Sen'yo
Sen'yo
仙予 ( Jpn)
The name of Shakyamuni Buddha when he was a king in a previous existence, according to the "Noble Practice" chapter of the Nirvana Sutra. The chapter describes King Sen'yo (Sanskrit unknown; Chin Hsien-yü) as the ruler of a great kingdom who had deep reverence for the great vehicle, or Mahayana, sutras. In his heart, he was pure and good, free from evil thoughts, jealousy, or stinginess. He continued to make offerings to Brahmans for twelve years. One day, when he heard Brahmans slander the great vehicle teachings, he put them to death to protect the teachings.
Because of this act, the sutra says, he was never thereafter in danger of falling into hell. In his 1260 work On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land, Nichiren says that this story should not be taken as condoning the killing of slanderers, but rather as demonstrating the gravity of slandering the correct teaching and the importance of protecting it. He says, "According to the Buddhist teachings, prior to Shakyamuni slanderous monks would have incurred the death penalty. But since the time of Shakyamuni, the One Who Can Endure, the giving of alms to slanderous monks is forbidden in the sutra teachings" (23).
