by Andy Rotman
He approached a monk and said, “Noble one, I want to go forth as a monk.”
“Have you received permission from your parents?” some monks asked him.
“No,” he said. “I haven’t received permission from my parents.”
“Go, my son,” they said. “Seek your parents’ permission.”
So he set out to seek permission from his parents. His parents told him, “Go, son. Do as you wish.”
Having obtained their permission, he went back to the monks. Thereafter one of the monks initiated him.
Now in the monastery, sometimes there was almsfood for the monks, and sometimes there was an invitation to eat at someone’s home. On one particular day when there was almsfood, his instructor said to him, “Son, are you satisfied or not?”
“No, I’m not satisfied,” he said to his instructor. [237]
Then the instructor made this observation34 about him: “Dharmaruci went forth as a monk while still of a young age. His digestive fire is inflamed, so he’s never satisfied.” The instructor then began to share with him the food from his own bowl.
“My son,” he asked again, “are you satisfied now?”
“No, I’m still not satisfied,” he said to the instructor.
After the instructor heard this, he began to speak with some kindhearted monks and some other students also living in the monastery. Those monks who had the same instructor as Dharmaruci, those who had the same teacher, and others who were kindhearted began to make special provisions of food and drink for him. But even after receiving those provisions from them, he still wasn’t satisfied. When there was an invitation for a meal, they would make provisions for him in just the same way. A particular donor also knew about Dharmaruci’s condition. He would come and give Dharmaruci whatever extra food he had. And if there was anything extra to drink, he’d do likewise. Anything extra at all was given to him. Nevertheless, from the time Dharmaruci had gone forth as a monk, his stomach had not once been full with food and drink.
One time a householder invited the community of monks led by the Buddha for a meal. In the morning the Blessed One got dressed, took his bowl and robe, and along with the community of monks, went to the man’s home to eat. [In the interim,] Dharmaruci was appointed as the acting caretaker of the monastery.
At that time in Śrāvastī there lived a certain householder. He came to understand that whoever feeds the community of monks led by the Buddha, without informing them beforehand, will immediately prosper. And so he collected food for five hundred monks. He filled up a cart with this fresh and exceptionally fine food and went to the monastery at the Jeta Grove. “Assisted by my friends and family,” he thought, “and on behalf of all my family members,35 I will feed the community of monks led by the Buddha.” In the Jeta Grove, he saw that there weren’t any monks. Wandering about, he saw the acting caretaker Dharmaruci.
“Noble one,” the householder asked him, “where have the monks gone?”
“They were invited for a meal and have gone to someone’s home to eat,” he said.
When the householder heard this, he became upset. “Oh no! My efforts are in vain!” He thought about this and then said to Dharmaruci, “Noble one, at least you can eat.”
“If, gracious sir, you have any food to spare,” he said.
Then the householder reflected on how much food was enough for one monk, [238] took that much food and drink from the cart, and began to serve it to Dharmaruci. Dharmaruci ate until there was nothing left, but he still wasn’t satisfied.
“He isn’t satisfied,” the householder reflected. So he said, “Noble one, will you eat some more?”
“If, gracious sir, you have any food to spare,” Dharmaruci said.
Then, once again, the householder took food and drink from the cart, this time what should have been enough food for two monks, and began to feed him. Dharmaruci ate this as well, but he still wasn’t satisfied.
“He still isn’t satisfied,” the householder reflected once again. So he said, “Noble one, will you eat some more?”
“If, gracious sir, you have any food to spare,” Dharmaruci said.
The householder took food and drink from his cart and, thinking, “This should be enough for three monks,” began to serve him again. Dharmaruci ate this as well, but he still wasn’t satisfied.
“Noble one, will you eat some more?” he asked.
“If you have any food to spare,” Dharmaruci said.
The householder then took food and drink from his cart and, thinking, “This should be enough for four monks,” began to serve him once again.
Dharmaruci ate this as well, but he still wasn’t satisfied.
“Noble one, will you eat some more?” he asked.
“If you have any food to spare,” he said once again.
