Episode 29 – Origin of City of the House of Kings (3)
>> With such unselfish great love, sincerity and faithful observance, one can transform the brutal. With diligent right actions, one can awaken compassion and wisdom. Then mountain spirits, evil kings can attain Bodhi.
With such unselfish great love, sincerity and faithful observance, one can transform the brutal. With diligent right actions, one can awaken compassion and wisdom. Then mountain spirits, evil kings can attain Bodhi.
Everyone, “Such” refers to truly being a certain way. “Such” refers to the truly being a certain way. We should exercise great compassion. Such great loving-kindness, compassion, sincerity, integrity, trust and steadfastness [can help us] unselfishly demonstrate great love. If we can maintain sincerity and faith, then we can naturally transform the brutal and abusive.
As I have already said, King Shrutasoma used his honesty and sincerity to demonstrate that kind of great love. He was able to transform brutal, abusive hearts, such as those of raksasas and yaksas. For us to do this in our daily living, it is not enough to only hold religious beliefs or just reverently pay our respect. We need to do more. Sincerity is in our hearts; right actions must be taken to help others. Therefore, we must diligently take right actions. In all that we do, our words and deeds must be unified. This is the only way to influence brutal and abusive hearts and to tame unwholesome thoughts and ignorance. If we can do this, haven’t we attained Bodhi?
This was how Shrutasoma convinced Marked-Foot and became good friends with the thousand kings; they were like brothers. Indeed, these individuals truly became one family. How did he fulfill the promise to the mountain spirits?
The thousand kings each gave one drop of blood and three strands of hair. Together this was called a sacrifice of hair, skin, flesh, and blood for the mountain spirits. This was wisdom.
This was how things began. King Marked-Foot released the thousand kings. When they gained their freedom, they all shared a single thought: No matter how big their kingdoms were, how beautiful their concubines were, how luxurious their palaces were, none of that would last. They believed that only the Dharma is eternal. So, they agreed to gather at Vulture Peak for spiritual practice and for listening to the Dharma. They went home and entrusted governance of their small kingdoms to the crown princes, to the next generation. Then they brought those who were willing to follow them to gather on this mountain.
Within this range, there were five mountains. The whole area with these five mountains was called Vulture Peak. Meanwhile, many citizens saw their kings building houses in this place. Among the citizens of the thousand kingdoms, some were also willing to follow their kings to live there. They built homes there as well. So within a short amount of time, the population of this place grew. Many people came to build homes there.
Aside from ordinary citizens, naturally the thousand kings built houses there as well. But for unknown reasons, there were seven fires. The properties the fires destroyed all belonged to ordinary citizens, only the kings’ houses did not burn. Many citizens found this very strange. The houses of ordinary citizens were burned on seven occasions. Only the houses of the kings did not burn. So they thought, “Let us ask the kings if we may call our houses ‘houses of kings.'” Everyone agreed that this could work. So anyone who built a house there, every house, every family, called their house the house of kings. From then on, ordinary citizens could also say their house was a house of kings. From this we know that when these thousand kings gathered in one place to penetrate deeply into the Buddha-Dharma, their peaceful hearts equalized all castes.
In particular, the Chinese word “house” sounds like “to pardon,” as in how one king pardoned a thousand kings. Another form of pardon is when the thousand kings allowed citizens to establish homes there and call them all “house of kings.” This was a truly peaceful place, thus it was called City of the House of Kings. A large population established homes there, especially on this mountain. With the construction of the houses, from afar it looked just like a city, so it was named City of the House of Kings.
It was the capital of the Kingdom of Magadha but was not a kingdom in and of itself. City of the House of Kings was on this cluster of five mountains. These mountains have another name, Grdhrakuta. We translate that as “vulture”; the mountain resembled the head of a vulture.
Sometimes, when I go to Taitung, if I am close to the town Luye, I cannot help but look east. There sits a mountain that, from a certain angle, looks like the Buddha’s head. This is incredible. Go see for yourself. View it from a different angle. Every time I pass by there, I feel very happy. That place is called Dulan Mountain.
I have visited it before. At that time I did not know very much. I had heard that there were immortals there, and so naturally I became curious. Five or six of us crossed the Doulan River to climb Dulan Mountain. We got to the summit that looked like the bridge of the Buddha’s nose. Actually, we did not find anything there. We spent eight or nine hours on that treacherous journey. Indeed, the process was very dangerous, like going on an expedition. We hiked across mountains and rivers, each mountain higher than the next. Changes in the terrain were truly unpredictable.
I have told everyone about a spring where hot and cold water sprouted from the same source. The water clearly came from the same place, but it was both hot and cold. When I talk about this, perhaps you feel that this is inconceivable. But I want to tell you, this is the truth; this happens. This is truly amazing, beyond understanding. I have been to a place like that in this world.
