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These Buddhist parables which draw upon verses in chapter 8 of the Bodhicaryāvatāra illustrate key spiritual principles: abandoning harmful associations (even with familiar people) for spiritual progress; the value of forest seclusion over worldly distractions; a bodhisattva's willingness to endure suffering for others' benefit; the destructive consequences of desire, which can lead even to patricide; the insatiable nature of craving, exemplified by a king whose ambition causes his downfall; and the superiority of contentment over wealth, shown when a poor man recognizes a king's spiritual poverty despite his riches. Each tale demonstrates how attachment creates suffering while renunciation and compassion lead to liberation.
The stories presented here were translated by Gregory Forgues and Khenpo Könchok Tamphel.
Abandoning Harmful Attachments
Like bees that get their honey from the flowers, Take only what will serve the practice of the Dharma. Treat everyone like new acquaintances And keep yourself from close familiarity.
Page(s) 111
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
བུང་བས་མེ་ཏོག་སྦྲང་རྩི་བཞིན། །
ཆོས་ཀྱི་དོན་ཙམ་བླངས་ནས་ནི། ། ཀུན་ལ་སྔོན་ཆད་མ་མཐོང་བཞིན། །
འདྲིས་པ་མེད་པར་གནས་པར་བྱ། །bung bas me tog sbrang rtsi bzhin/_/
chos kyi don tsam blangs nas ni/_/ kun la sngon chad ma mthong bzhin/_/
'dris pa med par gnas par bya/_/The statement "And keep yourself from close familiarity" means that Dharma practitioners should abandon even previously familiar friends if they prove harmful to the awakening mind. They should not differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar people, as such partiality leads to spiritual faults.
In the past, a bodhisattva took birth as a brahmin. Growing weary of samsara and aspiring toward liberation, he renounced his great household wealth and was ordained as a monk. He then retreated to a secluded forest hermitage where he maintained his austerities without faltering and benefited many sentient beings through his practice.
Indra, king of the gods, heard of the brahmin's renown and came to test his resolve. He caused all the monk's food and drink to disappear, but the bodhisattva remained undisturbed in his meditation, as he was content and unattached to his body's needs.
Amazed by this steadfastness, Indra transformed himself into the form of a brahmin and approached the monk. The bodhisattva warmly greeted him, saying, "Welcome!" and offered him food and drink. He then demonstrated his austerities, which deeply affected Indra, causing his mind to detach from desire and undergo a profound transformation.
Impressed, the lord of the gods invited the brahmin to ask for anything supreme he desired. Under the pretext of asking for a boon, the monk recited these verses:
- I do not hear from my loved ones at all.
I neither see nor speak of them at all.
The sadness in associating with them brings much suffering.
I ask you for the supreme, that I need not experience such things.
The lord of the gods replied:
- Do the noble ones not especially benefit
Those who are impoverished?
Because they live in poverty,
The immature are considered the least.
Yet, it is these very beings
Who are most in need of compassion.
So why, though you are compassionate,
Do you refuse even to see them?
The brahmin explained:
- No matter what is done,
One cannot benefit the immature.
How can those like us
Not strive to benefit them?
They do what is improper as if it is proper,
And they encourage others also to do the same.
Their receptivity to gentleness versus harshness is incompatible;
Even showing what is beneficial agitates them vehemently.
Their pride burns like fire fueled by ignorance;
Speaking in their favor makes them angry and harsh.
Those with little diligence in discipline are deceitful.
Tell me, how can one benefit them?
Therefore, O chief of the gods, even though I am very compassionate,
Because the immature are impossible to correct, I do not even want to see them.
Indra responded, "Good! Let it be so," and then vanished.
Thus, this tale shows how even a compassionate bodhisattva may need to avoid harmful associations that impede spiritual progress.
The Yogi's Desire for Seclusion
Then there will be no one standing by In tears and mourning, thus to trouble me. And no one will be there distracting me From thinking of the Buddha and the practice.
