A Prince Offers His Own Life
A crown prince, hearing prisoners cry out in a dungeon, enters and comforts them, then goes to the king and asks for their pardon. Told they must die for crimes against the crown, he offers his own body and life in their place — reasoning that if he cannot free these prisoners, how could he ever hope to free beings from the prison of birth-and-death itself. His father, enraged, orders his execution; the queen intervenes, and the prince, undeterred, repeats the offer to the king's own face.
A Prince, a Dungeon, and an Offer
「爾時，彼王有一太子名曰善伏，端正殊特，成就妙色，具二十八大人之相，處在中宮，采女圍遶，聞彼獄人楚毒音聲，聞已憂惱，起大悲心。入彼獄中，見諸罪人，裸形亂髮，繫縛搒笞，悲號流淚，苦毒無量，太子見已，發大悲心，慰諭之言：『莫恐！莫怖！我今能令汝等解脫。』於是太子往詣王所，白言：『大王！獄中罪人願施無畏，大王哀愍，幸垂矜赦。』
「時，彼大王召諸群臣，而共參議此事云何？群臣答言：『彼諸罪人，竊盜官物，謀弒大王，侵犯宮人，有如是罪，必應刑戮，若救彼者，罪應至死。』
「時，彼太子大悲深至救護彼故，作如是言：『我代獄囚受諸楚毒，願苦治我，我為救彼，不惜身命，欲令罪囚，悉得解脫，所以者何？若我不救此眾生者，云何能濟三界牢獄？諸在生死牢獄眾生，悉為貪愛之所纏縛，愚癡所蔽，受種種苦，身形鄙陋，心常放逸，而不能知出要之道，無智慧光，著諸法界，無有福慧，遠離實智，染縛結垢，幽閉苦獄，隨順惡魔，生、老、病、死常為憂惱之所逼迫，我當云何令彼解脫？我今應當捨自身命而救拔之。』
"At that time, that king had a crown prince, named Excellently Subdued, upright and extraordinary, accomplished in sublime form, fully endowed with the twenty-eight marks of a great being, dwelling within the central palace, surrounded by his attendant women. Hearing the tormented cries of those in the prison, he was troubled and grieved upon hearing it, and raised the mind of great compassion. He entered the prison, and beheld the condemned, their bodies bare, their hair disheveled, bound and beaten, wailing and weeping, their suffering and torment boundless. Having beheld this, the prince raised the mind of great compassion, and comforted them, saying: "Do not be afraid! Do not fear! I shall now be able to set you free." Thereupon the prince went to the king's own place, and said: "Great King! The prisoners in the dungeon beg for the gift of fearlessness; may the great king, in compassion, grant them pardon."
"At that time the king summoned his ministers, and deliberated together on what should be done. The ministers answered: "These condemned criminals stole the king's own property, plotted to murder the great king, and violated the palace women; for crimes such as these, they must certainly be put to death; if you rescue them, the guilt shall fall upon your own life instead."
"At that time, the prince, his great compassion reaching to the very depths in order to rescue and protect them, spoke thus: "I shall undergo every torment in the prisoners' own stead; let me be punished in their place; for the sake of rescuing them, I do not begrudge my own body or life, wishing to cause these condemned prisoners to be entirely freed. Why is this so? If I do not rescue these sentient beings, how could I ever hope to save the prison of the three realms itself? Every sentient being within the prison of birth-and-death is entirely bound and entangled by craving and desire, covered over by folly, undergoing every kind of suffering, their bodies base and unsightly, their minds constantly indolent, unable to know the essential path of escape, without the light of wisdom, attached to every dharma-realm, without merit or wisdom, departed far from true wisdom, stained and bound by defilement, shut up in the prison of suffering, according with every evil māra, constantly oppressed by the vexation of birth, old age, sickness, and death — how could I possibly cause them to be freed? I should now relinquish my own body and life to rescue and deliver them."
Fazang marks this step precisely: 五太子悲救 — "fifth, the prince's compassionate rescue." What the prince says to the prisoners is worth reading as more than sentiment: his reasoning moves in one unbroken line from the specific dungeon before him to the largest possible claim — "if I do not rescue these sentient beings, how could I ever hope to save the prison of the three realms itself?" The condemned criminals in front of him become, in his own words, a direct test case for whether he is capable of the far larger rescue a bodhisattva's own vow requires. He does not distinguish between the two; failing the smaller rescue would, in his own account, disqualify him from ever attempting the greater one.
A King's Fury, a Queen's Plea
「爾時，五百大臣咸發聲言：『大王！當知如太子意，放獄囚者，毀壞王法，危及我等，不治太子，國不久立！』王聞此言，即發威怒，令誅太子，王后聞之，毀容降服，與千采女馳詣王所，頭面禮足，如是請言：『大王！當知太子有罪，願垂慈恕賜其壽命！』時，彼大王即召太子，太子既至，復白王言：『願垂哀赦獄囚苦人，若不矜恕，我代受苦。』王言：『隨意！』」
"At that time, five hundred ministers all together raised their voices, saying: "Great King! You should know that, if the prince's own wish is followed and the prisoners released, this would destroy the king's own law, and endanger us all; if the prince is not punished, the kingdom will not stand for long!" Hearing these words, the king at once flew into an awesome rage, and ordered the prince to be executed. The queen, hearing of this, disfigured her own countenance and lowered herself in mourning dress, and, together with a thousand attendant women, rushed to the king's own place; reverently bowing her head at his feet, she petitioned thus: "Great King! You should know that, though the prince has committed a fault, may you grant him clemency and spare his life!" At that time, the king summoned the prince; once the prince had arrived, he again said to the king: "May you grant mercy and pardon the suffering prisoners in the dungeon; if you will not show clemency, let me be punished in their stead." The king said: "As you wish!""
Fazang names the remaining steps of this exchange in quick succession: 六臣議令死；七請代囚命；八王怒令誅；九母請王審；十太子確救 — "sixth, the ministers debate and sentence him to death; seventh, requesting to take the prisoners' own place; eighth, the king, enraged, orders his execution; ninth, the mother petitions the king to reconsider; tenth, the prince firmly insists on the rescue." The queen's own gesture — disfiguring her own countenance, lowering herself into mourning dress before her son has even died — is a plea staged as grief already arrived, not grief anticipated; and the king's own final word, "as you wish," resolves nothing about the ministers' warning that his law has just been overturned. What follows is not stated here — only that the prince has been granted what he asked for.
Part 112 In Progress
The prince has offered his own life in the prisoners' place, survived his father's fury through the queen's intervention, and secured the king's reluctant consent. Part 113 turns to what happens next: the prince enters the prison himself, and a great assembly gathers to witness a buddha's own arrival.
Continue to Part 113 →