Once, Ānanda went into the city of Rājagṛha in the early morning to beg for food. One Brahman who was known for filial piety also begged in the street while carrying his mother on his back.

When Ānanda met and praised this Brahman, a Brahmacārin spoke to Ānanda that his master Gautama should be an evil person. According to this Brahmacārin, Siddhartha Gautama was not filial or dutiful to fulfill the repayment of kindness since his mother passed away after his birth, and his father and his wife were distressed at his renouncement.

Ānanda heard the Brahmacārin’s words and felt ashamed. He returned to the Buddha, put his palms together in greeting, and asked: “The World Honored One, is there a teaching of repaying the parents’ kindness in the Buddhist Dharma?”

The Buddha smiled and radiated the five-colored light to preach the Great Skillful Means Sutra on the Buddhaʼs Repayment of Kindness.

Once five-hundred women from the Gautama clan went to the Bhikshuni vihara to seek the path of enlightenment. Utpalavarṇā arranged a Buddhist ordination and accepted them as disciples. As they requested, Utpalavarṇā expounded on the causes of sufferings in secular life. With the divine power of samādhi, Utpalavarṇā emitted light to invoke divinities and spirits and started her preaching.

Before renouncing the secular life, Utpalavarṇā once took her family along to visit her parents. When crossing a rising river, she carried her younger child on her back and wrapped her newborn baby in her dress. Holding the dress in her mouth to swaddle the baby tightly, Utpalavarṇā went down to the river. Upon reaching the middle of the river, she turned around and found her elder child being chased by a fierce tiger on the riverbank. Utpalavarṇā opened her mouth to call out to the elder child, and immediately the newborn in the dress fell into the river. To search for the baby, Utpalavarṇā bent down, and her younger child slipped from her back and drowned. All three children passed away.

Later, a group of travelers passed by and brought Utpalavarṇā the message that her parents’ house burnt to the ground last night with no survivors. Soon five-hundred robbers came to attack them, and the chief of robbers took Utpalavarṇā as his wife.

One day, after conducting a robbery with other robbers, the robber chief was chased by landlords and villagers to his house.

Utpalavarṇā was giving birth to a baby in the house and failed to open the door for the robber chief. The robber chief climbed into the house and became furious at Utpalavarṇā, forcing her to kill and eat the newborn.

Afterwards, the robber chief was caught and sentenced to death. Based on the law, his wife Utpalavarṇā should be buried alive.

Utpalavarṇā escaped from the pit due to tigers and wolves’ digging in the midnight. Out of pity, the elder and the Brahman introduced her to the Buddha’s way of eliminating all her sufferings. Utpalavarṇā went to become a Bhikshuni.

Hoping to attain the Buddhist Dharma, the Great Chakravarti king issued an edict to search for a master. A Brahman from a remote border county had an excellent command of the Dharma and received an invitation to visit the king.

The Brahman requested the king to gouge out one thousand wounds in the king’s body, fill the wounds with oil, and install candles to make offerings. Without this offering, the Brahman refused to preach the Dharma to the king.

The king sat on his throne and asked the ministers, rulers of dependent states, five hundred princes, and twenty thousand concubines if anyone would be able to gouge out one thousand wounds on him. They all replied that they would rather gouge their eyes than hurt the king’s body. In the end, a Caṇḍāla held a knife to gouge out one thousand wounds all over the king.

Then the Brahman told the king half of the gāthā about the principle of rise and fall: birth equals death; closure means pleasure. At this moment, the king lighted one thousand candles to make offerings to the Brahman. The candlelight illuminated the realms in all directions and reached the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. The heavenly king descended to the Chakravarti king’s palace in disguise as a human being.

The king of Vāraṇasi summoned ministers, officials, masters, and Brahmans to celebrate the birth of his two princes. By interpreting omens, the diviners gave the first prince a style name as kalyāṇa-mitra (good companion) and named the second prince pāpa-mitra (evil companion).

Being accompanied by a large entourage, Prince kalyāṇa-mitra went to the outer suburbs and saw the farmers plowing the land. The prince gazed into the scene and felt sorrow.

Moving forward, the prince met workers who carried out the painstaking duty of spinning and weaving.

Moving forward, the prince saw butchers slaughter animals.

Moving forward, the prince saw fishermen cast for fish. Prince kalyāṇa-mitra grieved for the scene that human beings committed all kinds of evil and caused unceasing suffering. With tears in his eyes, the prince returned to the palace.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra ordered the officials to open the imperial storehouse, used five hundred elephants to carry the treasure out of four city gates, and allowed people who needed clothes and food to take the treasure home.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra claimed that a filial son should not expend his parents’ resources and decided to gain treasure for people with his own efforts. As the prince was seeking advice from the court, one official said that the best way of attaining treasure sufficient for all sentient beings is to find the Cintāmaṇi (wish-fulfilling jewel) in the sea.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra asked for the king’s permission to search for the Cintāmaṇi in the sea. He bowed down and said that if my parents refused this request, I would give up my life and never stand up again.

There was an old blind seaman who had mastery over the route on the sea. When hearing the king’s command of asking him to guide Prince kalyāṇa-mitra on this trip, the seaman burst out crying and persuaded the king to prevent the prince from risking his life setting out on this difficult journey.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra prepared the implements for five hundred followers and sounded the drum to announce the orders at the seaside. Being jealous of Prince kalyāṇa-mitra, Prince pāpa-mitra acquired permission from the king to join this journey.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra sounded the drum until the seventh day and set sail for the location of Cintāmaṇi.