Page(s) 114
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དྲུང་ན་འཁོད་པ་སུ་དག་ཀྱང་། །
མྱ་ངན་གནོད་པ་བྱེད་མེད་པས། ། འདི་ཡིས་སངས་རྒྱས་རྗེས་དྲན་སོགས། །
སུས་ཀྱང་[p.82]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
drung na 'khod pa su dag kyang /_/
mya ngan gnod pa byed med pas/_/ 'di yis sangs rgyas rjes dran sogs/_/
sus kyang [p.82]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
"And no one will be there distracting me," teaches that yogis who wish to stabilize their minds should abandon all distractions and dwell in forest seclusion.
In the past, there was a king whose sons all died shortly after birth. The diviners and soothsayers advised him: "This is happening because demons are taking them away. If you have another son, he will survive if raised in an iron house."
Some time later, a bodhisattva took birth in that family. Following the diviners' advice, his parents ensured he was delivered and raised in an iron house. As he grew older, he announced to his parents, "I wish to go to a hermitage."
His parents protested, "We have raised you with such great difficulty! If you have all you need—food, drink, wealth, and so forth—why would you abandon us to go to a hermitage?"
The prince eloquently replied:
- Starting from the night of entering the womb,
Worldly beings begin stepping onto a path
That leads unerringly closer to the Lord of Death.
One may possess skills and great power,
But no one can escape aging and death.
All are burdened by these two.
Hence, for the sake of Dharma, I go to the hermitage.
How astonishing it is that people feel no fear
When beings wander in this way!
The Lord of Death himself blocks every path,
Yet they act with joy, without purpose.
Sickness, old age, and death—these relentless foes—
Stand unshaken, their power irreversible.
If one is bound for the perilous beyond,
Who, in their right mind, would call it joyful?
The father responded:
- Will the enemy, the Lord of Death, not come to you in the forest?
Do not sages who abide in the Dharma also die in the forest?
If the nature of things is the same even in the forest,
What is the benefit of abandoning household life and going to the forest?
The Bodhisattva answered:
- Whether one dwells in the forest or at home, the Lord of Death will come.
Abiding in the Dharma and acting wrongly face the same end.
But those who embody the nature of Dharma will not be afflicted by sorrow,
And Dharma can be practiced more easily in the forest.
It is said that after speaking at length about the faults and virtues of both household life and forest dwelling, the prince departed for the forest, completely free from attachment.
The Compassionate Bodhisattva
Thus Supuṣhpachandra,99The Bodhisattva Supuṣhpachandra was forbidden by the king Shūradatta to teach the Dharma on pain of death. Knowing, however, that many would benefit from his teaching, Supuṣhpachandra disobeyed and went cheerfully to his execution. The story is found in the Samādhirāja-sūtra. Knowing that the king would cause him harm, Did nothing to escape from tribulation, That the pains of many should be ended.
Page(s) 124
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
"Thus Supuṣpacandra . . ." states the Bodhicaryāvatāra, teaching that a compassionate being, seeing great benefit for others, will endure even harm and suffering inflicted upon themself.
Countless eons ago, a tathāgata named Precious Lotus Moon, the Exalted King appeared in the world. His lifespan extended for ninety-nine trillion eons, and each day he benefited countless sentient beings before finally passing into nirvana.
During the final five hundred years, when the holy Dharma was nearing decline, there was a royal palace called Possessing Jewels where King Given by Courage resided. He had eighty-four thousand queens, a thousand sons, and five hundred daughters.
At that time, a Dharma-teaching monk named Beautiful Moon Flower dwelt in a forest hermitage called Always Perfect. Seven thousand bodhisattvas, who had been expelled from villages, cities, royal palaces, and their retinues, gathered at this hermitage and followed him.
One day, Beautiful Moon Flower went alone into seclusion and entered perfect meditation. With his pure divine eye, which surpassed human vision, he perceived many trillions of bodhisattvas who had cultivated the roots of virtue and had been born here from various buddha-fields. He realized that if he taught them the Dharma, they would become irreversible on the path to awakening, but if he did not, they would regress.
With this insight, he mindfully arose from his meditation, went to where the great assembly of bodhisattvas had gathered, and declared, "O noble sons, I will go to villages, cities, and other places to teach the Dharma to sentient beings."
