Story of druma’s action on the śrāvakas

Some śrāvakas heard T’ouen louen mo (Druma), king of the Kin t’o lo (Kiṃnara) playing the lute, singing and praising the Buddha according to the true nature of dharmas. Then Mount Sumeru and all the trees shook; the great disciples of the Buddha, Mahākāśyapa, etc., were unable to sit still on their seats.

The bodhisattva T’ien siu asked Mahākāśyapa:

“You are very old and the foremost among those who observe the dhutas; why cannot you control your mind and keep still?”

Mahākāśyapa answered:

“My mind would never be disturbed by pleasures divine or human; but here there are marvelous sounds, the reward for immense merits of this bodhisattva; when he produces these sounds by metamorphosis (nirmāṇa), there is no means to resist. When the winds of the eight directions arise, they are unable to shake Mount Meru; but when the P’i lan wind (Vairambhavāyu)^[1] comes at the end of the kalpa, it blows away Mount Meru like straw. “

This is why we know that the bodhisattva succeeds in eliminating his passions by the vision of the specific characteristics of all dharmas. All other people obtain only the dhyānas themselves, but do not obtains the dhyānapāramitā.

Note on this story:

Episode told in the Drumakiṃnararājaparipṛcchā: see references above, Traité, I, p 615F, n. 2.

– Here the Mppś presents Druma as king of the Kiṃnaras; above he was presented as king of the Gandharvas (cf. Traité, I, p. 609F, n. 4).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

For this wind, see above, Traité, I, p. 559F, n. 1.