King Kanishka and the Little Shepherd

To the south of the Pippala tree, a sacred fig, is a stūpa, a Buddhist monument built to hold sacred remains known as relics. It was built by King Kanishka. This king ascended the throne four hundred years after the Buddha’s death and entry into Nirvāṇa, freedom from suffering, and governed the whole of Jambudvīpa, the land of India.To the south of the Pippala tree is a stūpa built by King Kanishka; this king ascended the throne four hundred years after the Nirvāṇa, and governed the whole of Jambudvīpa. He did not believe that wrongdoing brought punishment or good deeds brought rewards, and he thought little of the Buddha’s teachings.He had no faith either in wrong or right (crime or religious merit), and he lightly esteemed the law of Buddha. One day while crossing a swampy grovewhen traversing a swampy grove (bushy swamp) he saw a white hare, which he followed as far as this spot, when suddenly it disappeared. He then saw a young shepherd-boy, who was building in the nearby woodin the wood hard by a little stūpa about three feet high. The king said, "What are you doing?" The shepherd-boy answered and said, "Long ago, the Buddha, in his divine wisdom, made this prophecy:Formerly śākya Buddha, by his divine wisdom, delivered this prophecy: 'There will be a king in this blessed land who will build a stūpa containing a great portion of my sacred bodily remains.There shall be a king in this victorious (superior) land who shall erect a stūpa, which shall contain a great portion of my bodily relics.' Great King, the sacred merit you earned in former lives, together with your growing fame, has made this the right time for the old prophecy to come true. It spoke of your divine merit and spiritual greatness.The sacred merits of the great king (Kanishka) in former births (suh), with his increasing fame, have made the present occasion a proper one for the fulfillment of the old prophecy relating to the divine merit and the religious superiority of the person concerned. That is why I am doing this now: to draw your attention to those old predictions.And now I am engaged for the purpose of directing you to these former predictions." Having said these words he disappeared.

The king hearing this explanation, was overjoyed. Pleased to believe that the Buddha’s prophecy referred to himFlattering himself that he was referred to in the prophecy of the great saint, he believed with all his heart and deeply respected the Buddha’s teachingspaid reverence to the law of Buddha. Surrounding the site of the little stūpa he built a stone stūpa, wishing to surpass it in height, to prove the power of his religious merit. But as his stūpa grew taller, the other always rose three feet above itin proportion as his stūpa increased the other always exceeded it by three feet, and so he went on till his reached 400 feet, and the base measured several hundred yards aroundthe circumference of the base was a li and a half. When he had built five storeys, each 150 feet high, he finally succeeded in covering the other stūpa.The storeys having reached to five, each 150 feet in height, then he succeeded in covering the other. The king, overjoyed, raised on the top of this stūpa twenty-five rings of gilded copper on a poletwenty-five circlets of gilded copper on a staff, and he placed in the middle of the stūpa about two gallons of the Buddha’s sacred relicsa peck of the śarīras of Tathāgata, and made religious offerings to themoffered to them religious offerings. Scarcely had he finished his work when he saw the little stūpa appear at the south-east of the great foundation, sticking out from its side about halfway uptake its place at the south-east of the great foundation, and project from its side about half-way up. The king was disturbed at this, and ordered the stūpa to be destroyed. When they had got down to the bottom of the second storey, where the little stūpa stuck out, it immediately moved back to its original place and once more rose higher than the larger one.through which the other projected, immediately that one removed to its former place, and once more it surpassed in height the other. As the king withdrew, he said,The king retiring said, "It is easy to make mistakes in human affairs, but when divine influence is at work, it is hard to oppose it. When spiritual power guides something, what can human anger achieve?It is easy to commit errors in human affairs, but when there is divine influence at work it is difficult to counteract it. When a matter is directed by spiritual power, what can human resentment effect?" So he admitted his fault and withdrew.Having confessed his fault, therefore, he retired.