The assembly of bodhisattvas objected: "We do not wish for you to leave this forest hermitage for villages and other places. Why? Because this is a time when many monks, nuns, male and female lay practitioners, and those with excessive pride who reject the Dharma are emerging. If they should kill you, venerable one, it would be a great loss.
"Furthermore, your physical form is exceptionally beautiful, your face flawless and pleasing to behold. The minds of kings and others are often overcome by envy and miserliness. It would be terrible if they took your life."
Beautiful Moon Flower replied to the assembly: "If I were to protect myself, I would fail to protect the teachings of the buddhas of the three times." With these words, he departed in the morning for the villages and taught the Dharma to sentient beings, establishing ninety-nine trillion living beings on the stage of nonreturning from awakening.
Eventually, he reached the royal palace called Adorned with Jewels and sat beneath a sal tree. After nightfall, he entered the royal palace and established thirty-six trillion beings on the stage of nonreturning from awakening. Throughout this time, he had not yet taken any food.
Fasting, he left the royal palace and went to a stūpa containing the Blessed One's fingernails, where he spent the day and night standing upright in devotion. He repeated this practice seven times, ripening countless sentient beings. The local people became deeply devoted to the monk.
King Given by Courage was not as physically attractive or pleasing to behold as the monk. When he saw the monk's perfect form and noticed how his queens and subjects were drawn to him, he became enraged, thinking, "Alas! My queens have gone astray, and all the people have followed suit!"
As the monk sat along the king's path, dust entered his eyes, causing him to blink. Seeing this, the king misconstrued, "This man has looked at my retinue of queens with desire and winked at them!" Wondering who might carry out his wish to kill the monk, the king commanded his thousand sons who attended him: "Young men, kill that monk!"
When they refused, the king thought, "Because of this monk, even my sons disobey me, leaving me entirely alone. At this moment, I have no son who will kill this monk."
Just then, the king spotted a cruel, thoughtless, and unruly executioner named Joyful One sitting not far from his path. Delighted at finding someone who might carry out his wish, the king said, "I will reward you greatly if you kill this monk."
The executioner replied, "Your Highness, I will do my utmost! As you command, I will kill this monk."
The king, knowing the moment had come, ordered, "Take a sharp weapon and cut off his limbs, ears, and nose! Because he looked at my queens with desire, gouge out his eyes with pliers!"
Joyful One took a sword and severed the monk's limbs, ears, and nose, then gouged out his eyes. From the monk's severed head and body parts, hundreds of thousands of rays of light emanated. His blood flowed like streams of milk, circling in all ten directions before being reabsorbed into his body.
From the remnants of his mutilated form appeared auspicious symbols—endless knots, auspicious signs, wheels, and other marks—and the thirty-two major marks of a great being became visible to all.
The king joined the great crowd of people who, upon seeing the monk's mutilated body lying on the road, were overcome with distress and sorrow. Amazed and lamenting loudly, they returned to the royal palace.
The king could find no happiness in his pleasure gardens. Feeling unloved and unable to enjoy himself, he left. After seven days, he entered the royal palace again and was astonished to see that despite the time that had passed since the monk's death, the color of his body remained unchanged.
Looking at this miraculous preservation, the king thought, "This monk was undoubtedly irreversible from supreme, perfect awakening. I have committed a terrible deed that will lead to rebirth in the great hell realms. I will soon fall into the great hells."
As the king stood contemplating this, eighty thousand children of the gods appeared in the sky above and spoke in unison: "Great King, it is just as you think. This monk was indeed irreversible from supreme, perfect awakening."
Hearing this, the king was terrified. His hair stood on end, and he was overcome with remorse. Weeping in distress, he cried out:
- I abandon the kingship, the royal palace,
The jewels, pearls, gold, and wealth!
Taking up a weapon myself, I will end my life.
I am one with the mind of a child, one with evil karma!
Later, when recounting this story, the Blessed One told Ānanda: "At that time, I myself was that King Given by Courage. My sons from that time later became the Dharma protector Beautiful Moon Flower and the Guru of the Lotus, while Joyful One became a King of Peace."
