Ancient Hindu manuscript teaches harmonious living

By I Wayan Juniartha

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): The Sutasoma shadow puppet performance at the Natya Mandala auditorium on Aug. 31 was no ordinary one. Not because it was staged by the high-profile Institute For Syriac Christian Studies (ISCS), the State College of Hindu Studies, Denpasar College of Arts and the spiritual Hindu learning center Gandhi Puri Ashram, nor because it featured an unpopular topic among Balinese wayang kulit lovers.

But mostly because the story was more encouraging for Indonesians to follow Sutasoma's steps in facing challenges.

Despite its lack of melodramatic romance, heroic battle and spine-chilling scenes, not to mention its heavy philosophic content, Sutasoma seemed more suitable for the elderly, instead of young viewers.

The youngsters -- who usually clapped noisily when Pandawa's Bhima tore Kurawa Dursasana's body into pieces before drinking his blood -- would probably fall asleep watching the pacifist Sutasoma in action.

"The performance has not been staged to stimulate the viewers' emotion. Instead, we wanted to stimulate their awareness and consciousness about several important issues -- such as religious tolerance, the nation's unity and above all, a compassionate love toward every living being -- through the performance," said Shafa E. Hermawati of ISCS.

Kekawin Sutasoma was written during the golden age of the Majapahit empire, when its vassals stretched as far and wide as the present Indonesia, by a respected poet Mpu Tantular. In his works, Tantular repeatedly preached the beauty of peaceful coexistence between the two major religions of his time: Buddhism and Siwaism.

Tantular stated that those religions were actually a different "rivers", which had the same source and the same goal. The national slogan "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" (unity through diversity) on the Republic of Indonesia's Garuda Pancasila coat of arms was taken from a lyric in Tantular's Sutasoma.

The story itself dealt with the spiritual journey of the heir to the throne of the Astina kingdom, the young Prince Sutasoma. Just a few days before his enthronement Sutasoma left the palace in search of the ultimate truth of life.

He spent a long period meditating at a deserted cemetery where eventually he met the goddes Durgha and received her blessing. He then continued his journey, only to meet a bloodthirsty elephant, an angry dragon and a starving female tiger so desperate that she was ready to consume her own offspring.

On those three occasions, Prince Sutasoma consistently avoided the use of his human ego and supernatural power as a blessed man to take command of his action. Instead, with heart full of divine compassion, he offered his own life to ease those creatures' pains and sorrows. With an understanding smile the young prince let the female tiger eat his body so she might save her children. This act of boundless generosity was dramatically illustrated by puppeteer I Wayan Nartha.

Realizing that they had killed a noble man, those creatures wept in regret. Fortunately, through divine intervention Sutasoma was resurrected. The elephant, dragon and tiger bowed before him and asked Sutasoma to be their spiritual teacher.

Yet, another great obstacle awaited Sutasoma in the form of the mighty King Purusadha. He loved eating human flesh and bones and had made a promise of sacrificing 101 kings to the fearsome god Kala. He already had 100 kings in his prison, and Sutasoma was his next target.

Against all odds and expectation, Sutasoma approached Purusadha in a gentle and calm manner, offering himself to be sacrificed in place of the other kings. Purusadha turned down the offer and drew his sword to behead Sutasoma, but to no avail. He used all kinds of weapons and powers on Sutasoma, but they did not work.

In his one final attempt, Purusadha transformed himself into a giant, Rudra, full of anger and destructive power massive enough to destroy the whole world. Sutasoma benignly drew a shining multi-colored diamond, which engulfed the Rudra with a soft energy of compassionate love.

Purusadha suddenly realized the true meaning of love and life. He fell on his knees, begging Sutasoma to accept him as his follower.

"The story has both Siwaism and Buddhism elements. Prince Sutasoma himself is a perfect embodiment of the Buddhist Boddhisatwa," scholar Ketut Sumarta said.

He revealed the name Sutasoma could mean son of the moon or son of somya. The Hindus believed that somya was the original state of tranquility and harmonious relationship between all things.

"By sacrificing his body and soul, Sutasoma helped other creatures materialize their own somya."

Sumarta said the most important point of the story was Sutasoma's ability to sacrifice his life earnestly and voluntarily for the sake of other creatures. Patidana (a sacrifice of life) was the noblest sacrifice of all.

"Only when a man has a perfect understanding of the impermanence of things and an all-encompassing compassionate love, will he be able to offer such sacrifice. That kind of man was the true merdeka (free) man, because he had destroyed the chains of ego, fondness and illusion," he said.

By offering Patidana, Sutasoma had managed to prevent violent conflicts from occurring, saved many lives, and at the same time, succeeded in transforming many violent creatures into compassionate ones.

The Sutasoma story offers the most practical solutions for our conflict-ridden nation that is on the verge of disintegration. The solutions are tolerance, compassionate love, deep understanding over others' weaknesses and an ability to sacrifice ourselves -- instead of sacrificing others -- to help.

One big question then, is it possible in the real world?

"If you look at Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Thich Nhat Hanh or Nelson Mandela, you will realize they accomplished what other people had thought of as impossible in the first place," Sumarta stated.

The really big question is whether we are ready to be humble, to admit our mistakes and to learn from a 600-year-old text.