King Sivi

‘Venerable Nāgasena, your people say thus: “King Sivi gave his eyes to the man who begged them of him, and when he had thus become blind, new eyes were given to him from heaven.” This statement is unpalatable, it lays its speaker open to rebuke, it is faulty. For it is said in the Sutta: “When the cause has been utterly destroyed, when there is no longer any cause, any basis left, then the divine eye cannot arise.” So if he gave his eyes away, the statement that he received new (divine) ones must be false: and if divine eyes arose to him; then the statement that he gave his eyes away must be false. This dilemma too is a double-pointed one, more knotty than a knot, more piercing than an arrow, more confusing than a jungle. It is now put to you. Rouse up in yourself the desire to, accomplish the task that is set to you, to the refutation of the adversaries!’
‘King Sivi gave his eyes away, O king. Harbour no doubt on that point. And in stead thereof divine eyes were produced for him. Neither on that point should you harbour doubt.’
‘But then, Nāgasena, can the divine eye arise when the cause of it has been utterly destroyed, when no cause for it, no basis, remains?’
‘Certainly not, O king.’
‘What then is the reason by which in this case it arose, notwithstanding that its cause had been utterly destroyed, and no cause for it, no basis, remained. Come now. Convince me of the reason of this thing.’
‘What then, O king? Is there in the world such a thing as Truth, by the asseveration of which true believers can perform the Act of Truth ?’
‘Yes, Lord, there is. And by it true believers make the rain to fall, and fire to go out, and ward off the effects of poison, and accomplish many other things they want to do.’
‘Then, great king, that fits the case, that meets it on all fours. It was by the power of Truth that those divine eyes were produced for Sivi the king. By the power of the Truth the divine eye arose when no other cause was present, for the Truth itself was, in that case, the cause of its production. Suppose, O king, any Siddha (accomplished one) on intoning a charm, and saying: “Let a mighty rain now fall!” were to bring about a heavy rainfall by the intoning of his charm—would there in that case be any cause for rain accumulated in the sky by which the rain could be brought about?’
‘No, Sir. The charm itself would be the cause.’
‘Just so, great king, in the case put. There would be no ordinary cause. The Truth itself would be sufficient reason for the growth of the divine eye!’
‘Now suppose, O king, a Siddha were to intone a charm, and say: “Now let the mighty blazing, raging mass of fire go back!” and the moment the charm were repeated it were to retreat—would there be any cause laid by which would work that result?’
‘No, Sir. The charm itself would be the cause.’
‘Just so, great king, would there in our case be no ordinary cause. The power of the Truth would be sufficient cause in itself!’
‘Now suppose, O king, one of those Siddhas were to intone a charm, and were then to say: “Let this malignant poison become as a healing drug!” and the moment the charm were repeated that would be so—would there be any cause in reserve for that effect to be produced?’
‘Certainly not, Sir. The charm itself would cause the warding off of that malignant poison.’
‘Just so, great king, without any ordinary cause the Truth itself was, in king Sivi’s case, a sufficient reason for the reproduction of his eyes.’
‘Now there is no other cause, O king, for the attainment of the four Noble Truths. It is only by means of an Act of Truth that they are attained. In the land of China, O king, there is a king of China, who when he wants to charm the great ocean, performs at intervals of four months a solemn Act of Truth, and then on his royal chariot drawn by lions, he enters a league’s distance into the great ocean. Then in front of the head of his chariot the mighty waves roll back, and when he returns they flow once more over the spot. But could the ocean be so drawn back by the ordinary bodily power of all gods and men combined?’
‘Sir, even the water in a small tank could not be so made to retire, how much less the waters of the great ocean!’
‘By this know then the force of Truth. There is no place to which it does not reach.’
‘When Asoka the righteous ruler, O king, as he stood one day at the city of Pātaliputta in the midst of the townsfolk and the country people, of his officers and his servants, and his ministers of state, beheld the Ganges river as it rolled along filled up by freshets from the hills, full to the brim and overflowing—that mighty stream five hundred leagues in length, and a league in breadth—he said to his officers: “Is there any one, my good friends, who is able to make this great Ganges flow backwards and up stream?”
“‘Nay, Sire, impossible,” said they.
‘Now a certain courtesan, Bindumatī by name, was in the crowd there at the river side, and she heard people repeat the question that the king had asked. Then she said to herself: “Here am I, a harlot, in this city of Pāṭaliputta, by the sale of my body do I gain my livelihood, I follow the meanest of vocations. Let the king behold the power of an Act of Truth performed even by such as I.” And she performed an Act of Truth. And that moment the mighty Ganges, roaring and raging, rolled back, up stream, in the sight of all the people!
‘Then when the king heard the din and the noise of the movement of the waves of the whirlpools of the mighty Ganges, amazed, and struck with awe and wonder, he said to his officers: “How is this, that the great Ganges is flowing backwards?”
‘And they told him what had happened. Then filled with emotion the king went himself in haste and asked the courtesan: “Is it true what they say, that it is by your Act of Truth that this Ganges has been forced to flow backwards?”
“‘Yes, Sire,” said she.
‘And the king asked: “How have you such power in the matter? Or who is it who takes your words to heart (and carries them out)? By what authority is it that you, insignificant as you are, have been able to make this mighty river flow backwards?”
‘And she replied: “It is by the power of Truth, great king.”
‘But the king said: “How can that power be in you—you, a woman of wicked and loose life, devoid of virtue, under no restraint, sinful, who have overstepped all limits, and are full of transgression, and live on the plunder of fools? “
“‘It is true, O king, what you say. That is just the kind of creature I am. But even in such a one as I so great is the power of the Act of Truth that I could turn the whole world of gods and men upside down by it.”
‘Then the king said: “What is this Act of Truth? Come now, let me hear about it.”
“‘Whosoever, O king, gives me gold—be he a noble or a brahman or a tradesman or a servant—I regard them all alike. When I see he is a noble I make no distinction in his favour. If I know him to be a slave I despise him not. Free alike from fawning and from dislike do I do service to him who has bought me. This, your Majesty, is the basis of the Act of Truth by the force of which I turned the Ganges back.”’
‘Thus, O king, is it that there is nothing which those who are stedfast to the truth may not enjoy. And so king Sivi gave his eyes away to him who begged them of him, and he received eyes from heaven, and that happened by his Act of Truth. But what is said in the Sutta that when the eye of flesh is destroyed, and the cause of it, the basis of it, is removed, then can no divine eye arise, that is only said of the eye, the insight, that arises out of contemplation. And thus, O king, should you take it.’
‘Well said, Nāgasena! You have admirably solved the dilemma I put to you; you have rightly explained the point in which I tried to prove you wrong; you have thoroughly overcome the adversary. The thing is so, and I accept it thus.’
Here ends the dilemma as to king Sivi’s Act of Truth.