Upon arriving the Treasure Mountain, Prince kalyāṇa-mitra sounded the drum and commanded his followers to collect the treasure and return. Accompanied by the seaman, Prince kalyāṇa-mitra planned to walk forward to find the Cintāmaṇi.

The blind seaman guided Prince kalyāṇa-mitra to move forward. After seven days, the water reached their knees. After walking for another seven days, the water covered their necks. Another seven days later, they had to swim across the water. The old seaman was exhausted and lay down. Shortly after he told Prince kalyāṇa-mitra that the Cintāmaṇi in Dragon King’s ear could fulfill the prince’s wish, the seaman passed away.

Moving forward, Prince kalyāṇa-mitra passed through the Mountain of Silver, the Mountain of Gold, the Ground of Blue Lotus, and the Ground of Red Lotus. With the divine power of samādhi, Prince kalyāṇa-mitra walked on the path made of lotus and crossed the ground safely.

Because of the divine power generated from kindness, Prince kalyāṇa-mitra arrived at the Dragon King’s palace successfully. The prince asked for the the Cintāmaṇi in Dragon King’s left ear to help all the sentient beings in Vāraṇasi become eliminated from suffering. The Dragon King approved his request, offered him the Cintāmaṇi after a seven-day offering, and sent Dragon Generals to bring him back to Vāraṇasi.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra returned to the seaside and met his brother Prince pāpa-mitra. When taking turns to guard the Cintāmaṇi, Prince pāpa-mitra stabbed Prince kalyāṇa-mitra’s eyes with bamboo and stole the Cintāmaṇi. Prince kalyāṇa-mitra called his brother’s name with grief. The divinity of a tree was touched and told Prince kalyāṇa-mitra the evil deeds his brother committed.

With blind eyes, Prince kalyāṇa-mitra went to the neighboring country. The bovine king of five-hundred cattle licked off the bamboo on the prince’s eyes and protected him.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra had a talent for playing the zheng 箏 (zither-like musical instrument). Hearing the pleasant music, people offered him sufficient food and drink. Five hundred beggars in the street also received their meal.

The supervisor of an orchard provided a job to support Prince kalyāṇa-mitra.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra guarded the orchard while playing the zheng to entertain himself. One day, the princess came to the orchard with her attendants’ and encountered Prince kalyāṇa-mitra. The princess fell in love with the prince and became reluctant to leave him.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra restored his eyesight and received a letter from his mother. He wrote down his experience, tied his letter to the wild goose’s neck, and sent it back to Vāraṇasi.

After greeting Prince kalyāṇa-mitra, the king of the neighboring country married the princess to him and sent them back to Vāraṇasi.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra returned and expressed his gratitude to the rulers of other countries, officials, and ordinary people who came to celebrate the reunion.

Prince kalyāṇa-mitra went to a high building, held an incense burner in his hands, paid homage to the Cintāmaṇi, and made his wish. With the divine power of this wish-fulfilling jewel, Vāraṇasi immediately received the rain of rice, the rain of clothes and jewels, and the rain of treasure and music. All sentient beings attained sufficient goods to live without suffering.

The king of Varanāsī had three princes who served as the rulers of three border countries.

Once, an influential minister named Rahu plotted treason and killed the king. With his troops, Rahu killed the first prince in the border country and went after the second prince.

In the palace of the third prince, the guardian deity informed the prince that Rahu’s troops would soon arrive and persuaded the prince to escape. The third prince, unable to see the deity in the sky, questioned the validity of his words. The guardian deity of the palace said that this message was a reward for the prince’s governing the country well.

The third prince, as the ruler of this border country, had an intelligent and benevolent son named Sujāta. Born with golden color, Sujāta grew up in perfect shape in his seventh. The third prince doted on Sujāta and looked after him meticulously.

After hearing the guardian deity’s words, the third prince was on tenterhooks and went to hold Sujāta on his knee. Upon seeing the third prince’s panic-stricken look, his wife asked about the reason.

Then the third prince planned two routes to escape to the neighboring country. One took seven days to arrive, while the other required fourteen days. He prepared seven days’ provisions and set off to the city gate in disguise. Shortly afterward, he returned to the palace and brought Sujāta with him. His wife followed them to leave.

In his original plan, the third prince decided to share his seven-day provisions with his wife and Sujāta. Unfortunately, they entered the fourteen-day route by mistake and used up their supplies halfway. The third prince and his wife wailed with grief and became desperate with hunger and thirst. The third prince wanted to kill his wife to let his son Sujāta survive. Sujāta held his hand and swore to refuse this sacrifice.

Sujāta induced his parents to accept his flesh as provisions and used his father’s dragon sword to cut three jin (a traditional unit of weight, equivalent to 0.5 kilograms) of flesh every day.

Several days later, Sujāta used up the remaining flesh between his joints and bones to support his parents. With his last breath, Sujāta took an oath to pray for eleven blessings for his parents. When the oath was uttered, six different shakes emerged in heaven and earth. The incarnation of Indra descended to ask Sujāta about the act of sacrificing his body to support his parents.

When the third prince arrived in the neighboring country, he recounted their experiences. The king of the neighboring country was deeply moved by Sujāta’s filial piety and sent troops to suppress Rahu.

The third prince led the troops and returned to find Sujāta. With divine power, Sujāta recovered and had a tearful reunion with his parents.