Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

THE TRAVELS OF FA-HIEN 259
killed them, so that not one escaped. Having got this man,
they took him to the king, who secretly charged him, " You
must make a square enclosure with high walls. Plant in it
all kinds of flowers and fruits ; make good ponds in it for bathing;
make it grand and imposing in every way, so that men
shall look to it with thirsting desire ; make its gates strong and
sure ; and when any one enters, instantly seize him and punish
him as a sinner, not allowing him to get out. Even if 1 should
enter, punish me as a sinner in the same way, and do not let
me go. I now appoint you master of that naraka."
Soon after this a bhikshu, pursuing his regular course of
begging his food, entered the gate of the place. When the
lictors of the naraka saw him, they were about to subject him
to their tortures ; but he, frightened, begged them to allow him
a moment in which to eat his mid-day meal. Immediately
after, there came in another man, whom they thrust into a
mortar and pounded till a red froth overflowed. As the bhikshu
looked on, there came to him the thought of the impermanence,
the painful suffering and inanity of this body, and how
it is but as a bubble and as foam ; and instantly he attained to
Arhatship. Immediately after, the lictors seized him, and
threw him into a caldron of boiling water. There was a look
of joyful satisfaction, however, in the bhikshu's countenance.
The fire was extinguished, and the water became cold. In the
middle of the caldron there rose up a lotus flower, with the
bhikshu seated on it. The lictors at once went and reported to
the king that there was a marvellous occurrence in the naraka,
and wished him to go and see it ; but the king said, " I formerly
made such an agreement that now I dare not go to the place."
The lictors said, " This is not a small matter. Your Majesty
ought to go quickly. Let your former agreement be altered."
The king thereupon followed them, and entered the naraka,
when the bhikshu preached the Law to him, and he believed,
and was made free. Forthwith he demolished the naraka, and
repented of all the evil which he had formerly done. From
this time he believed in and honored the Three Precious Ones,
and constantly went to a patra tree, repenting under it, with
self-reproach, of his errors, and accepting the eight rules of
abstinence.
The queen asked where the king was constantly going to,
and the ministers replied that he was constantly to be seen