King Ajatasatru of Magadha was planning to invade the neighboring kingdom, Vaishali. He wanted to run the idea by the Buddha, to see what he had to say.
Ajatasatru had imprisoned his father, starved him to death and seized the throne. His poor mother the queen tried sneaking food to her husband in his prison cell when she visited him. When Ajatasatru discovered this, he locked her up too.
Ajatasatru’s ambition was stoked by the Buddha’s cousin Devadatta. According to their plan Devadatta would supplant the Buddha as the head of the Buddhist Order, and Ajatasatru would reign as king. They teamed up to assassinate the Buddha. They failed.
Later in life Ajatasatru saw the light. He suffered terrible remorse for what he did. But what he did was not unusual. Cruelty, arrogance, ingratitude and rapacity afflict many heirs, and not just in lines of succession. It is how civilizations are destroyed. And how new ones take their place.
The inclination to raid, invade and conquer, to kill people and take their stuff, is not unusual either. It is how history unfolds. And history is not over.
Ajatasatru, seeking the Buddha’s advice, sent an emissary to inquire. He doubted the Buddha would approve of the invasion plan. But he knew the Buddha would answer truthfully, based on real world knowledge. Before Siddhartha Gotama was the Buddha, he was a warrior prince. From the earliest age he trained in martial arts, strategy, philosophy, rites, administration, law and leadership. In his world, boys born to aristocratic families, destined to rule, learned how things worked.
Instead of lowering himself to seek the Buddha’s advice himself, Ajatasatru sent an emissary. How did the Buddha respond? He welcomed him. He talked with him. He listened to the emissary’s questions about whether the time was right to attack Vaishali.
The Buddha did not answer directly.
Instead he asked his attendant Ananda for exactly the intel he needed. The Buddha did not ask Ananda for information about their weapons, infantry, archers, readiness, fortifications, elephants, generals or gold. The Buddha asked Ananda seven questions, in the presence of the emissary, to see if the Vajjians continued to live by the advice he had given them years before.
The Buddha wanted to know whether the Vajjians 1. meet and confer openly and regularly on important decisions; 2. meet in harmony and depart in harmony; 3. respect the wisdom and experience of the elders and follow traditional law; 4. make sure that virtuous people are taken care of; 5. support shrines and rites which unite the people; 6. do not coerce or violate women and girls; and 7. encourage each person to take responsibility for the well-being of others.
Ananda confirmed that, yes, the Vajjians did all this, they were still living this way.
The Buddha said: “For as long as the Vajjians maintain these seven things which prevent decline, and agree that these are right, growth is to be expected, not weakening.”
In some accounts the Buddha added that the time would come when the Vajjians would relinquish their strenuous mode of living and Ajatasatru would have his chance.
The Magadhan chief minister, Vassakāra, said to the Buddha:
I will report to King Ajatasatru that the Vajjians cannot be defeated by war, but only through persuasion, deals or internal discord.
This applies to individuals, families and nations. It is advice for us.
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For more on this dialog see Digha Nikaya ii.72, Samyutta Nikaya ii.268, and Anguttara Nikaya Book of Sevens.
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Post copyright © 2026 Jeffrey Brooks, MountainKarateNC.com, Yamabayashi Ryu, Mountain Karate Dojo, in the mountains of western NC.
Photo by the Library of Congress
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