- Prince Mahāsattva and the Tigress
- The Boy Who Made Flowers Fall from the Sky
- The Golden Deer King
- The Golden Elephant and the Monk's Journey
- The Lamp That Changed Destiny
- The Patient Buffalo
- The Silver Tusked Savior
- The White Cloth
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 1
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 10
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 2
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 3
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 4
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 5
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 6
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 7
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 8
- The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma: Chapter 9
The Mirror Clarifying the Results of Karma (Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i sgrung 'grel las 'bras gsal ba'i me long) is a narrative commentary on the anecdotes that appear in the ten chapters of the Bodhicaryāvatāra by Wangchuk Rinchen (c. 12th cent), who was a disciple of Latö Könchok Khar and became the abbot of Nering. The stories presented here were translated by Gregory Forgues and Khenpo Könchok Tamphel.
Story 1 of 1, Chapter 4
I am as if benumbed by sorcery, As if reduced to total mindlessness. I do not know what dulls my wits. O what is it that has me in its grip?
Page(s) 57
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.
Concerning the phrase ". . . as if benumbed by sorcery": To King Bimbisāra, who had realized the nature of reality, the illusionist Virtuous Face said, "I wish to present a magical illusion and also have a request for your command."
The king replied, "I have understood and seen that all phenomena are like illusions."
"In that case," said the illusionist, "tomorrow I will manifest an illusion—please perceive it just as you've said."
He quietly asked around to learn what the king was most fond of, and was told, "Fine horses." Transforming his appearance, he conjured a splendid horse, bewildered by illusory mantras, and requested permission to bring it before the king. When he did, the king asked, "Name your price," and then added, "A horse must be judged in motion. Let me try it myself."
The illusionist cautioned, "My lord, this horse is difficult to control," but the king replied, There is no wild horse I cannot master." Upon mounting, the horse bolted, carried him far away, and finally threw him down in a remote borderland.
There, he encountered a farmer and asked for food and drink. The farmer responded, "I’ll get it for you, but while I do, plow this land and make sure the oxen don’t run off." However, while plowing, the oxen broke free and dragged the king, leaving him badly injured and near death. When the farmer returned and asked where he had come from and where he was going, the king explained his ordeal.
The farmer said, "Since you clearly don't know where you're headed, stay here—I'll give you my daughter's hand." The king stayed, and he fathered a daughter and a son. Eventually, his father- and mother-in-law died, and he carried their corpses to the cremation ground. Not long after, his wife also died, and as he carried her corpse, his two children clung to him, weeping.
Moved by their grief, the king too began to cry and lamented, "When my merit was great, I was a king; now that it is exhausted, look at what I’ve become."
At that moment, Virtuous Face snapped his fingers and said, "O King, what has happened to you?"
The king looked around, saw himself emaciated and disheveled, and realized that everything had been an illusion. The illusionist then said, "Indeed, both aversion toward me and a father’s attachment to his children are causes of suffering!"
Ashamed, the king fell silent.
End of Chapter Four
