing himself to the believer
in a Supreme Being, he said: 'You, too, never ought to blame me, noble
sir. According to your doctrine, the Lord is the cause of everything.
Look here.
32, 33. 'If the Lord does everything, He alone is the killer of that
ape, is He not? How can you bear such unfriendliness in your heart as to
throw blame on me on account of the fault of another? If, however, you
do not ascribe the murder of that valiant monkey to Him because of His
compassionateness, how is it that you loudly proclaim, the Lord is the
cause of this Universe?
'Moreover, friend, believing, as you do, that everything is done by the
Lord[168],
[168] The Bodhisattva is much helped here by the double sense
implied by the words sarvam î_s_varak_ri_tam, meaning 'all is
created by the Lord' as well as 'everything is done by the Lord.'
34. 'What hope have you of propitiating the Lord by praise,
supplication, and the like? For the Self-born Being works those actions
of yours himself.
35. 'If, however, you say, the sacrifice is performed by yourself, still
you cannot disavow that He is the author of it. He who is self-acting
out of the fulness of His power, is the author of a deed, no other.
36, 37. 'Again, if the Lord is the performer of all sins, however many
there are committed, what virtue of His have you in view that you should
foster devotion to Him? On the other hand, if it is not He who commits
them, since He abhors wickedness, it is not right to say that everything
is created by the Lord.
38, 39. 'Further, the sovereignty of the Lord must rest either on the
lawful order of things (Dharma) or on something else. If on the former,
then the Lord cannot have existed before the Dharma. If effected by some
external cause, it should rather be called "bondage;" for if a state of
dependency should not bear that name, what state may not be called
"sovereignty?"
'Nevertheless, if in spite of this reasoning, attached to the doctrine
of Devotion[169] and without having well reflected on its probability or
improbability,
[169] The belief in a Supreme Being, Lord (Î_s_vara), is in itself
of course also a belief in the strong effectiveness of devotion
(bhakti).
40. 'You persist in holding the Supreme Being and Lord for the sole
cause of the whole universe, does it, then, become you to impute to me
the murder of that chief of monkeys, which has been decided by the
Supreme Being?'
So reasoning with a well-connected series of conclusive arguments, the
High-minded One struck dumb, so to speak, the minister who was an
adherent of the Lord (Î_s_vara)-supreme cause. And turning to that
minister who was a partisan of the doctrine of former actions, he
addressed him in a very skilful manner, saying: 'No more does it become
you, too, to censure me. According to your opinion, everything is the
consequence of former actions. For this reason, I tell you,
41. 'If everything ought to be imputed exclusively to the power of
former actions, then this monkey has been rightly killed by me. He has
been burnt by the wild fire of his former actions. What fault of mine is
to be found here that you should blame me?
42. 'On the other hand, suppose I did a bad action in killing the ape, I
must be the cause of his death, not his former actions. Further, if you
state, that karma (always) produces (fresh) karma, nobody will reach
final emancipation[170] in your system.
[170] Final emancipation necessarily implies cessation of actions,
for it is the same thing as total extinction.
43. 'Verily, if something like this should be seen: happiness enjoyed by
him who lives in circumstances productive of suffering, or sufferings
visiting such a one whose circumstances are instruments of happiness,
then we should have the right to infer, it is beyond question, that good
and evil fortune depend exclusively on former actions.
44. 'But, in fact, this rule as to the appearance of happiness and
sufferings is nowhere seen. Consequently, former actions are not the
sole and entire cause of them. Further, it is possible that there ceases
to be new karma. And this lacking, whence should you get the "old karma"
(indispensable for the maintenance of the Universe)?
45. 'If, nevertheless, you persist in your doctrine of the former
actions, for what reason do you judge me to have caused the death of
that ape?'
In this manner the High-minded One, expounding irrefutable arguments,
put him to silence so that it seemed as if he had made him take the vow
of silence. Next he said smilingly to that minister who was an adherent
of the doctrine of annihilation: 'How extremely eager your honour is to
blame me, if at least you really are a partisan of the doctrine of
annihilation.
46. 'If there does not exist anything like a future existence after
death, why should we avoid evil actions, and what have we to do with the
folly of holding good actions in esteem? He alone would be wise who
behaves according to impulse, as he likes best. If this doctrine be
true, it is right indeed, that I killed that ape.
47, 48. 'If, however, it is fear of public opinion which causes such a
one to eschew bad actions by following the path of virtue, he will,
nevertheless, not escape the criticism of public opinion, because of the
contradiction between his words and his deeds: nor will he obtain the
happiness presenting itself on the road of his destiny, owing to the
same awe of public opinion. Is, then, such a one, allowing himself to be
misled by a fruitless and delusive doctrine, not the meanest of
simpletons?
'As to your statement, when you said:
49. '"Pieces of wood, differing in colour, properties and shape, cannot
be said to exist as the result of actions, and yet they exist, and once
perished they do not grow up again. Something similar is to be said of
this world," pray, tell me, what reason have you for believing so, after
all?
50. 'If, notwithstanding this, you persist in your attachment to the
doctrine of annihilation, what reason is it that you should censure the
murderer of a monkey or a man?'
So the Great Being silenced that adherent of annihilation by means of a
refutation of conspicuous elegance. Then he addressed that minister who
was so skilled in the science of princes. 'For what reason,' he said,
'do you also censure me, if you really consider the line of conduct as
taught in the love of political science to be the right one?
51. 'According to that doctrine, in truth, deeds good or evil are to be
performed for the sake of material profit; having once risen, a man
shall bestow his wealth, indeed, for his benefit on actions of
righteousness (dharma[171]).
[171] Cp. Story V, stanzas 18-22.
'On this account I tell you.
52. 'If for the sake of personal interest honest proceedings may be
neglected even with respect to affectionate relations[172], what reason
have you to censure me about that ape whom I killed for the sake of his
skin, putting into effect the policy taught also in your books?
[172] The Pâli recension expresses this by the drastic utterance:
'the would-be wise advocates of the khattavi_gg_â say: you may kill
your father or mother or eldest brother, yea your children and
wife, if such be your interest.'
53[173]. 'On the other hand, if such a deed is to be blamed for its
cruelty, and is certain to have evil consequences, by what means do you
resort to a lore which does not acknowledge this?
[173] I follow the emendation of the editor mukhena, not the
senseless reading of the MSS. sukhena.
54. 'Now, if such is the manifestation of what is called "policy" in
your system, say, of what kind may be the error, called "want of
policy"? Oh! the audacious who, despising mankind, propound injustice by
the way of authoritative law-books!
55. 'Nevertheless, if you maintain that false doctrine--is it not
prescribed in the books of your sect in plain terms?--well, it is not I
who should be blamed on account of the death of that ape, since I
followed the path of that policy which is taught in your books.'