Gyalsey_Laglen_v2_24092014_e-book

One of Nagarjuna’s main disciples was a king. He gave him the blessing of
longevity, and of course, we know that Nagarjuna had the ability live forever. The
king’s son had the evil idea of being enthroned in a great golden brocaded shirt
and waited for his father, now old, to die. His mother the queen told him, “Your
father has been blessed by Nagarjuna so he will never die unless Nagarjuna dies.
But Nagarjuna will never die so this is bad news for you.” This upset the son.
The queen saw that her son was suffering a lot and said, “Nagarjuna is a great
Bodhisattva. Simply go and ask him for his head. Just say, ‘If it is possible, I need
your head,’ and he will definitely give it to you. This means he will die and your
father will immediately die. This is the only solution.” So he did it and that is how
Nagarjuna was sacrificed.
There is also a karmic element to this story. When the prince asked for his
head, Nagarjuna said, “It is my pleasure. Please take it.” The prince had a big
knife and tried to cut Nagarjuna’s head off but it did not work. He tried many
times.
Nagarjuna did a deep meditation and told him, “You cannot cut my neck
with your knife because I have no karma to have it cut that way. If you really must
do it, there is a solution. Many eons ago, I was a little girl in a nomadic home
and was sent to cut grass for the cattle. While cutting the grass, a blade of grass
accidentally cut the neck of a small ant and killed it. This is the only karma left
today, so if you really want to cut my neck, get a piece of grass. It will cut me.”
The prince got a blade of grass, did what Nagarjuna said and his head fell
off. The story not only tells us how the great Bodhisattva gives everything to
all beings, but describes the strong working of karma. Even for Nagarjuna, the
karma was there. He was very kind. If it were me, I would have kept it a secret
and said, “You cannot kill me.” But he knew the prince was desperately seeking
his head. As a great Bodhisattva, he even told the prince how to cut it off. Can
you imagine that This is the difference between Nagarjuna and us.
Maybe I would have said, “Okay, go ahead,” but if he couldn’t cut me with
his knife, I would be delighted to keep quiet. But Nagarjuna was genuinely very
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