THE MASSACRE OF THE BUDDHA'S HOMETOWN

- A story from the Buddhist Scriptures

ACT I Planting the seed of war

Ancient India was a country of many Kingdoms, and wars frequently broke out among them. But, according to the teachings of the Buddha, the Law of Karma is always applicable to individuals as well as to whole nations. One should therefore treat the citizens of other nations with all the due respects they deserved.

According to historical records, the Buddha's home country, Kapilavastu, had a very strong neighbour known as the Kingdom of Kosala, whose King was named Prasenajit (in Pali, Pasenadi). These two countries had numerous conflicts for many generations.

Before the Buddha was enlightened, King Prasenajit sent an embassador to the Sakya people (the citizens of Kapilavastu) to court one of their Royal Princesses. But, the Sakya was a proud people. They considered the Kosalans to be barbarians and refused to send in a Princess as a bride. But, King Prasenzjit was a military strong man, and so, to avoid a bloodshed, the Sakya General Mahanama, told the Buddha's father, King Suddhodana:

"I had an idea. Kosala is a very strong country militarily and politically. If we had a conflict with them, we may not be a match. I have a beautiful and attractive slave. Let us lie to them that she was my daughter and send her out as a Royal bride."

However, during those days, marriages between two different classes (such as between a Princess and a worker) were unheard of. This is of course cheating and therefore the Buddha disagreed, saying that it was not a proper manner to treat another nation with lies. But, no one listened and so a slave girl from Kapilavastu was sent to King Prasenajit to become a Royal Queen.



ACT II An insult became an international affair

The King and Queen of Kosala soon gave birth to Prince Virudhaka (literally, precious stones). The Royal couple later became followers of the Buddha. When Prince Virudhaka was about eight years old, he was sent to Kapilavastu to learn weaponry, specializing in arrows.

That was just the time when the Buddha was returning to his hometown to see his family ten years after his great renunciation. The Sakyas was of course very excited. They built a huge, magnificent and gorgeous platform to welcome the Buddha back home, decorated with beautiful carvings and with incense sticks. The workers than put up a holy altar to prepare for Buddha's sermon.

Prince Virudhara was just a small kid. He played in the streets of the city with his school friends and soon wondered into the huge platform. When the Sakya soldiers saw him playing in what was considered to be a holy altar, their Commander got furious - the descendant of a slave should not be seen inside a Royal building and mixed with high class Brahmins. He ordered the soldiers to kick out the young Prince Virudhaka and the workers to resurface and repaint any areas touched by a lowly human being. Such areas were considered to be dirty and had to be covered with fresh soil or paint.

Prince Virudhara was angry of this whole affair and vowed that, "When I become King of Kosala, I will take revenge against the Sakyas."

When the Buddha learned of the incident, he knew that the fate of his own country was dated, because everything that the Sakya people did was against international protocol.



ACT III Buddha's effort to stop the war

After King Suddhodana (the Buddha's father) had passed away, General Mahanama became the King of Kapilavastu. Many years had passed and there had been peace between the two countries because both the King and Queen of Kosala (together with Crown Prince Jeta) were the Buddha's followers. But the world is such an impermanent place to live that one day, peace came to an end when King and Queen Prasenajit went outside his palace to inspect his own subjects. Prince Virudhara had staged a military coup, sizing power from the King and killing his step brother the Crown Prince Jeta.

In the confusion, King Prasenajit and his "slave" Queen fled to Kapilavastu to seek political asylum. Soon King Prasenajit, now about 80 years old, died of sickness and was buried with much pomp and circumstances.

Meanwhile, Prince Virudhara, having seized power, announced that he was now King of Kosala and declared war on Kapilavastu.

When the Buddha learned of the impending conflict, he tried to stop the advancing Kosalan army by meditating under a dead tree on the face of the advancing King Virudhara.

The King did not like the Buddha at all, but he stopped his chariot and asked him, "You should be meditating under a Bodhi tree, not under a dead tree."

"You are right, " replied the Buddha, "but what is the use of a Bodhi tree without love and peace?"

It was customary those days in India that an army had to retreat if they came across a holy religious man on the way, and what they met was the Buddha. Therefore, following international protocol of those days, King Virudhara ordered his army to return home.

But soon King Virudhara mounted a second assault and a third assault, but each time he met the Buddha seating underneath a dead tree facing the advancing army. So according to ancient Indian international protocol, the Kasolan Army returned home.

The fourth time, however, the Buddha was not there, and King Virudhara's army marched straight towards Kapilavastu.



ACT IV Maha-Maudgalyana mystic power failure

"My Lord Buddha, " said Ananda, one day at the monastery, "why are you so sad?"

"The Sakya people will be massacred in a week," replied the Buddha sadly. "They had broken international protocol and insulted a Royal Prince from their neighbourhood Kingdom. They never felt sorry of what they did nor gave an apology. No matter what his ancestors was, a human being should be treated with respect. Therefore, the karma of the Sakya people had ripened and there is little I can do to help."

"But, that is my country," protested Maha-Maudgalyayana, one of Buddha's Senior student. "I will do whatever I can to help Kapilavastu out!"

"It is their sin and no one will escape the law of karma." said the Buddha. "If they do not confess that they are wrong, no one can save them!"

The Kingdom of Kapilavastu was now surrounded by the Kasolan troops. Maha-Maudgalyayana, an expert in performing mystic powers, flew into the city and put 500 Sakyas into his begging bowl. Then, he took the bowl with him and flew out to safety. But, when he open his begging bowl and looked inside, there weren't any people. All he had was a bowl of bloody water! Now, he understood that the Law of karma is the supreme law of the Universe and no one is above it!



ACT V The Massacre

After many days of war, General Mahanama gave in and surrendered. During ancient times, "surrender" also meant death and King Virudhaka immediately ordered a massacre of all 30,000 Sakyas.

"No matter what, " said General Mahanama to King Virudhaka, "you are still my adopted grandson. I have a last request."

"What is it?"

"It is not easy to kill that many people. I beg you to let some people out. I am now going to submerge into the river while my people are fleeing. Once I come out of the water, you can start the killing." said General Mahanama.

"Good," King Virudhaka bursted into laughter. "I want to see how long can you stay under water."

So the Sakyas started to flee, and King Virudhaka laughed loudly at the embarrassment of his enemies, thinking that it was funny to see them getting out in a mess. But when most of the Sakyas had fled, King Virudhaka, became curious, "how come General Mahanama stays under water for so long?" He sent his soldiers to check it out.

"Your Majesty, " replied his soldier after the investigation, "General Mahanama is dead. He gave up his life to save his own people." bursting into tears as he made his report.



ACT VI A tragic ending

Thus, King Virudhaka, the son of the Buddha's devoted follower, killed his own family and massacred another nation. But shortly after his victory, a fire occurred in his Palace. Was it an "accident" or was it an act of his enemies, or was it a fire from Heaven, no one knew. But no one seemed to care and he and his Queen were killed in that fire.

Finally, another Buddha's follower, King Ajatasatru, consolidated both Kingdoms to form the Empire of Rajagrha.