PureInsight | December 25, 2012
[PureInsight.org] Once upon a time in a kingdom that was once thriving with prosperity and virtue, where the people were once full of well-being and happiness, things began to progressively decline and in the end the kingdom was on the verge of total collapse. After a lot of civil disorder, and after the King’s sickness and the Court’s unrest, the people’s morality declined dramatically. They started to lose any sense of propriety and faith in Heaven. Moral decline spread in the population to the point of people brandishing the “mark of the immoral:” an oath—sometimes depicted by a brand of a red dragon on the forearm—as a sign of the dramatic rebellion of people against virtue and conscience.
When the King recovered, he saw all this and found that in his weakness he was afflicted with the same lack of morality.
With the intention of finding in himself what his people had lost, he left the command of his Kingdom to his most trusted counselor, stripped off his royal robes, and after donning common garb, set off on a long journey.
During his travels, he fell asleep in a desolate place and had a dream. A Divine Being revealed to him that everyone in his kingdom would be banished from Heaven if they did not break the oath of the immoral. From that day on, the king wandered from village to village telling people about his dream, but no one listened to him. One day an old drunkard stole a piece of chicken from an inn. The innkeeper pursued him, brandishing a long knife and shouting at him. He caught the drunk and almost stabbed him, when the King, in the guise of an ordinary poor man, stepped in and restrained the innkeeper. The King said: “I'll pay for him,” and the innkeeper replied saying that not only was the money to be paid, but he also wanted to cut off at least one of the criminal’s fingers. So the King said he would pay for that too. The innkeeper, without thinking twice, then cut off one of the King’s fingers. The King experienced great pain and tried hard not to resent it. The thief meanwhile mumbled something and walked away.
The King encountered similar hardships on many occasions, resulting in the loss of some teeth and/or money, enduring conflicts with people, and many other tribulations that resulted in some painful blow. Little by little, some people were struck by his righteous behavior and cancelled their foolish oaths.
One day, while the King (always dressed in humble attire) was busy explaining the facts to people, convincing them to give up their perverse oath and seek virtue in themselves, he encountered a man with a rifle, who pointed it at him and began to scream with hatred. At first the King felt a pang of fear in his heart, but then composed himself and asked the man kindly what the problem was. The man continued to scream sentences full of hatred. Trying to be calm and gentle, the King told him the facts about the oath. The man was struck by the selflessness of the person in front of him, but he was not in his right mind, and a killing madness was stirring inside him. While trying to suppress his rage and fidgeting in a strange way, he fired the rifle and shot the King.
Voices of astonishment and fear rose throughout the inn, and then there was silence for a few seconds. Miraculously, the King staggered to his feet and said everything was fine. The bullet had left only a minor graze near his shoulder. After seeing this, the man with the rifle began to cry. Feeling tremendous relief, he broke his oath, dropped his rifle and went home with a bright face.
Later, after most people had renounced the evil oath and the overall situation had improved (there were still some acts of extreme violence from those who didn’t want to be saved), God’s Judgment came.
The illusions were swept away in a moment, and the King reappeared in his bright clothes and glittering gold. Everyone burst into tears and acknowledged their ruler. The King finally recognized himself and remembered who he once was.