Again he took food and drink from his cart, this time what should have been enough to satisfy five monks, and again he began to serve him. Dharmaruci consumed this as well, but he still wasn’t satisfied. This happened again and again. Finally he consumed what should have been enough food and drink for ten monks, and yet he still wasn’t satisfied.
Then the householder reflected, “This isn’t a man. This isn’t any kind of man at all! It’s said that the Jeta Grove is filled with five hundred dark-clothed yakṣas.36 This must be one of them!” With this in mind, he began to send home his young family: “Go right home, quickly! I’ll deal with this myself, whether I live or die.” After he sent off his family, the householder, afraid as he was to die, took more food and drink from his cart and began to serve Dharmaruci. Dharmaruci ate as much as he liked.
The householder said, “Noble one, quickly—accept this food.”
So Dharmaruci immediately accepted the food and began to eat. [239] The householder served him faster and faster, giving him all that there was to eat and drink from his cart. Then, so seized was he with terror, that without even waiting to hear the assignment of the reward from the offering, he said, “Noble one, I praise you!” and then set out for the city as fast as he could, never looking back.
A monk whose task it was to bring almsfood from the city returned with alms he had brought specially for Dharmaruci. Dharmaruci ate that food as well. Since birth, Dharmaruci’s stomach had never been full. And yet, on this day, that food satisfied him.
Meanwhile the Blessed One, surrounded by the community of monks, came face to face with that householder as he was entering the city. The householder said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, for the sake of the community of monks led by the Buddha, I filled up my cart with enough food and drink to satisfy five hundred monks. Then I went to the Jeta Grove with the intention of feeding the community of monks led by the Buddha. But I didn’t find those monks there. Instead I saw only one monk. He explained to me that the community of monks led by the Buddha had been invited for a meal and had gone off to eat at someone’s home. This thought occurred to me: ‘At least this one monk may eat.’ Then, by and by, I gave him all the food and drink from my cart. He consumed every single bit of it. Blessed One, was he a human being or not?”
“Householder,” the Blessed One said, “he is a monk named Dharmaruci. You should be pleased. From your food and drink, he is now satisfied, and soon he will directly experience arhatship.”
When the Blessed One returned to the Jeta Grove, he reflected, “What donor could ever support Dharmaruci with this much food every day?”
Therefore the Blessed One said to Dharmaruci, “Dharmaruci, have you seen the great ocean?”
“No, Blessed One, I haven’t,” he said.
“Take hold of the edge of my robe,” the Blessed One said. “I will show you the great ocean.”
Dharmaruci grabbed hold of the edge of the Buddha’s robe. Then, like a royal goose with outstretched wings, the Blessed One made use of his magical powers, and in the space of a single thought, he arrived at the seashore with Dharmaruci in tow. The Blessed One brought Dharmaruci to that place where the skeleton of what had been the sea
monster Timitimiṅgila still remained and set him down. [240]
Then he said to him, “Go, my son. Concentrate on this object.”
Dharmaruci began to look it over. “What is this,” he thought, “a piece of driftwood or a mass of bones?37 Or is it a plank of wood?” Not getting a clear sense of its size, he began to look for its endpoints. But he just couldn’t grasp its size.38 And while trying to determine its size, moving here and there and on both sides of the thing, he became exhausted. He couldn’t find an end to it.
It occurred to him: “I’m not about to understand what it was that was this big by asking myself, ‘What is this?’ Nor will I reach its end. I’ll go and ask the Blessed One himself about it.” Then he went before the Blessed One and asked him, “Blessed One, what is this? I can’t figure out what it was that was this big.”
“My son,” the Blessed One said to him, “this is a skeleton.”
“Blessed One,” he asked, “is there such a being with a skeleton like this?”
Then the Blessed One said, “Rejoice, Dharmaruci, in the different states of existence! Rejoice in the means that lead to these states of existence!39 This is your skeleton.”
When Dharmaruci heard these words of the Blessed One, he was perplexed and said, “A skeleton like this is mine?”
“Dharmaruci,” he said to him, “this is your skeleton.”
