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More than two thousand years ago, ancient India, where the Buddha lived, was divided into several independent states. After the Buddha attained enlightenment, he returned to his birthplace, Kapilavastu (the capital of Sakya state), to expound the Dharma. As the Buddha had achieved supreme realization, many people in India at the time believed that descendants of the Sakya clan, to which the Buddha belonged, had great wisdom. They thought that if they could claim relation to the Sakya clan by marriage, their descendants would in turn, also have the wisdom of the Buddha.
One of the kingdoms in India at that time, Kosala, was ruled by a king named Prasenajit. Believing that wisdom ran in the blood of the Sakya clan, King Prasenajit desired to marry a girl from the clan. Thus, he sent an envoy to convey his intention to the Sakya nobles.
After reaching Kapilavastu, King Prasenajit’s envoy met with the 500 ministers of the Sakya state and passed them his king’s message. This raised a clamour among the ministers; some felt that the Sakya clan was of unmatched nobility and were reluctant to have any of their daughters marry King Prasenajit, while others angrily questioned what right he had to entertain such a thought.
A minister named Mahanama then calmly spoke up, “The king of Kosala is young and has a quick temper, we must beware of offending him. We need to think of a solution that is best for both sides. Just leave this matter to me!”
Returning home, he spotted a very beautiful girl who was the offspring of one of his slaves, whereupon an idea came to his mind. He announced that he was taking the slave girl as his foster daughter, and then married her off in grand style to King Prasenajit.
King Prasenajit was very taken with his beautiful bride and designated her his queen consort. Her name was Vasavakhattiya. Lady Vasavakhattiya was very virtuous and always conducted herself in a manner becoming of her status. A year later, she gave birth to a chubby and adorable baby boy. King Prasenajit was delighted at the birth of his son and invited a Brahmin priest to his palace to give the prince a name. The priest named the prince Virudhaka.
The young prince was very intelligent, and everyone loved him dearly. When he was around eight or nine years old, King Prasenajit, hoping that his son could grow up adept at both the literary and martial arts, told him: “To be an outstanding king worthy of admiration, you need to learn the various arts. You must return to your mother’s clan to learn from the Sakyas as they are both wise and well-versed in these arts. The young prince happily accepted his father’s advice and set off with his retinue.
When the elder Mahanama received news of Prince Virudhaka’s arrival, he arranged to have a group of young men accompany the prince in practising the literary and martial arts.
At that time, there was a great hall being built in Kapilavastu. It was felt that the hall, being so exceptionally magnificent, would be a fitting venue for inviting the Buddha, the Great Enlightened One, to deliver the Dharma to the masses. To this end, a beautiful, lavish chair was specially prepared and placed in the centre of the hall.
It was during this time that Prince Virudhaka and his retinue happened to pass by. Struck by the splendour of the hall, they immediately stepped inside. When the prince saw the beautiful chair, he was intrigued and went to sit on it. Seeing this, the official in charge of the construction project flew into a rage. He grabbed the prince and pulled him down from the chair, berating him thus: “You son of a slave, how dare you sully the seat of the Buddha!” He then dragged the prince outside and further hurled insults and abuse at him.
Utterly humiliated by this incident, Prince Virudhaka was filled with anger and hatred. He told his bodyguard: “Remember the shame I have suffered today, and never fail to remind me of it should I ever forget; you should even remind me of it three times in a single day.”
After returning to Kosala, the prince bore the grudge deeply in his heart, and his bodyguard would remind him thrice a day never to forget his enmity with the Sakya clan.
As Prince Virudhaka grew up, thoughts of revenge never left his mind. When he finally ascended the throne, he wasted no time in gathering his soldiers and setting forth to Kapilavastu to exterminate the Sakya clan.
From this story, we can see that hatred is an extremely terrible thing; it is the cause of many a man’s ruin. So, in our daily lives, we must always guard our minds well and take care not to hurt others unintentionally. We should never speak or act out of anger or hatred. When our minds go astray, we may give rise to hatred and resentment, which may bring about unfathomable disaster. If we can constantly cultivate our hearts and minds, treating others with understanding and being tolerant of everything, we will not have thoughts of harming others or doing things that hurt others.
Source: Tzu Chi Taiwan website
Extracted from “tan gu shuo jin”《谈古说今》, a compilation of stories told by Master Cheng Yen
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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