太子墓魄經

Thus have I heard:

At one time the Buddha was dwelling in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park, in the Jeta Grove, in the country of Śrāvastī.

The Buddha addressed the bhikṣus:

"In ages past there was a king named Vārāṇasī. The king had a crown prince named Mūgapakkha. The prince was exceedingly intelligent, and possessed a noble and handsome appearance that none could equal. His father the king and his mother the queen cared for him with all their hearts, hoping that when he grew up the prince would succeed to his father's throne. But until the age of thirteen the prince still could not speak.

"The prince lived calmly and serenely, his will like cold ashes, his mind like a withered tree. His eyes paid no heed to forms, his ears did not listen to sounds; his condition was like that of one who is dumb and blind. Because of this his father and mother were greatly worried and grieved. The king said to the queen:

"'What are we to do now? This child will make other countries mock and ridicule us.'

"The queen replied:

"'Let us send for a diviner to come and see whether the prince will be able to speak or not.'

"The king sent for a Brāhmaṇa diviner and bade him read the prince's signs. The Brāhmaṇa said:

"'This child is not a man of this world; rather, he is one who deludes others. Outwardly he appears fine and fair, but inwardly he harbors all manner of evil. He will harm the country and destroy the lineage. Before long the king will be unable to nourish him. Your Majesty should bury the prince alive and so put him to death. If this child is not destroyed, the kingdom and the royal line will be brought to ruin.'

"The king said to the queen:

"'What are we to do now? If I do not destroy this child, I fear that hereafter there will be no crown prince to succeed me.'

"The queen left it to the king to decide as he saw fit. The king then summoned the great ministers of the country to deliberate together. One official said:

"'Cast the prince away into a deep mountain place where there are no people.'

"Another official said:

"'Throw the prince down into deep waters.'

"One official said:

"'We must follow the words of the diviner: make a deep pit and bury the prince alive.'

"The king heeded the proposal of this official. He summoned several thousand soldiers from outside and ordered them to dig the earth and make a pit, and he provided wealth and provisions sufficient for thirty years for five attendants. All of the prince's belongings were prepared for him—garments, jeweled necklaces, precious treasures, and the like. The queen, grieving for her son with pain in her heart, said:

"'I am solitary and without merit, and so I bore a son of ill-fated destiny who has met with this calamity. Truly this is a thing that cannot be helped.'

"The queen's tears streamed down without cease, weeping on and on, unable to restrain her heart. She escorted the prince to the front of the main hall. The five hundred consorts, seeing that the prince was upright and beautiful beyond compare, all said:

"'Why must the prince, because he does not speak, be buried alive?'

"Each of the palace women played skilled music for the prince to behold, but the prince remained silent, as though he neither saw nor heard. They then escorted the prince outside, before the hall.

"The five hundred great ministers, seeing that the prince was upright and beautiful beyond compare, all reported to the king:

"'The prince is not one who is unable to speak; before long he will speak again.'

"The Brāhmaṇa diviner said:

"'This cannot be believed.'

"The king said to the great ministers:

"'This is an affair of state; you officials do not understand it.'

"When the pit had been dug, the attendants came to receive the prince. The king said to them:

"'Convey the prince upon an elephant carriage so that he may look out in the four directions, and let all the people of the country come to behold him; then the prince will speak. If the prince speaks, bring the prince's carriage back.'

"At that time the prince sat upon the carriage, gazing out at the road. The venerable old great ministers of the country all gently advanced their carriages forward and said:

"'O Prince, you must speak but a single word. If you do not speak, our carriages shall pass on one after another, blocking the king's mighty army, that we may help the people avoid it and pass through.'

"They attended the prince as he went toward the pit. At that time several tens of thousands of people all followed the prince to the place of the pit, covering over the very mouth of the pit, so that the prince could not advance to it. They blocked the king's mighty army, and the army, obstructed, had to halt. The prince wished to go forward; thereupon the flying birds and the running beasts came drawing one another forward, surrounding the pit in three rings, so that the mouth of the pit was again enclosed and the prince could not advance to it. At that moment the prince stretched forth his right arm and said:

"'It is precisely because I did not wish to speak that I must be buried alive. I did not wish to speak for fear of falling into hell. I wished to keep my body at peace, to avoid harms, so as to rescue all people and help them be delivered from suffering—therefore I did not speak. My father the king, because he believed the words of a reckless and deceitful man, supposed that I was deaf and blind, dumb and mute.'

"At that time the people heard the prince speak in a wondrous voice, such as few in the world have ever heard. Those who were walking all stopped, and those who were sitting all stood up. They said:

"'The prince is verily a divine sage, that he should be thus.' All came before the prince, bowed their heads, and begged forgiveness for their faults, hoping that he would pardon them. Those who had dug the pit, hearing the prince speak, rejoiced with delight and hastened back to report to the king:

"'The prince has spoken! All people in heaven and on earth, even the flying birds and the running beasts, have come before the prince and bowed their heads to listen attentively as he speaks.'

"When the king heard that the prince could speak, he rejoiced with delight, and together with the queen he mounted the elephant carriage and went, gazing in the four directions, to receive the prince. When the prince saw his father the king, he hastily descended from the carriage to make way, performed homage with four prostrations, and then said:

"'My father the king has truly toiled to come from afar to this place. This day the lives of father and son must be parted; bonds of kindness run counter to their course, and flesh and blood are estranged. Truly this matter is so perverse that it cannot bear to be heard.'

"The king said:

"'It must not be, it must not be. My son, you are a sage of wisdom whom none can equal. Let us return to the royal palace, where I shall hold the rite of coronation for you, and I beg to abdicate.'

"The prince replied:

"'I have once been a king before, and only because of one small fault that remained, I had to fall into hell for more than sixty thousand years, where I was roasted, boiled, minced, and chopped with pain beyond endurance. At that very time, how could father and mother have known that I was in hell undergoing pain and suffering so fierce? How could they have come to share in the pain of my former life?

I have grown weary of and fearful of the suffering of hell many times over. For this reason, until the age of thirteen, I still did not speak. I wish to escape this transient life, to cut off all defilements and depart from the dust of the world, so that there be no more transgression, no more bondage in grief and care—for I know that life is by nature fragile.

I cannot, day by day, grow ever farther from the Way; I shall wander everywhere, far and near, to rescue and help all living beings. The world is impermanent, and human life is like a dream. Happiness is but a fleeting moment, joy but an instant, while sorrow and grief are without end.'

"The royal father, knowing the firm and unshakable resolve of the prince, consented to let his son go to study the Way.

"The prince took leave of his royal father, departed from his native land, and entered the mountains to seek the Way, practicing meditative absorption and contemplation. At last, when his life came to its end, the prince was reborn in the Tuṣita heaven. When his lifespan in that heaven was exhausted, he was born in the world as the crown prince, son of the king of the country of Kapilavastu, and from that time onward, until he became a Buddha.

"The Buddha said to the Venerable Ānanda:

"'The crown prince Mūgapakkha of that time was none other than I. The prince's father the king is now Śuddhodana, and his mother was Māyā. As for the five hired servants, they are now Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and his company. The Brāhmaṇa diviner who wished to bury Me alive is now Devadatta. I and Devadatta have, life after life, borne enmity toward each other.'"

When the Buddha had finished speaking this sūtra, the assembly of disciples—gods, nāgas, ghosts, spirits, kings and rulers, and the people—all rejoiced, bowed their heads, and paid homage to the Buddha.