Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register
Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.

Buddha and the Pirate ? can anyone give me info?

saltspringreesesaltspringreese
edited March 2010 in Buddhism Basics
Hi,

I remember hearing a story about the Buddha slaying a pirate in a previous incarnation. Have been searching everywhere for it in order to study and quote it, but cannot find.

Can anyone elighten me?

:)

Comments

  • NamelessRiverNamelessRiver Veteran
    edited March 2010
    I have heard that one but I don't know if it was about the Buddha. Apparently the pirate was gonna kill a lot of people and the Bodhisattva saved them by killing the pirate, and so the pirate also didn't get the bad karma from all the killing. You would probably find this story in Mahayana teachings on generosity as a paramita, which includes protection from fear.
  • jinzangjinzang Veteran
    edited March 2010
    The story comes from a Mahayana sutra and is quoted in The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, which is a summary of Buddhism written by Gampopa, the founder of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

    In the story, there are fifty bodhisattvas on a ship--and a thief. The captain of the ship reads the mind of the thief and sees he's about to kill the fifty bodhisattvas so that he can take the ship. To prevent this, the captain kills the thief, as it's the only way to prevent this from happening--or so the story goes. According to the story, the motivation for the act was compassion, so that the thief would not suffer the bad karma of killing fifty bodhisattvas. And the act was meritorious.

    The story was told simply to make the point that acts normally considered morally wrong can be meritorious if they prevent a greater wrong and are done out of compassion.
  • jj5jj5 Medford Lakes, N.J. U.S.A. Veteran
    edited March 2010
    check this out.
    http://books.google.com/books?id=eWVgoVByVhcC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=Buddha+killing+a+Pirate&source=bl&ots=g3VR5C6Xyw&sig=hC0wUjuyCJ4BOSq_9PoJuXjAuhs&hl=en&ei=A5SVS_XLH4L4MvfulPUN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CBkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Sign In or Register to comment.