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The Lotus Sutra
Chapter 1, Introduction, Page 8
And there was Ajatasatru, the son of Vaidehi, with hundreds of thousands of followers.
Each of the members of the assembly bowed to the Buddha's feet, withdrew and sat to one side.
F. The Audience, continued...
3.
Those in the Six spiritual destinies, continued
C. Humans
Ajatasatru & his
followers...
Ajatasatru was the King of Magadha during the latter part of
Sakyamuni’s life. The capital of Magadha was
Rajagriha, where The Lotus Sutra was being taught.
When Sakyamuni first attained enlightenment, the King
of Magadha was Bimbisara. His wife, Vaidehi, had a troubled pregnancy with
Ajatasatru and there were a host of ill-fated omens about the birth, including
prophecies that the child would kill his parents and usurp the throne. Therefore
he was given the name Ajatasatru (‘Enemy Yet To Be Born’ - Ajata means Unborn,
Satru means Enemy). The King wanted the child killed but somehow he managed to
survive. Needless to say, he did not grow up in a loving
household.
Later, after being incited by the evil designs of Devadatta, a
cousin of Sakyamuni, Ajatasatru
did in fact engineer a coup in which he killed his father and
imprisoned his mother. He had committed one of the most grave of
premeditated sins in taking over the throne. There are a number of stories about
this episode in the Sutras.
Later Ajatasatru, who was also at first an
enemy of the Buddha, became a disciple and generously contributed to the Sangha.
In the Sutras he was said to have learned the confession and attained the enduring gentleness
from Manjusri. Having committed what is among the most grave of the premeditated
sins, he should have fallen into the Avici (Interminable) Hell but instead he
only entered the Pindala Hell (a relatively painless purgatory) from which he was quickly
released, later to enter into the Buddha Realm as the Bodhisattva Steadfast
and receive his prophecy of future enlightenment.
In discussing Ajatasatru, Chih-I quotes The Sutra on Manjusri's Transcendent
Samadhi which tells how Manjusri taught Ajatasatru how to extinguish the
retributions from evil karma through a confessional Samadhi. As discussed
before, Ajatasatru had committed grave premeditated karmic sins (patricide &
matricide) and was falling into Avici
Hell. His grave karmas necessitated strong medicine. This story is also taught
in several other Sutras, including the such Sutras as The Buddha Teaches King
Ajatasatru, The Buddha Teaches The True Dharma Never Before Heard, and
others.
Chih-I explains that
Bimbisara personified ignorance and Vaidehi personified the craving of selfish
desires. Ajatasatru, the rejected son, personified the rebellion of alienated
youth and turning this rebellion against ignorance and greed into obedience to
the Dharma. As Chih-I notes in The Prose & Verse of the Lotus Sutra
(C. Fa-Hua Wen-Chu, J. Hokke Mongu) the Sutra calls this “Walking in
the wrong path, and penetrating and reaching the path of
enlightenment.”
Ajatasatru (and his followers, the people of Magadha, but
more broadly, humans beings everywhere), are the last members of the audience
that are cited in the introduction. Like Ajatasatru, we tend to respond in
accordance with the love and nurturing we receive from those that raise us. We
are capable of unspeakable sinful karmic deeds when alienated and incited
or tempted by evil acquaintances, and we are capable of redemption and
enlightenment upon confessing and embracing the medicine of the Wonderful Dharma.
Next, some
final notes about the audience.
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