Ajase did not trust Daiba at first, and actually became angry at Daiba’s suggestion that he kill his own father. After being told that his injured little finger was proof that his father had tried to have him killed, however, Ajase began trusting Daiba. At first, Ajase tried to starve his father to death by placing him in a jail with seven walls.

The Venerable Master Shinran wrote about this in “Hymns of the Pure Land” (Jodo Wasan) in the following way:

Not waiting for the ascetic’s natural death,
King Bimbisara had him killed.
In retribution for this horrendous act,
He himself was placed in a prison of seven nested walls.

Last year I went on a Buddhist pilgrimage to India. With my own eyes saw the remains of the seven-walled jail within which King Binbashara was imprisoned; the remains of wheel tracks of the chariot that the king rode; the remains of Osha Castle where King Binbashara, Queen Idaike and Prince Ajase lived; and finally the remains of King Binbashara’s temple, said to be the first Buddhist structure ever built (Chikurin Temple. What remains today, however, was built much later.) The activities of Shakyamuni Buddha, King Binbashara, Queen Idaike, Prince Ajase and Daiba two-thousand-five-hundred years ago came vividly to mind.

Returning to my narrative, Queen Idaike learned that her son had imprisoned her husband in a seven-walled jail and was starving him. She therefore covered her body with a mixture of honey and wheat-flour paste, and filled her ornaments with wine. In this way, she was able to secretly feed her husband. After “three periods of seven days” (21 days), when Ajase inquired of his guards about his father’s condition, he learned how his mother was keeping his father alive.

“My mother has turned against me!” Ajase shouted. “She’s a traitor!”

Ajase tried to kill his own mother, but was prevented from doing so by two of his senior counselors, Giba and Gakko (J§va and Candraprabha in Sanskrit). Queen Idaike was placed in prison as a compromise.

The problem of a child using violence to solve a family quarrel is the same social problem that exists today, 2,500 years later. I believe that for a parent, nothing is more frightening than to have a child use violence. How much more difficult would it be for a mother who sacrificed herself to give birth to and raise a child, have that child turn against her?

Choked with tears, Queen Idaike faced Mt. Gishaku where Shakyamuni Buddha was then living, and asked him to console her.

Shakyamuni Buddha immediately appeared before Queen Idaike.

“O World-Honored One,” Queen Idaike said, “what evil have I committed that I gave birth to such a child?

“Further, O World-Honored One, how could you be related to so evil a person as Daiba?” she asked.