The Consequences of Killing Without Cause
And for the sake of profit and position
Some there are who even kill their parents,
Or steal what has been offered to the Triple Gem,
Because of which, they’ll burn in hell of Unrelenting Pain.[p.127]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
Page(s) 126
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གང་ཞིག་ཁེ་དང་རིམ་གྲོའི་ཕྱིར། །
ཕ་དང་མ་ཡང་གསོད་བྱེད་ཅིང་། ། དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་གྱི་དཀོར་བརྐུས་ནས། །
དེས་ནི་མནར་མེད་བསྲེག་འགྱུར་ན། །gang zhig khe dang rim gro'i phyir/_/
pha dang ma yang gsod byed cing /_/ dkon mchog gsum gyi dkor brkus nas/_/
des ni mnar med bsreg 'gyur na/_/"Some there are who even kill their parents," states the Bodhicaryāvatāra, teaching that individuals consumed by desire engage in various nonvirtuous deeds and may even kill their own parents.
During the golden age in Jambudvīpa, in a city called Possessing Treasure, there lived King Stainless Speech and Queen Virtuous One, who desperately longed for a son but had none.
In the king's realm lived a sage with clairvoyant powers. The king approached him and asked, "Is my lack of a son due to an absolute absence of fortune, or is there some condition preventing his birth?"
The sage replied, "Your Majesty has a karmic connection for a son with a brahmin who is currently practicing meditation in this region. When he passes away naturally, he will take rebirth as your son."
The king, lacking patience and overcome with desire for an heir, had the brahmin killed prematurely. Because of this interference with the natural course of events, the brahmin was not reborn as the king's son but took rebirth elsewhere.
The king returned to the sage, asking, "Though the brahmin has died, he has not been born as my son. Why is this?"
The sage explained, "Because you prematurely took the brahmin's life, even though he was already near death, he was reborn elsewhere. Now he has taken rebirth as a reddish-brown rabbit with a bent right ear at the edge of a fiery mountain. When this rabbit dies, he will be born as your son."
The king dispatched his subjects to search the mountain. They found and killed the rabbit as described. Though the rabbit could not speak, it mentally cursed the king: "I was harmlessly eating grass and drinking water in the wilderness, harming no one, yet I was killed. When I die, may I become your executioner, O king!"
After the rabbit's death, the queen conceived. During her pregnancy, she developed a craving for meat, but no ordinary meat satisfied her. She felt that drinking the king's blood might help. Blood was drawn from the king's little finger, and when she drank it, her craving subsided.
In due time, a son was born and named Prince Jewel Holder. As he grew, he observed his father's royal power and luxurious enjoyments with envy. Harboring harmful intentions, he consulted a malevolent friend, asking, "When will I obtain my father's kingdom and power?" The friend replied, "You will gain these when your father dies."
Consumed by attachment and craving for the kingdom, the prince approached his father during a meal, weapon in hand. The queen saw this and cried out in anguish, "Ajātaśatru!" and wept, but the prince ignored her pleas. He stabbed and killed his father. The queen, overcome with grief, also died, and both parents passed away simultaneously.
The ministers conferred among themselves, saying, "It is not right to bestow the kingdom upon this lowborn prince. However, there is no other heir to the throne, so we must crown him now." And thus, they offered him the kingdom.
The Incessant Desire for Satisfaction
For those who sink to such a pass, The earth and all it holds Are powerless to satisfy. For who can give them all they crave?
Page(s) 134
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དེ་ལྟར་ལྟུང་བ་དེ་ཡི་ཡང་། །
འདོད་པ་ས་འདི་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས། ། རྫོགས་པར་ནུས་པ་ཡོད་མིན་ན། །
དེ་ཡི་འདོད་པ་སུས་བྱེད་ནུས། །de ltar lhung ba de yi yang /_/
'dod pa sa 'di thams cad kyis/_/ rdzogs par nus pa yod min na/_/
de yi 'dod pa sus byed nus/_/"For who can give them all they crave?" asks the Bodhicaryāvatāra, teaching that lack of contentment with material possessions is the root of all suffering in this life and the next.
