Complete Works of Master Haitao's Story: 9. Being a King for only seven days

9.Be the king for only seven days

After Ashoka ascended the throne, he appointed his younger brother Emperor as Tai Ashoka, and often encouraged him to follow the Buddha's teachings and be kind and tolerant.

One day, Emperor Xu walked into the forest to hunt and suddenly saw someone burning his body with flames.He thought this must be an immortal, so he asked, "How long have you lived here?How do you solve the problem of food and accommodation?So how can we give up our desire?"

The strange immortal replied, “I have lived here for twelve years, feeding on fruits and grass roots;Thatch weaving clothes;Sleeping with grass leaves.However, as long as I see animals in love, it will arouse my longing for my relatives and my yearning for the opposite sex."

After hearing this, Emperor Xu was a little confused and couldn't help but think, "Such difficult practice cannot eliminate the desire in my heart, so why should I waste my energy and give up the enjoyment in front of me!"

After the emperor told his brother the decision, Ashoka was very worried and summoned the ministers to discuss countermeasures, which must help the emperor to firmly follow the Buddha's determination.

After everything was arranged, Ashoka deliberately asked the emperor to come and talk, and called the minister to ask some irrelevant things.After a while, Ashoka pretended to go to take a shower, leaving the emperor to chat with the ministers.The ministers took the opportunity to praise the emperor's beard, praise him for his wisdom, possessing the virtues of the king, and boasting that the king has endless money and beauty.Seeing that the Emperor's expression was not reacting, they put on Ashoka's dragon robe and pushed him to sit on the king's throne.

At this time, King Ashoka came out. He pretended to be furious at the Emperor's beard sitting on the throne and shouted sternly: "I am not dead yet, you have already sat on the throne. This is great!Take him outside and kill him!"

The soldiers immediately surrounded the Emperor's Shou, while the ministers pretended to tell King Ashoka all the time, saying, "The Emperor's Shou was just curious for a moment and forgot the national law.What's more, he is your brother. Please feel grateful for your brotherhood and calm down!"

Ashoka replied, “Okay, does he want to be king?I'll make him happy.I made him the king of seven days, performed all kinds of songs and dances for him, dedicated to his beauties of all kinds, let him enjoy it to his heart's content, and then satisfy his various requirements.Then, execute it immediately!"

Every day, someone reported the situation of the emperor's beard to King Ashoka, until the seventh night, King Ashoka and his ministers arrived at the emperor's beard sitting on the throne of the king.

King Ashoka looked at the gloomy face of the Emperor and asked, “Have you been the king of seven days satisfied all the desires in your heart?"

The Emperor looked at King Ashoka and replied slowly, "I can't feel any good things in these seven days.As soon as I think of the executioner holding a sharp knife on my neck, my heart is filled with fear of death.Death nailed my heart like a nail, making me very painful!"

Ashoka said to the Emperor, "It seems that you have regarded death as the most painful thing in your life.Therefore, even if you can live to get the best things in the world, you will no longer be interested or happy!The Buddha's disciples realized that death was inevitable and no longer focused on the pursuit of the world.If you can think like this, practicing is not a difficult thing!"

It turned out that King Ashoka wanted to educate the emperor's beard in a roundabout way.

The emperor replied: "Brother Wang!You're right.From now on, I will work hard to learn Buddhism."

King Ashoka said happily to the Emperor, "Actually, I can't bear to see you being influenced by greed.In order to make you follow the Dharma, you have to be angry intentionally and make you feel scared.Hope you understand!"

After that, the emperor must earnestly follow the Buddha's teachings and later became an excellent monk.