Hearing this, Dharmaruci was shocked.40
Then the Blessed One gave him these instructions: “Dharmaruci, concentrate on this and this alone.”
With that said, the Blessed One, like a royal goose with outstretched wings, made use of his magical powers and arrived back at the Jeta Grove.
Then Dharmaruci, thinking and practicing concentration, passed through [the four stages of the path of application]—the heat stage, the summit stage, and the tolerance stage, followed by the highest worldly dharma stage—and then through the path of seeing and the path of cultivation. He obtained the reward of the stream-enterer, then the reward of the once-returner, followed by the reward of the nonreturner, and finally he obtained arhatship. Becoming an arhat,41
he was free from attachment in the three realms;
he regarded clods of earth and gold as equal in value;
he possessed equanimity toward the sky and the palm of his hand;
he cast off passion and repugnance;
the eggshell [of his ignorance] was broken by knowledge;42
he obtained the special knowledges, superhuman faculties, and analytic insights;
he was averse to worldly attainments, temptations, and honors;
and he didn’t distinguish between being cut by a blade and being anointed with sandalwood paste.
He became worthy of respect, honor, and obeisance from the gods, including Indra and Upendra.
He began to focus his attention on his previous lives—“From where did I die and pass away? Where was I reborn?” He saw many hundreds of his lives. He had died and passed away from the realms of hell, the animal realm, and the realm of hungry ghosts and been reborn once again. It occurred to him, “If the Blessed One hadn’t turned his attention to me, [241] I’d still have more lives to pass through in the future.” Then he reflected on what would have been the continuous flow of his life in the future, a constant, uninterrupted cycle of rebirths in hell realms and the realm of hungry ghosts. Having reflected in this way, he thought, “Oh! The Blessed One has done for me something that is very difficult to do. If the Blessed One had achieved unsurpassed perfect awakening just for my sake, it would have been a very great deed. Yet he has led many thousands of beings away from rebirth in the terrible realms of existence!” Then, making use of his magical powers, Dharmaruci arrived at the Jeta Grove to see the Blessed One.
At that time the Blessed One was sitting down in front of an assembly of many hundreds of monks and discoursing on the dharma. Meanwhile Dharmaruci approached the Blessed One. Having approached, he placed his head in veneration at the Blessed One’s feet and then sat down at a respectful distance. Sitting down at a respectful distance, he was addressed by the Blessed One.
“It’s been a long time [since we met], Dharmaruci.”
“Yes, it’s been a long time, Blessed One,” Dharmaruci said.
“It’s been a very long time, Dharmaruci,” the Blessed One said.
“Yes, it’s been a very long time, Blessed One,” Dharmaruci said.
“It’s been an incredibly long time, Dharmaruci,” the Blessed One said.
“Yes, it’s been an incredibly long time, Blessed One.” Dharmaruci said.
Some monks in doubt asked the Lord Buddha, the remover of all doubts, “Blessed One, Dharmaruci was born right here in Śrāvastī, and in this very place, the Jeta Grove, he went forth as a monk. He didn’t come from someplace else and never went anyplace else. And yet, while Dharmaruci was standing right here, the Blessed One said, ‘It’s been a long time [since we met], Dharmaruci. It’s been a very long time, Dharmaruci. It’s been an incredibly long time, Dharmaruci.’ What was the Blessed One talking about?”
In response, the Blessed One addressed the monks: “Monks, I wasn’t talking about the present. I was talking about the past. What I said was about the past. Monks, do you want to hear a dharma story about the former karmic bonds of Dharmaruci?”
“Yes, Blessed One. It is the right time and the right occasion, Sugata, for the Blessed One to tell the monks a dharma story about Dharmaruci. Hearing such a story from the Blessed One, the monks will keep it in mind.” [242]
Kṣemaṅkara Buddha, the Guildmaster, and the Powerful Fighter
Long ago, monks, in a time gone by, in the first incalculable age, there arose in the world a tathāgata named Kṣemaṅkara (Safety Maker),
who was perfect in knowledge and conduct,
a sugata,
a knower of the world,
an unsurpassed guide for those in need of training,
a teacher of gods and humans,
a buddha,
and a blessed one.