Long ago, there was a king named Infinite Fame, who possessed great merit. One day, as he ventured outside his palace, he observed people plowing fields, spinning wool, and weaving cloth. Curious, he asked, "What are all these people doing?"
His minister explained, "As long as the body exists, it requires sustenance. These people work to obtain what they need to live."
The king declared, "If I truly possess the merit of a king, may food and clothing manifest effortlessly without labor!" As he made this aspiration, it came true exactly as he wished. A rain of precious jewels fell from the sky, accompanied by the sound of celestial music.
The king asked, "Whose qualities have produced this wonder?" The minister replied, "These are manifested through Your Majesty's blessings and our collective merit."
Thus, King Infinite Fame came to rule over all the prosperity and well-being of Jambudvīpa. Yet his ambition grew. He thought, "Now I will extend my rule to the eastern continent of Superior Body." He cast a golden wheel toward the east and followed it, accompanied by his precious minister and the other seven treasures of a universal monarch. There he took control of all the people and wealth of that land.
Similarly, he journeyed to the northern and western continents, enjoying their abundant resources, but still his desire remained unsatisfied. He then thought, "I will now ascend to the realm of the Four Great Kings." Casting his wheel upward, he followed it into the heavens. The four great kings witnessed his approach and welcomed him with elaborate musical performances.
Even this divine reception did not content him. He thought, "Now I will go to the realm of the Thirty-Three Gods." Following his wheel, he reached that celestial realm. At first, the gods did not recognize this visitor, but a divine sage with clairvoyance announced, "This is the wheel-turning king, Infinite Fame, who has come from the human realm." Upon hearing this, the gods welcomed him with music and escorted him to the Completely Victorious Palace, where they placed him on half of Indra's throne. Thus, he gained dominion over half of Indra's realm.
Still, his ambition grew. He thought, "Now I will kill Indra, lord of the gods, and rule the entire divine kingdom alone."
The moment this thought arose, he plummeted back to his old palace on earth. Like a lump of fresh butter placed on hot sand, his strength rapidly diminished, and he died shortly thereafter. It is said that following his death, he fell further into the lower realms due to his boundless greed.
The Value of Contentment
Their hopeless craving brings them misery, And evil schemes invade their minds, While those with free, untrammeled hearts, Will never know an end of excellence.
Page(s) 134
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ནུས་མེད་འདོད་པ་ཉོན་མོངས་དང་། །
བསམ་པ་ཉམས་པའང་སྐྱེ་བར་འགྱུར། ། གང་ཞིག་ཀུན་ལ་ལྟོས་མེད་པ། །
དེ་ཡི་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ཟད་མི་ཤེས། །nus med 'dod pa nyon mongs dang /_/
bsam pa nyams pa'ang skye bar 'gyur/_/ gang zhig kun la ltos med pa/_/
de yi phun tshogs zad mi shes/_/"Will never know an end of excellence" explains that when one is content with even modest possessions, the resulting virtue is immeasurable.
In India, there lived an impoverished man named The Gentle One, who discovered a precious jewel while sifting through a pile of discarded items. He reflected, "In my previous lives, I must not have practiced generosity, which is why I am now so poor. Therefore, I will give away this jewel." He went to the center of the city and announced to the poor people there, "I will give away a precious jewel!"
As the poor gathered around him, a wealthy king named Pure Cloud, who possessed great riches, also approached and joined those asking for the jewel. When everyone began begging, The Gentle One declared, "I will give this jewel to none other than King Pure Cloud, for he is truly hungry."
The king was deeply embarrassed and angered by this statement. He protested, "I rule over eighty-four thousand kingdoms and control three hundred and sixty regions. How can you say I am hungry?"
The Gentle One replied, "Despite having so much, you remain unsatisfied and continue to desire more. This is why, O King, you are truly the hungriest among us."
Hearing these words, the king reflected deeply and understood their profound meaning. Moved by this wisdom, he began to practice extensive generosity. The Gentle One also gave his jewel to someone in need. Through these acts of generosity, both the king and the poor man achieved spiritual merit and liberation.
