Garland of the Buddha’s Past Lives (Volume 1). Aryashura
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the petitioners approached the king with
joyful faces,
like forest elephants approaching a large lake.
Joyful at the prospect of gain, a crowd of beggars swarmed around the king on all sides, their traveling clothes concealing their fineries.
Seeing them made the king’s eyes widen with joy,
as if a band of friends had returned from abroad.
Their requests delighted him like welcome messages.
His gifts made him happier than the beggars
themselves.
2.13 [6]
*His reputation for generosity was a fragrance
wafted about by the wind of the beggars’ voices,
destroying the pride of other kings,
like a tusker’s scent dispels the ichor of other elephants.
One day, while he was surveying his alms halls, the king noticed that the crowd of petitioners had greatly diminished because their needs had been satisfied and he felt disappointed that his virtuous practice of giving had been obstructed.
2.15
Though the petitioners were sated on reaching him,
he was not on receiving them, so intoxicated was he
with giving.
No beggar could quell the king’s determination
to give,
whatever the size of their request.
The king then had this thought: “Great is the fortune of those eminently virtuous men who are entreated by beggars with confident and unrestrained requests for their very limbs! But to me petitioners only make meek requests for mere wealth, as if scared by harsh words of refusal.”
Observing Shibi’s lofty thought,
so dedicated to giving and unattached to his body,
the earth, herself under the king’s rule,
trembled like a woman who loves her husband.
When the earth quaked, so Mount Sumeru,* that king of mountains, also shook, glistening with the radiance of various gems. Stirred by the event, Shakra, the king of the gods, investigated its cause and when he realized the earthquake was produced by the king’s extraordinary thought, ________
he pondered the matter the following way, his heart filled with wonder:
“What is this thought conceived by the king,
his mind elated by excessive joy in giving?
He has set the limit of his will to give
with the firm resolve to offer his limbs!
I will test him!”
2.20
At that time the king was seated in the assembly hall, surrounded by a troop of ministers. The customary announcement was made, inviting people to receive what they wanted. Under the supervision of the treasurer, heaps of jewels, gold, silver, and wealth were revealed. Baskets filled with various clothes were untied, while fine and colorful carriages were dragged forward, yoked to the necks of various trained animals.
There, among the assembled beggars, Shakra, the king of the gods, took on the form of an old blind brahmin, manifesting himself right before the king’s eyes. The king looked at the brahmin with a gaze that seemed to advance forward and embrace him, so calm, tranquil, and gentle were his eyes and so suffused with compassion and friendliness. When the king’s attendants asked him what he desired, the brahmin approached the king, greeted him with benedictions of victory, and said the following:
“I, an old man who cannot see, have come
from afar to beg for your eye, greatest of kings.
Lotus-eyed ruler of the people, one eye
suffices to conduct the affairs of the world.”
The Bodhi·sattva felt the greatest joy at achieving his heart’s desire. But he was unsure whether the brahmin’s words were really true or whether he had imagined them because of habitually harboring them in his mind. Thirsting to hear this delightful request for his eye, he said to the petitioner:
2.25
“Who has ordered you to come here
to request my eye, eminent brahmin?
An eye is very difficult to give up.
Who assumes this axiom does not apply to me?”
Understanding the king’s intent, Shakra made the following reply in his guise as a brahmin:
“Shakra told me to come here
to request your eye, Shakra-like king.
Give me your eye and fulfill
Shakra’s high regard and my hopes.”
At the mention of Shakra, the king thought: “It is surely through divine power that this brahmin will gain an eye,” and addressed him with words that sparkled with joy:
“I will fulfill the desire
for which you visit me, brahmin.
Though you wish for one eye,
I will give you both!
2.30
Leave as you please, watched by the people,
open lotus-eyes adorning your face.
The people will sway with doubt as to whether it’s you,
but feel wonder when they realize it is.”
2.32 [15]
The royal ministers were worried, shocked, and distressed when they learned of the king’s intention to give away his eyes and said to him:
“Your extreme joy in giving makes you
unable to see it is wrong and damaging.*
Please, Your Majesty, don’t do this.
You should not give away your sight.
Do not cast all of us aside
for the sake of one brahmin!
Do not raise your people to be happy,
only to let them burn with sorrow’s fire.
Offer fortune-bringing wealth,
glorious jewels, milk-giving cows,
chariots yoked with trained horses,
or fine, graceful elephants, proud in rut.
2.35
Give houses pleasant in every season,
echoing with the sound of tinkling anklets,
brighter than autumn clouds.
But don’t give away your sight, you the world’s
sole eye.
Your Majesty should also consider this:
How can one person’s eye
be used by another?
If through divine intervention,
why is your eye needed?
Besides, Your Majesty:
Why does this poor beggar need an eye?
To see the prosperity of others?
Just give him some money, Your Majesty,
and stop acting recklessly.”
2.40
Addressing his ministers with courteous and gentle words, the king then replied:
“Those who decide not to give
when they have said they’ll give,
place