“When I was twenty or twenty-five years old, Master Raṭṭhapāla, I was an expert rider of elephants…strong in thighs and arms, sturdy, capable in battle. Sometimes I wonder if I had supernormal power then. I do not see anyone who could equal me in strength.”
“What do you think, great king? Are you now as strong in thighs and arms, as sturdy and as capable in battle?”
“No, Master Raṭṭhapāla. Now I am old, aged, burdened with years, advanced in life, come to the last stage; my years have turned eighty. Sometimes I mean to put my foot here and I put my foot somewhere else.”
“Great king, it was on account of this that the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, said: ‘[Life in] any world is unstable, it is swept away’; and when I knew and saw and heard this, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.”
“It is wonderful, Master Raṭṭhapāla, it is marvellous how well that has been expressed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened: ‘[Life in] any world is unstable, it is swept away.’ It is indeed so!
39. “Master Raṭṭhapāla, there exist in this court elephant troops and cavalry and chariot troops and infantry, which will serve to subdue any threats to us. [70] Now Master Raṭṭhapāla said: ‘[Life in] any world has no shelter and no protector.’ How should the meaning of that statement be understood?”
“What do you think, great king? Do you have any chronic ailment?”
“I have a chronic wind ailment, Master Raṭṭhapāla. Sometimes my friends and companions, kinsmen and relatives, stand around me, thinking: ‘Now King Koravya is about to die, now King Koravya is about to die!’”
“What do you think, great king? Can you command your friends and companions, your kinsmen and relatives: ‘Come, my good friends and companions, my kinsmen and relatives. All of you present share this painful feeling so that I may feel less pain’? Or do you have to feel that pain yourself alone?”
“I cannot command my friends and companions, my kinsmen and relatives thus, Master Raṭṭhapāla. I have to feel that pain alone.”
“Great king, it was on account of this that the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, said: ‘[Life in] any world has no shelter and no protector’; and when I knew and saw and heard this, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.”
“It is wonderful, Master Raṭṭhapāla, it is marvellous how well that has been expressed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened: ‘[Life in] any world has no shelter and no protector.’ It is indeed so!
40. “Master Raṭṭhapāla, there exist in this court abundant gold coins and bullion stored away in vaults and lofts. Now Master Raṭṭhapāla said: ‘[Life in] any world has nothing of its own; one has to leave all and pass on.’ How should the meaning of that statement be understood?”
“What do you think, great king? You now [71] enjoy yourself provided and endowed with the five cords of sensual pleasure, but will you be able to have it of the life to come: ‘Let me likewise enjoy myself provided and endowed with these same five cords of sensual pleasure’? Or will others take over this property, while you will have to pass on according to your actions?”
“I cannot have it thus of the life to come, Master Raṭṭhapāla. On the contrary, others will take over this property while I shall have to pass on according to my actions.”
“Great king, it was on account of this that the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, said: ‘[Life in] any world has nothing of its own; one has to leave all and pass on’; and when I knew and saw and heard this, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.”
“It is wonderful, Master Raṭṭhapāla, it is marvellous how well that has been expressed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened: ‘[Life in] any world has nothing of its own; one has to leave all and pass on.’ It is indeed so!
41. “Now Master Raṭṭhapāla said: ‘[Life in] any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving.’ How should the meaning of that statement be understood?”
“What do you think, great king? Do you reign over the rich Kuru country?”
“Yes, Master Raṭṭhapāla, I do.”
“What do you think, great king? Suppose a trustworthy and reliable man came to you from the east and said: ‘Please know, great king, that I have come from the east, and there I saw a large country, powerful and rich, very populous and crowded with people. There are plenty of elephant troops there, plenty of cavalry, chariot troops and infantry; there is plenty of ivory there, and plenty of gold coins and bullion both unworked and worked, and plenty of women for wives. With your present forces you can conquer it. Conquer it then, great king.’ What would you do?” [72]
“We would conquer it and reign over it, Master Raṭṭhapāla.”
“What do you think, great king? Suppose a trustworthy and reliable man came to you from the west…from the north…from the south…from across the sea and said: ‘Please know, great king, that I have come from across the sea, and there I saw a large country, powerful and rich…Conquer it then, great king.’ What would you do?”
“We would conquer it too and reign over it, Master Raṭṭhapāla.”
“Great king, it was on account of this that the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened, said: ‘[Life in] any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving’; and when I knew and saw and heard this, I went forth from the home life into homelessness.”
“It is wonderful, Master Raṭṭhapāla, it is marvellous how well that has been expressed by the Blessed One who knows and sees, accomplished and fully enlightened: ‘[Life in] any world is incomplete, insatiate, the slave of craving.’ It is indeed so!”
42. That is what the venerable Raṭṭhapāla said. And having said that he said further:“I see men wealthy in the world, who yet
From ignorance give not their gathered wealth.
