When Gautama Buddha was in the Kingdom of Shravasti , Prince Virudhaka, the second son of King Pasenadi, led his army to oust his father when he was 20 years old, and killed his elder brother, Prince Jeta, and became king on his own.
A sinful minister named Yeli told King Virudhaka, "The Great King, when you were the prince, you learned archery in Kapilavastu, and you were insulted by the Shakya tribe. At that time, you swore: "If I should be King, I will take revenge!" Now we are strong, and it is time to take revenge." So, with the encouragement of the evil minister, King Virudhaka led his troops to attack the kingdom of Kapilavastu.
After the Buddha heard the news, although he knew that this was the fruit of the common karma of the people of Kapilavastu, he still wanted to do his best for the people of the motherland. So the Buddha came alone to wait on the road that Virudhaka King's army must pass, and deliberately sat down under a dead tree on the side of the road. King Virudhaka saw the Buddha from a distance, and although he was unwilling in every possible way, he reluctantly got out of the carriage and bowed to the Buddha. King Virudhaka asked, "Buddha! There is a big tree with lush foliage not far in front that can shade you from the sun. Why do you choose to meditate under this dead tree?" The Buddha replied, "You are right. , But the shade of relatives is better than other shades." King Virudhaka heard the overtones of the Buddha, and was deeply moved, thinking: "In the past, if there was a war between the country and the country, as long as the monks met, they would retreat, not to mention today we meet Buddha." The king of Virudhaka brought his troops back to the country.
It was like this three times in a row. As long as King Virudhaka was ready to lead his troops to attack the Kapilavastu Kingdom, he would meet the Buddha sitting under a dry tree on the way, so King Virudhaka had to order his troops back. But when he sent troops for the fourth time, the Buddha knew that the retribution of the Shakya people's joint karma was inevitable, so he didn't stop it anymore. He expressed deep regret and compassion for the people of Kapilavastu who did not know how to repent and enlighten, which led to today's disaster.
The disciple of the Buddha, Venerable Maudgalyayana, heard that King Virudhaka had gathered his troops again to attack Kapilavastu. He was very compassionate for those who were about to be victimized, so he told the Buddha: "Now King Virudhaka is going to attack Kapilavastu, I I hope to rescue the people of Kapilavastu with four conveniences: one is to place the people in the void, the other is to place them in the sea, the third is to move them between two iron fences, and the fourth is to place them in large countries in other places. By this way, the Virudhaka King will not know where they are going.”
The Buddha told Venerable Maudgalyayana: "Although you have supernatural powers to house the people of Kapilavastu, there are seven things that sentient beings cannot escape from: birth, old age, sickness, death, sin, blessing and karma, so even if you want to use magical powers to save Kapilavastu's suffering, they still cannot escape the sin karma they have planted in the past. After listening to the Buddha's teaching, Venerable Maudgalyayana still couldn't bear the persecution of the people of Kapilavastu, so he used his magical powers to put some elites into the bowl and lift them into the void, hoping to help them escape this difficulty. Later, King Virudhaka attacked Kapilavastu and killed 30,000 people.
After the war, Venerable Maudgalyayana went to Gion Abode and told the Buddha: "When King Virudhaka attacked Kapilavastu, I relied on the mighty power of the Buddha to place the elites of Kapilavastu in the void and rescued them." The Buddha asked Venerable Maudgalyayana: "Have you already been to see the people in the bowl?" Venerable Maudgalyayana replied, "Not yet." So the Buddha said, "Go and see them first!" Venerable Maudgalyayana took down the bowl with magical powers, and saw that all the people in it were dead. He told the Buddha very sadly: "The people in the bowl are already dead. Although I want to save them with supernatural powers, I still cannot exempt them from their sinful karma.
The Buddha compassionately told Venerable Maudgalyayana: "A long time ago, there was a village with a big pond in the village with all kinds of fish. One day, the people in the village decided to catch all the fish in the pond and eat them, so the whole village, men and women, old and young gathered at the pool to catch. There was a child with a good nature. Although he didn't eat meat, but when he saw a lively fish, he mischievously took a stick and knocked on the head of the biggest fish. Three times. The big fish at that time was the current King of Virudhaka, the army he led was the school of fish at that time, the villagers who fished were the current Shakya tribe, and the naughty child was the Buddha’s previous life. Although he did not eat fish, he I also had a headache for three days because of the results of knocking the fish head."
After talking about this past life, the Buddha told the public: "The seven things of birth, old age, sickness, death, sin, blessing, and karma, even for saints such as Buddha and Bodhisattva, even through invisibility or avatar means, can not escape from these seven things." The Buddha added: "Not in the air, nor in the sea, nor between the mountains and rocks. You can't be here to avoid sinful karma. All beings have distress, and they have to die of old age. Only the benevolent and wise, don’t think about human beings’ fault."
After the Buddha said this verse, countless audience members were deeply saddened by hearing the truth of impermanence said by the Buddha. All of them concentrated on the Buddha's teachings, and soon they attained the Sotāpanna.
There are two kinds of people in the world who can get happiness: one is the person who cultivates good and does not cause evil, and the other is the person who knows to repent after committing sin. -Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings to King Ajatashatru
Lay Vimalakirti said to the thirty-two boys : "You should be a monk together during this sad-dhamma period. Why? Because it is very rare to encounter a Buddha to be born."
The thirty-two boys said: "We heard that the Buddha once said,'If your parents don't allow it, you can't become a monk.'"
Lay Vimalakirti said: "Then you will develop supreme enlightenment mind With supreme enlightenment mind, you are a monk, that is, you already have the consciousness to be corrected by the monkhood.."
So the thirty-two boys all developed the supreme enlightenment mind.
The original text is from "The Sutra of Vimalakirti"