He stayed near the capital called Kṣemāvatī (Safe Place). And in Kṣemāvatī there ruled a king named Kṣema (Safety). And in the capital Kṣemāvatī there also resided a certain guildmaster43 of the merchants. He provided the perfectly awakened Kṣemaṅkara and the community of monks with all their necessities for sixty44 rainy seasons.
The guildmaster reflected, “I will go to the great ocean. I’ll gather up my goods, sell them in exchange for jewels, and arrange a quinquennial festival for the community.” After thinking this over, he gathered up his goods, and after passing through marketplaces, villages, towns, trading centers, and capitals, one after another, arrived at the ocean. There he had bells rung to proclaim his intention and then set sail in the great ocean on an ocean-going ship.
As he set sail in the great ocean, the perfectly awakened Kṣemaṅkara, who had finished performing all the duties of a buddha, passed into the realm of remainderless nirvāṇa. After he had passed into final nirvāṇa, those monks who were in complete control of themselves also passed into final nirvāṇa. Seven days after the perfectly awakened Kṣemaṅkara passed into final nirvāṇa, his doctrine disappeared.
Now that guildmaster, after successfully completing his voyage, which had been favored by deities and spirits, returned from the great ocean. Having come ashore, he loaded up his goods on carts, camels, cows, and donkeys and in due course set off. Going along the road, he asked some people coming in the opposite direction, “Friends, do you know what’s happening in the capital Kṣemāvatī?”
“Yes, we know,” they said.
“Is the perfectly awakened buddha named Kṣemaṅkara there?” he asked.
“The Blessed One, the perfectly awakened Kṣemaṅkara, has passed into final nirvāṇa,” they said.
When he heard this, the guildmaster was grief-stricken. He fainted and fell to the ground. Splashed with water, he regained his senses and was revived.45 Then he got up and asked, “Friends, do you know if at leas
t the disciples of the Blessed One are still there?”
“Those monks were also in complete control of themselves,” they said. “They too passed into final nirvāṇa. Seven days after the Lord Buddha Kṣemaṅkara passed into final nirvāṇa,46 [243] his doctrine disappeared. Then King Kṣema had a simple shrine constructed for the perfectly awakened Kṣemaṅkara.”47
The guildmaster then went to the capital and asked some people, “Friends, has any stūpa been constructed for the Lord Buddha?”
“Yes,” they said. “King Kṣema had a simple shrine constructed for him.”
Then it occurred to the guildmaster, “I brought this gold for the perfectly awakened Kṣemaṅkara, but he has passed into final nirvāṇa. I really should use this gold to renovate the Blessed One’s shrine so that it’s even more special.” With this thought in mind, he informed King Kṣema, “Your majesty, I brought this gold for the perfectly awakened Kṣemaṅkara, but the Blessed One has passed into final nirvāṇa. Now, your majesty, if you permit, I will use this gold to renovate the Blessed One’s shrine so that it is even more special.”
“Do as you wish,” the king said.
Then all the brahmans who lived in the city came together and approached the great guildmaster. “Great guildmaster,” they said, “before Kṣemaṅkara Buddha had arisen in the world, we alone were worthy of people’s offerings. But after he arose, he became the one worthy of offerings. Now that he has passed into final nirvāṇa, we are the only ones worthy of offerings. This gold belongs to us.”
“No,” he said to them, “I won’t give this gold to you.”
“If you don’t give it to us,” they said, “we won’t cooperate with you.”
There were many brahmans; the guildmaster, on the other hand, had few supporters. Since they were so resistant, he wasn’t able to use the gold and renovate the shrine as he wished.
The guildmaster then went before the king and said, “Your majesty, I haven’t succeeded as I intended in renovating the shrine because of some brahmans.”
The king gave him one of his own men—a powerful fighter who was capable of battling a thousand men. The king ordered his man as follows: “If anyone harasses the great guildmaster while he is renovating the stūpa, you should punish that person severely.”