Now, as I often pass by there, I always feel a kind of closeness.
That mountain is very big, and each peak surpasses the next. This [experience] was truly incredible. As we walk a path we have traveled, when we look at things from a different angle, we can see a new perspective. I believe that Vulture Peak in India probably, from a certain angle, has the appearance of the head of a vulture.
Several years ago, our magazine, Rhythms Monthly, surveyed a few historic sites where the Buddha stayed [to expound the Dharma] over 2500 years ago. They showed what these places look like. They took photos there, but was it really the Vulture Peak of the past? The platform was not very big; it was tiny. The terrain surrounding the platform sloped downward. There were mountains behind and a slope in the front. The area did not seem big. Now it is called Vulture Peak. When you go there, there really is an eroded platform. That is where the Buddha expounded the Dharma. It looks a little like a vulture’s head. Rhythms Monthly published these pictures to prove that it was named Vulture Peak after the bird. It is also called Vulture Head.
Some people also said that, according to legend, there was a custom in India that when a person died, they were not put into a coffin. Most people had a sky burial. So to the south of Vulture Peak, there is a mountain called Sitavana.
Sitavana was a place where those who passed away were taken for their sky burial. Everything, from sunshine to rain, would cause the body to naturally decompose. After it rotted, birds gathered there to eat the flesh of the corpse. So, many vultures perched at that place because there was a lot of food there for them; there were lots of corpses from sky burial. So Sitavana, or Woods of the Corpses, was south of Vulture Peak. It was a place where many vultures gathered, It was a place where many vultures gathered. This is why that area is called Vulture Peak.
Another legend says that this mountain had many mountain spirits, many raksasas and ghosts. This is an ancient legend. Therefore people of that time called this place, Vulture Peak.
This mountain was close to a city of the kingdom of Magadha. This mountain held five dens; five dens meant five mountain caverns. Based on ancient legend, among these five caverns, the Buddha resided in the center one. Aside from Sakyamuni Buddha, all Buddhas before Him had also expounded the Dharma there. They all expounded the Lotus Sutra there. The Buddha and all Buddhas of the past lived in the center of these five dens, and the disciples lived in the surrounding dens. This is an old legend.
This was also the place where the Buddha expounded sutras most often, so it is also called Spiritual Peak. After the Buddha entered Parinirvana, it was a place where Arhats lived.
So, it is said that Vulture Peak seems to have a powerful spiritual energy, but outsiders who come to this city in the mountains may see something different. Some people do not see much in this place, merely dirt, trees, grass and rocks. That is all. Some people think differently and see that it seems to be adorned by seven treasures. People see different things.
When some people see it, they feel as though all Buddhas were in procession there, that it is an unbelievably sacred place. Each individual’s spiritual state differs.
As for the Dulan Mountain I mentioned, from each person’s differing angle, the mountain takes on a different appearance. It is such that from one place, it looks a lot like the Buddha’s head. Some say, “What? It doesn’t look like that.”
Some say, “What? It doesn’t look like that. It looks like [something different]” etc.
There are different perspectives. After some explanation, some say, “Yes, yes, from this angle, it does look like the Buddha’s head.” For example, when we are in Guandu, we can see Guanyin Mountain. Why is it called Guanyin Mountain? It has the appearance of Guanyin Bodhisattva, the shape of her head. Really, you can see it. From afar, the resemblance is there.
On the road to Guandu, if you look straight ahead, the resemblance is remarkable. As for a mountain, the mindset we use to see it determines the shape we see. As I said earlier, this universe contains many unbelievable, incredible forms. When people come to a certain place, what they see, what they see with their own eyes, will seem amazing, inconceivable. Others will hear this and think that this is impossible. This depends on our state of mind. When we reach a certain place, we truly [see this]. When we are not there yet, we speculate; we do not see it as such.
“With such unselfish great love, sincerity and faithful observance,” one can transform the brutal and abusive. A brutal mindset needs honesty and sincerity, faith and observance. Faith is the source of the Way, mother of merits. If what we say is trustworthy, we can naturally transform minds and turn brutality and evil into kindness. This is not impossible. But just talking about it is useless. The right actions must be taken to awaken both compassion and wisdom. Even mountain spirits and evil kings can attain Bodhi.
So, gathered on this mountain with great spiritual energy were all past and current Buddhas; they all expounded the Dharma there. Vulture Peak is a spiritual mountain. “Vulture Peak is already in our own hearts.” We all have a pagoda on our Vulture Peak. We just have to look carefully within to find the Vulture Peak in our hearts. So everyone, please always be mindful!