Greedily they hoard away their riches
Longing still for further sensual pleasures.
A king who has conquered the earth by force
And rules over the land the ocean bounds
Is yet unsated with the sea’s near shore
And hungers for its further shore as well. [73]
Most other people too, not just a king,
Encounter death with craving unabated;
[With plans] still incomplete they leave the corpse;
Desires remain unsated in the world.
His relatives lament and rend their hair,
Crying, ‘Ah me! Alas! Our love is dead!’
They bear away the body wrapped in shrouds
To place it on a pyre and burn it there.
Clad in a shroud, he leaves his wealth behind,
Prodded with stakes he burns [upon the pyre].
And as he dies, no relatives or friends
Can offer him shelter and refuge here.
While his heirs take over his wealth, this being
Must pass on according to his actions;
And as he dies nothing can follow him;
Not child nor wife nor wealth nor royal estate.
Longevity is not acquired with wealth
Nor can prosperity banish old age;
Short is this life, as all the sages say,
Eternity it knows not, only change.
The rich and poor alike shall feel [Death’s] touch,
The fool and sage as well shall feel it too;
But while the fool lies stricken by his folly,
No sage will ever tremble at the touch.
Better is wisdom here than any wealth,
Since by wisdom one gains the final goal.
For people through ignorance do evil deeds
While failing to reach the goal from life to life.
As one goes to the womb and the next world,
Renewing the successive round of births,
<
br /> Another of little wisdom, trusting him,
Goes also to the womb and the next world. [74]
Just as a robber caught in burglary
Is made to suffer for his evil deed,
So people after death, in the next world,
Are made to suffer for their evil deeds.
Sensual pleasures, varied, sweet, delightful,
In many different ways disturb the mind:
Seeing the danger in these sensual ties
I chose to lead the homeless life, O King.
As fruits fall from the tree, so people too,
Both young and old, fall when this body breaks.
Seeing this too, O King, I have gone forth:
Better is the recluse’s life assured.”
Makhādeva Sutta
King Makhādeva
1. THUS HAVE I HEARD.806 On one occasion, the Blessed One was living at Mithilā in the Makhādeva Mango Grove.807
2. Then in a certain place the Blessed One smiled. It occurred to the venerable Ānanda: “What is the reason, what is the cause, for the Blessed One’s smile? Tathāgatas do not smile for no reason.” So he arranged his upper robe on one shoulder, and extending his hands in reverential salutation towards the Blessed One, he asked him: “Venerable sir, what is the reason, what is the cause, for the Blessed One’s smile? Tathāgatas do not smile for no reason.”
3. “Once, Ānanda, in this same Mithilā there was a king named Makhādeva. He was a righteous king who ruled by the Dhamma, a great king who was established in the Dhamma.808 He conducted himself by the Dhamma among brahmins and householders, among town-dwellers and countryfolk, and he observed the Uposatha days [75] on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth of the fortnight.809
4. “Now at the end of many years, many hundred years, many thousand years, King Makhādeva addressed his barber thus: ‘Good barber, when you see any grey hairs growing on my head, then tell me.’—‘Yes, sire,’ he replied. And after many years, many hundred years, many thousand years, the barber saw grey hairs growing on King Makhādeva’s head.810 When he saw them, he said to the king: ‘The divine messengers have appeared, sire; grey hairs are to be seen growing on your majesty’s head.’—‘Then, good barber, pull out those grey hairs carefully with tweezers and put them in my palm.’—‘Yes, sire,’ he replied, and he pulled out those grey hairs carefully with tweezers and put them in the king’s palm.
“Then King Makhādeva gave the boon of a village to his barber, and calling the prince, his eldest son, he said: ‘Dear prince, the divine messengers have appeared;811 grey hairs are seen growing on my head. I have enjoyed human sensual pleasures; now it is time to seek divine sensual pleasures. Come, dear prince, take over the kingship. I shall shave off my hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and go forth from the home life into homelessness. And now, dear prince, when you too see grey hairs growing on your head, then after giving the boon of a village to your barber, and after carefully instructing the prince, your eldest son, in kingship, shave off your hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and go forth from the home life into homelessness. Continue this good practice instituted by me and do not be the last man. Dear prince, when there are two men living, he under whom there occurs a breach of this good practice—he is the last man among them. Therefore, dear prince, I say to you: Continue this good practice [76] instituted by me and do not be the last man.’
5. “Then, after giving the boon of a village to his barber and after carefully instructing the prince, his eldest son, in kingship, in the Makhādeva Mango Grove he shaved off his hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and went forth from the home life into homelessness.
“He abided pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth; so above, below, around, and everywhere, and to all as to himself, he abided pervading the all-encompassing world with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility and without ill will.
