Once upon a time, King Brahmadatta was ruling in Benares, in northern India. The Enlightenment Being
was born as his son, the prince. Being quite intelligent, he completed his entire education by the
age of 16. So, at this early age, his father made him second in command .
In those days, most people in Benares worshipped gods. They were very superstitious . They thought
gods caused things to happen to them, rather than being results of their own actions. So they would
pray to these gods and ask special favors. They would ask for a lucky marriage, or the birth of a
child, or riches, or fame.
They would promise the gods that, if their prayers were answered, they would pay them by making
offerings to them. In addition to flowers and perfumes, they imagined the gods desired the sacrifice
of animals. So, when they thought the gods had helped them, they killed many animals — goats, lambs,
chickens, pigs and others.
The prince saw all this and thought, “These helpless animals are also subjects of the king, so I must
protect them. The people commit these unwholesome acts due to ignorance and superstition. This cannot
be true religion.
For true religion offers life as it really is, not killing. True religion offers peace of mind, not
cruelty.
“I fear these people believe in their superstitions too strongly to give them up. This is very sad.
But perhaps their beliefs can at least be put to good use. Some day I will become king. So I must
begin to make a plan to let their superstitions help them. If they must offer sacrifices, let them
kill their own greed and hatred, instead of these helpless animals! Then the whole kingdom will
benefit.”
So the prince devised a clever long term plan. Every so often, he rode in his grand chariot to a
popular banyan tree just outside the city. This was a huge tree, where the people prayed and made
offerings to a god they thought lived there. The prince came down from his chariot and made the same
offerings as the others — incense , flowers, perfumes and water — but not animal sacrifices.
In this way he made a great show, and the news spread about his offerings. Pretty soon, all the
people thought he was a true believer in the great god of the banyan tree.
In due time, King Brahmadatta died and his son became king. He ruled as a righteous king, and the
people benefited. So all his subjects came to trust and respect him as a just and honorable king.
Then one day, he decided it was the right time to carry out the rest of his plan. So he called all
the leading citizens of Benares to the royal assembly hall. He asked them, “Worthy ministers and
loyal subjects, do you know how I was able to make sure that I would become king?” No one could
answer.
He said, “Do you remember that I often gave wonderful sweet offerings to the great god of the banyan
tree?” “Yes, our lord,” they said.
The king continued, “At each of those times, I made a promise to the powerful god of the tree. I
prayed, ‘Oh mighty one, if you make me King of Benares, I will offer a special sacrifice to you, far
greater than flowers and perfumes.’
”Since I am now the king, you all can see for yourselves that the god has answered my prayers. So
now I must keep my promise and offer the special sacrifice.”
All those in the assembly hall agreed. They said, “We must prepare this sacrifice at once. What
animals do you wish to kill?”
The king said, “My dear subjects , I am glad you are so willing to cooperate. I promised the great
god of the banyan tree that I would sacrifice anyone who fails to practice the Five Training Steps.
That is, anyone who destroys life, takes what is not given, does wrong in sexual ways, speaks
falsely, or loses his mind from alcohol. I promised that, if any do these things, I will offer their
guts , and their flesh and blood on the great god’s altar !”
Being so superstitious, all those in the hall agreed that this must be done, or the god would surely
punish the king and the kingdom.
The king thought, “Ah, such is the power of superstition that these people have lost all common
sense! They cannot see that, since the first training step is to give up killing, if I sacrificed one
of my subjects, I would be next on the altar! And such is the power of superstition that I could make
such a promise, and never have to carry it out!”
So, with full confidence in the power of superstition, the king said to the leading citizens, “Go
into all the kingdom and announce the promise I made to the god. Then proclaim that the first one-
thousand who break any of the training steps will have the honor of being sacrificed, to keep the
king’s promise.”
Lo and behold , the people of Benares became famous for carefully practicing the Five Training Steps.
And the good king, who knew his subjects so well, sacrificed no one.
The moral is: Sacrifice your own wrong doing, not some helpless animal.