The Smile of a Cruel King:The Buddha’s final revelation
Gautama the Buddha lived and blessed this planet with his presence for more than 80 years. Through which he abandoned his status as a prince, abandoned all worldly possessions, set out to become a monk, and eventually gained enlightenment at the age of 32.
The final 10 years of his life was one of the most important chapters of his life, without which his teachings wouldn’t be as widespread as it is now to the general public, and would only be available to monks and nuns.
What happened during the last 10 years of his life you might wonder?
It was during his final 10 years that he gained his final revelation. The story goes like this.
It started when a wicked prince banished his father, the king of the town the Buddha’s dharamsala resides in and who is very near and dear to the Buddha, to a life time in prison where no one was allowed to meet him or feed him and he was left to die there alone.
A time came where this king was finally breathing his last breath, and he was finally allowed to be visited by the queen and the Buddha himself. During those last minutes, the king made the Buddha promise that he (the Buddha) would guide and teach his wicked son the path to wisdom and dhamma, to which the Buddha promised.
After the king died in prison, the cruel prince, by drinking a dangerous medicine by mistake, got a large tumor on his forehead. Everyone tried to cure it but to no avail. Finally the Buddha decided to visit and cure this sick prince, who banished and virtually killed his own father to gain control over the town and tried to take over the Buddha’s dharamsala.
When the Buddha entered the prince’s bedroom he saw the prince helpless and almost to die, and infront of everyone, the Buddha laid his index finger on the prince’s tumor, and the pain on the prince’s forehead disappeared and he straight went into peaceful sleep. Everyone was surprised at this happening.
After witnessing this, the ministers allowed the Buddha to visit the prince everyday for the “treatment”. For 3 years non-stop the Buddha didn’t fail to visit the prince even for one day. The tumor gradually shrunk and eventually disappeared.
As the Buddha was getting ready to leave the room after his last and final visit, the prince called the Buddha, and gave him a smile. It was the first time the prince ever smiled in his whole life. All his life he was being exposed to cruelty, to the rigid and strict life of the palace, he was not allowed any freedom what so ever, which was how he got his tumor, stress. It was thanks to the Buddha’s peaceful (or vibe as your guys say it today) and loving aura that he passed on to the prince by touching his tumor that finally made the prince well again.
When the Buddha saw this beautiful smile, he smiled back and thought: “what a beautiful smile….just like a God’s.”
The moment he thought of this, he stopped short and was awed by his revelation.
The revelation was that no matter how bad a person or a living thing is, there is always a God inside this person, which is buried deep beneath all his/her/it’s cruel exterior and behavior.
Before this revelation the Buddha only shared his wisdom to monks and nuns, because he thought that enlightenment is supposed to be earned instead of discovered. That only monks and nun, people who has abandoned all worldly possession could finally gain enlightenment and eternal peace.
But after seeing the God in the cruel prince, he finally realized that enlightenment, peace, joy, happiness is already there in all beings, all they need to do is to go deep inside them and find that place of eternal peace and joy and happiness.
After this revelation, his dharamsala was opened to the public and everyone who wanted to discover their own inner light and discover enlightenment and peace.
This was when he was around 70 years old. During this time he decided that he would go all around the country with this helper, Ananda, and spread his knowledge and wisdom to everyone. Now, in the present moment, his wisdom has not only spread across the country he was living in, but all around the world, a lot of people have benefited from his wisdoms, from India, Europe, Africa, America.
If it wasn’t for this revelation, we wouldn’t be able to read the Dhammapada which are words of wisdom written by the Buddha himself when he was still living, the monastries and Pagodas would only be accessible to monks and nuns. And my mentor SN Goenka wouldn’t exist. My mentor is a colossal proof that you don’t have to abandon all worldly things to gain enlightenment; SN Goenka is a Burmese industrialist and a billionaire, who has gained enlightenment by practicing Vipassana, a meditation technique founded by the Buddha.
The final 10 years of his life was one of the most important chapters of his life, without which his teachings wouldn’t be as widespread as it is now to the general public, and would only be available to monks and nuns.
What happened during the last 10 years of his life you might wonder?
It was during his final 10 years that he gained his final revelation. The story goes like this.
It started when a wicked prince banished his father, the king of the town the Buddha’s dharamsala resides in and who is very near and dear to the Buddha, to a life time in prison where no one was allowed to meet him or feed him and he was left to die there alone.
A time came where this king was finally breathing his last breath, and he was finally allowed to be visited by the queen and the Buddha himself. During those last minutes, the king made the Buddha promise that he (the Buddha) would guide and teach his wicked son the path to wisdom and dhamma, to which the Buddha promised.
After the king died in prison, the cruel prince, by drinking a dangerous medicine by mistake, got a large tumor on his forehead. Everyone tried to cure it but to no avail. Finally the Buddha decided to visit and cure this sick prince, who banished and virtually killed his own father to gain control over the town and tried to take over the Buddha’s dharamsala.
When the Buddha entered the prince’s bedroom he saw the prince helpless and almost to die, and infront of everyone, the Buddha laid his index finger on the prince’s tumor, and the pain on the prince’s forehead disappeared and he straight went into peaceful sleep. Everyone was surprised at this happening.
After witnessing this, the ministers allowed the Buddha to visit the prince everyday for the “treatment”. For 3 years non-stop the Buddha didn’t fail to visit the prince even for one day. The tumor gradually shrunk and eventually disappeared.
As the Buddha was getting ready to leave the room after his last and final visit, the prince called the Buddha, and gave him a smile. It was the first time the prince ever smiled in his whole life. All his life he was being exposed to cruelty, to the rigid and strict life of the palace, he was not allowed any freedom what so ever, which was how he got his tumor, stress. It was thanks to the Buddha’s peaceful (or vibe as your guys say it today) and loving aura that he passed on to the prince by touching his tumor that finally made the prince well again.
When the Buddha saw this beautiful smile, he smiled back and thought: “what a beautiful smile….just like a God’s.”
The moment he thought of this, he stopped short and was awed by his revelation.
The revelation was that no matter how bad a person or a living thing is, there is always a God inside this person, which is buried deep beneath all his/her/it’s cruel exterior and behavior.
Before this revelation the Buddha only shared his wisdom to monks and nuns, because he thought that enlightenment is supposed to be earned instead of discovered. That only monks and nun, people who has abandoned all worldly possession could finally gain enlightenment and eternal peace.
But after seeing the God in the cruel prince, he finally realized that enlightenment, peace, joy, happiness is already there in all beings, all they need to do is to go deep inside them and find that place of eternal peace and joy and happiness.
After this revelation, his dharamsala was opened to the public and everyone who wanted to discover their own inner light and discover enlightenment and peace.
This was when he was around 70 years old. During this time he decided that he would go all around the country with this helper, Ananda, and spread his knowledge and wisdom to everyone. Now, in the present moment, his wisdom has not only spread across the country he was living in, but all around the world, a lot of people have benefited from his wisdoms, from India, Europe, Africa, America.
If it wasn’t for this revelation, we wouldn’t be able to read the Dhammapada which are words of wisdom written by the Buddha himself when he was still living, the monastries and Pagodas would only be accessible to monks and nuns. And my mentor SN Goenka wouldn’t exist. My mentor is a colossal proof that you don’t have to abandon all worldly things to gain enlightenment; SN Goenka is a Burmese industrialist and a billionaire, who has gained enlightenment by practicing Vipassana, a meditation technique founded by the Buddha.
posted by suraj at 6:19 AM
1 Comments:
Good words.
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