Story Of The Buddha & Buddhism ( Part 41 - 44 )

Part 41

The Buddha preaching to Khema, Queen of King Bimbisara

The daughter of King Maddaraja of Sagala State, by the name of Khema, was one of the queens of King Bimbisara. She was very pretty and being proud of her own beauty, had no wish to go to the Buddha, who was in the habit of preaching that "beauty is but skin deep";. But she heard that Veluvana Park had been greatly improved and was looking so picturesque and pleasant that even gods were attracted by it. She therefore had a strong wish to visit it and went to the park where the Buddha was then in residence. King Bimbisara had told the attendants to see that the Queen should not come back without paying her respects to the Buddha. She dared not disobey the King and approached the Buddha before she left the Park. The Blessed One, with his superhuman power created a scene in which a woman, more handsome than the queen, was fanning him. The woman then becoming older ad older, fell down through infirmity and began to moan. The queen was very much startled by the sight. The Buddha then preached a sermon to her, and she became and Arahant and was admitted into the Holy Order of Nuns.

Part 42

The Buddha preaching the sermon of peace from the air to prevent war between Kapila and Koliya

Rohini river lying between Kapilavatthu and Koliya was the main source of water supply for these two cities to irrigate their lands for growing crops. At one time, when the crops became dry, the farmers from both cities went to draw water from the river when there was very little water and just enough left for them to take once only. A quarrel arose over it and there was an exchange of hot words touching the fair name of the Sakya clan. The Ministers including the one in charge of agriculture became so angry that they decided to settle this matter by battle and both sides sallied forth for a fight.

The Buddha saw, with they eye of a Buddha, that there would be much blood-shed if the relatives of both sides engaged in battle. He, therefore, went alone and sat cross-legged in the air midway between the armed forces of both sides. When they saw the Blessed One in the air, the armed forces of both sides, who were all kinsmen, laid down their arms and paid homage to Him. the Buddha then admonished them by preaching a sermon of peace saying, "Are you going to destroy your priceless lives for the sake of a little bit of worthless water?"

Part 43

The Buddha preaching to Kisa Gotami asking for medicine for her dead son

Kisa Gotami was he wife of a wealthy man of Savatthi worth 40 crores. She had an only son who died when he was just able to run about. She had never seen any death and, thinking that her son was only ill, did not cremate him. In her distress she took him in her arms and went about asking for medicine.

One wise man thought that no one but the Buddha would know of any, and sent her to Him. Kisa Gotami showed her dead son and asked the Buddha to give the medicine that would cure her boy. The Buddha answered: "I shall cure your boy if you get some mustard seeds from a house where no one has died". Carrying her dead son, she wondered from door to door. But she could not find any house where no death had occurred. At last she began to learn the truth, "No house is free from death". She went to a wood, laid her child there and returned to the Buddha, who comforted her by preaching to her the truth. She was established in the first holy stage of the Aryan Path, and was admitted into the Order of Nuns. She eventually became and Arahant.

Part 44

The Buddha taming Alavaka, the demon-god, with a sermon on loving-kindness

There stood a giant banyan tree at a distance of a little more than three miles from Alavi city. Alavaka, the demon-god had his dwelling in that tree. One night Alavaka was attending a meeting of goods at the Himalayas, when the Buddha entered his dwelling in order to tame this cruel monster. The door-keeper of the dwelling, a deity, paying homage to the Buddha, said, "May I go and seek permission from Alavaka for you to enter his dwelling?"; So saying, he went to the meeting of gods to get the permission.

At that moment, Alavaka who had to keep his anger in check became furious when he heard form other gods about the arrival of the Buddha at his dwelling. He left the meeting at once and jumped on to the dizzy heights of Kelasa Mountain, and shouted out this challenge: "Alavaka am I!"; Then throughout the night he flung all sorts of weapons at the Blessed One who was not hurt at all because of his infinite power of loving-kindness. Then Alavaka approached the Buddha who tamed him peacefully with a sermon on Loving-Kindness