Warm Coats for Prisoners and the Fatherly Love of the Heavenly Realm

The winter monsoon wind howled through the ancient tiled roofs of the Thang Long citadel. The bone-piercing cold crept through every crack in the doors, making people shiver even inside their thick brocade robes. Inside the warm palace, the fragrance of agarwood incense drifted in swirling clouds, dispelling some of the bitter chill outside. King Ly Thanh Tong sat beside his tea table, cradling a hot porcelain cup in his hands, yet he still felt a stream of cold air seeping from somewhere deep into his heart.

He looked out into the courtyard, where the leafless trees lay covered in a thick layer of white frost. Suddenly, the image of the prisoners held in the jail appeared vividly in the king's mind. They, too, were human beings, with red blood and yellow skin, yet now they were enduring the harsh cold without even a single warm garment to cover their bodies.

The king set down his teacup, and the soft clink of porcelain against wood echoed through the quiet room. He turned to the courtier standing in attendance beside him, his voice deep and warm yet full of resolve:

"The winter cold is so severe this season. Even here in my warm palace, with all these warm robes, I still feel cold. Look at the prisoners—though they have committed crimes, they are still human beings. In this biting cold, can they endure it? Take warm coats and distribute them to the prisoners."

The courtier was slightly taken aback. He bowed his head in obedience, yet in his heart he still felt some hesitation because of the strict protocols of the royal court. The king seemed to read his thoughts. He rose to his feet, walked closer to the window, and gazed into the distance, toward the low jailhouses hidden behind the towering fortress walls. He continued speaking, his words steeped in human compassion:

"I love my people as my own children. It is not only when they are loyal subjects that they deserve to be loved. Even when they have gone astray, the human dignity within them still needs to be cherished and protected from the suffering brought by the weather."

King Ly Thanh Tong's words, "I love my people as my own children," have become legendary in the history of Vietnam. But few people know that behind those words lies a deeper meaning about the relationship between a leader and those under his rule. In the human world, the bond between king and people often carries the nature of social class, and a distance of power always exists. No matter how kind a king may be, the reverence his subjects hold for him remains far removed from the love between a father and his own flesh and blood.

But in the heavenly realm, everything is entirely different. Beings born into the heavens are all called "Children of Heaven," meaning children of the celestial realm. The relationship between the Heavenly Lord, the king of heaven, and the celestial children has no cold, imposing distance of authority. Instead, it overflows with a warm, intimate love, like that between parents and children in a family. This is why King Ly Thanh Tong, with his open heart and boundless compassion, is regarded as someone who carried the nature of the heavenly realm into the human world. Only when we live with a vast, all-embracing love, without discrimination, can we draw near to the standard of happiness found in the heavens.

The Meaning of the Story

The moral lesson drawn from this story emphasizes the first criterion for rebirth in the heavenly realm: deep and sincere love. In the heavens, the relationship between the Heavenly Lord and the celestial beings resembles the bond between father and child, something the worldly realm rarely attains. To cultivate properly and plant wholesome conditions for rebirth in the heavens, each of us needs to train the heart in compassion, loving all people without discrimination, transforming dry, self-serving feelings into a warmth and tolerance as embracing as family love.

Compiled from a dharma talk by the Venerable Thich Chan Quang