King Kalbu

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King Kalbu is a mythical figure met in the Buddhist Jtaka literature. His name is extant both in the Southern
Buddhism and Northern Buddhism. Chinese Buddhists call him as "Ke-Li-Wang". He appears in the
Jtaka story named "Khntivda jataka".[1] In Pali 'khanti'[2] and in Sanskrit "khnti" mean 'tolerance', and
'vda' means 'teaching or view'. The name "Khntivda" is given to the ascetic who excelled at 'tolerance' in
face of the brutal atrocities inflicted by the king Kalbu. He is contrasted with the hermit Khntivda. In the
Buddhist literature, Kalabu is related to the Devadatta, the enemy of the Buddha, and the Khntivda was the
Buddha himself in that life.

The story runs as follows:

King Kalabu was ruling kingdom of Varanasi (Benares in modern India). One day he set off for sport and
recreation with the harem. After the play, the king felt asleep on the lap of a harem concubine. Then, the
other members of the harem went to enjoy the scenery of the garden. While they were roaming, they
came to notice an ascetic under a tree with meditation posture. They reached him and initiated a talk. He
preached the dhamma (what is good and bad) for them and the audience was immersed in his talk,
forgetting the king. Meanwhile the king woke up and asked the woman where the other women-folk
were. She said they were listening to an ascetic. He flew into a rage and went out looking for the ascetic.
When he saw the scene in which all women were like under spell in the talk of the ascetic, he could not
bear up his anger. Then, he questioned the ascetic:

"What are you teaching?"

The ascetic replied, "I am teaching tolerance."

"What is tolerance?"

"The ability to stay unmoved in face of atrocities either physical or verbal by others inflicted on oneself."

"Then prove it."

The king ordered his executioner to whip the ascetic. The ascetic was whipped terribly but he did not get
angry.

Seeing this, the king asked, "Are you still tolerant?"

The ascetic calmly replied, "Yes, your Majesty."

Then the king continuously ordered his executioner to cut off his various bodily parts. The ascetic was
bleeding all over his body.

The king finally asked, "Do you still have tolerance?"

The ascetic calmly responded, "Your Majesty, tolerance is not in my bodily parts but it is in my heart.
Though you can harm my body, my mind is immovable."

The king had no bound to his anger. He himself trod on the chest of the ascetic and the blood gushed out
of the mouth of the ascetic. Yet, the ascetic was not moved. A general of the king, who had invited the
ascetic to come to the city, came to know this pathetic situation and ran to the scene. Seeing the ascetic,
he applied some ointment and begged him not to curse the kingdom.

The ascetic said that he had no ill-will towards the king, instead he wished that the king live long.

This is the past story narrated by the Buddha. At the end the Buddha declared that this was his perfection of
tolerance.[3]
Contents
1 Tolerance in this life
2 Northern Buddhism
3 References
3.1 External links

Tolerance in this life

Once we examine the Buddha's attitude held towards criticism brought against him, his teaching and
community by some of his contemporaries, the perfection of tolerance he carried throughout his course of
practice is well-expressed. A similar phraseology used to King Kalabu is uttered when the Buddha came to
know that Suppiya, a different faith holder criticized the Buddha. Here, the Buddha's admonition reminds us of
his previous life perfection of tolerance. The discourse Brahamajala sutta reports the words as follows:

"If, bhikkhus, others speak in dispraise of me, or in dispraise of the Dhamma, or in dispraise of the Sangha, you
should not give way to resentment, displeasure, or animosity against them in your heart. For if you were to
become angry or upset in such a situation, you would only be creating an obstacle for yourselves. If you were
to become angry or upset when others speak in dispraise of us, would you be able to recognize whether their
statements are rightly or wrongly spoken?"[4]

Northern Buddhism
In the text Vajracchedika Pragnaparamita (Diamond Sutra), the Buddha refers to the king Kalabu and the sage
of forberance as follows:

"Subhti, the Pramit of Forbearance that the Tathgata speaks of is not a pramit of forbearance. Why?
Subhti, this is like in the past when my body was cut apart by the Kali rja: there were no notions of a self,
notions of a person, notions of a being, or notions of a life. In the past, when I was being hacked limb from
limb, if there were notions of a self, notions of a person, notions of a being, or notions of a life, then I would
have responded with hatred and anger. Remember also that I was the i of Forbearance for five hundred
lifetimes in the past. Over so many lifetimes there were no notions of a self, notions of a person, notions of a
being, or notions of a life.[5]

References
1. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j3/j3014.htm
2. http://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/khanti/index.html
3. http://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kalabu/index.html
4. "Brahmajla Sutta: The All-embracing Net of Views" (DN 1), translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013,
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.01.0.bodh.html .
5. http://www.lapislazulitexts.com/tripitaka/T08_0235

External links

Dictionary of Pli Proper Names, G.P.Malalasekera, Vol.1,p. 536,709 (ISBN 81-206-1823-8)

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This page was last edited on 20 June 2017, at 13:12.
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