“He abided pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with compassion…with a mind imbued with altruistic joy…with a mind imbued with equanimity, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth; so above, below, around, and everywhere, and to all as to himself, he abided pervading the all-encompassing world with a mind imbued with equanimity, abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility and without ill will.
6. “For eighty-four thousand years King Makhādeva played childish games; for eighty-four thousand years he acted as viceregent; for eighty-four thousand years he governed the kingdom; for eighty-four thousand years he led the holy life in this Makhādeva Mango Grove after shaving off his hair and beard, putting on the yellow robe, and going forth from the home life into homelessness. By developing the four divine abodes, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he passed on to the Brahma-world.
7–9. “Now at the end of many years, many hundred years, many thousand years, King Makhādeva’s son addressed his barber thus:...(as above, §§4–6, reading “King Makhādeva’s son” throughout)...[77, 78]...By developing the four divine abodes, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he passed on to the Brahma-world.
10. “The descendants of King Makhādeva’s son to the number of eighty-four thousand kings in succession, after shaving off their hair and beard and putting on the yellow robe, went forth from the home life into homelessness in this Makhādeva Mango Grove. They abided pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with loving-kindness...with compassion...with altruistic joy…with equanimity…without ill will.
11. “For eighty-four thousand years they played childish games; for eighty-four thousand years they acted as viceregents; for eighty-four thousand years they governed the kingdom; for eighty-four thousand years they led the holy life in this Makhādeva Mango Grove after shaving off their hair and beard, putting on the yellow robe, and going forth from the home life into homelessness. By developing the four divine abodes, on the dissolution of the body, after death, they passed on to the Brahma-world.
12. “Nimi was the last of those kings. He was a righteous king who ruled by the Dhamma, a great king who was established in the Dhamma. He conducted himself by the Dhamma among brahmins and householders, among town-dwellers and countryfolk, and he observed the Uposatha days on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth of the fortnight.
13. “Once, Ānanda, when the gods of the Thirty-three [79] had met together and were seated in the Sudhamma Assembly, this discussion arose among them: ‘It is a gain, sirs, for the people of Videha, it is a great gain for the people of Videha that their King Nimi is a righteous king who rules by the Dhamma, a great king who is established in the Dhamma. He conducts himself by the Dhamma among brahmins and householders, among town-dwellers and countryfolk, and he observes the Uposatha days on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth of the fortnight.’
“Then Sakka, ruler of gods, addressed the gods of the Thirty-three: ‘Good sirs, do you want to see King Nimi?’—‘Good sir, we want to see King Nimi.’
“Now on that occasion, it being the Uposatha day of the fifteenth, King Nimi had washed his head and ascended to the upper palace chamber, where he was seated for the Uposatha observance. Then, just as quickly as a strong man might extend his flexed arm or flex his extended arm, Sakka, ruler of gods, vanished among the gods of the Thirty-three and appeared in the presence of King Nimi. He said: ‘It is a gain for you, great king, it is a great gain for you, great king. When the gods of the Thirty-three had met together and were seated in the Su - dhamma Assembly, this discussion arose among them: “It is a gain, sirs, for the people of Videha…eighth of the fortnight.” Great king, the gods want to see you. I shall send a chariot harnessed to a thousand thoroughbreds for you, great king. Great king, mount the divine chariot without misgiving.’
“King Nimi consented in silence. Then, just as quickly as a strong man might extend his flexed arm or flex his extended arm, Sakka, ruler of gods, vanished in the presence o
f King Nimi and appeared among the gods of the Thirty-three.
14. “Then Sakka, ruler of gods, addressed the charioteer Mātali thus: ‘Come, good Mātali, prepare a chariot harnessed to a thousand thoroughbreds, and go to King Nimi and say: “Great king, this chariot harnessed to a thousand thoroughbreds has been sent for you by Sakka, ruler of gods. Great king, mount the divine [80] chariot without misgiving.”’
“‘Yes, your honour,’ the charioteer Mātali replied. And having prepared a chariot harnessed to a thousand thoroughbreds, he went to King Nimi and said: ‘Great king, this chariot harnessed to a thousand thoroughbreds has been sent for you by Sakka, ruler of gods. Great king, mount the divine chariot without misgiving. But, great king, by which route shall I drive you: by that on which doers of evil experience the results of evil actions, or by that on which doers of good experience the results of good actions?’—‘Drive me by both routes, Mātali.’812
15. “Mātali brought King Nimi to the Sudhamma Assembly. Sakka, ruler of gods, saw King Nimi coming in the distance and said to him: ‘Come, great king! Welcome, great king! The gods of the Thirty-three, great king, seated in the Sudhamma Assembly, have expressed themselves thus: “It is a gain, sirs, for the people of Videha…eighth of the fortnight.” Great king, the gods of the Thirty-three want to see you. Great king, enjoy divine might among the gods.’
The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha Page 76