Today’s Enlightening Entertainment will be presented in Aulacese (Vietnamese), with subtitles in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Thai.

Filmmaking was introduced to Âu Lạc (Vietnam) at the end of 1890s. It began to thrive in 1923 with the first movie co-produced by the French and the Aulacese based on the masterpiece “The Tale of Kiều” by literary great Nguyễn Du. Embracing the modern technology of our world's civilization and combining it with a diverse artistic foundation inherent in the country's traditions, Aulacese filmmaking nowadays continues to develop to enhance the nation's cultural landscape.

On Enlightening Entertainment, Supreme Master Television is pleased to introduce different forms of arts from Âu Lạc (Vietnam), as well as from other countries in the world, in order to share the beauty and cultures of the peoples on our planet.

The film “The Light of Truth” chronicles the holy life of Shakyamuni Buddha, an enlightened Master in India in the 5th century BCE. His profound and sacred teachings, which include Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Noble Path, and Tripitaka, have brought salvation for innumerable souls. Buddhism, now propagated around the globe, is one of the major religions in the world.

We now invite you to enjoy part 2 of the film “The Light of Truth,” screenplay written by Võ Đình Cường, directed by Triệu Hoàng Quân, and produced by Diệu Giác Temple,

with performances by Công Hậu as Prince Siddhartha, Tuyết Lan as Queen Maya, Việt Trinh as Princess Yasodhara, Hữu Nghĩa as King Bimbisàra, Nam Anh as King Suddhodana, Di Thảo as Queen Mahaprajapati, Thanh Tùng as Ananda, Thạch Ngà as Devadatta, Đồng Khởi as Chandaka, Thành Tân as Kaundinya, Vĩnh Lộc as Brahmin Yogi, and other artists.

In the previous episode, Queen Maya dreamt of a six-tusked white elephant that flew down from the heavens and entered her side. The Queen then gave birth to Prince Siddhartha who had 32 blessed features. From early childhood, Prince already had a heart of compassion and extraordinary wisdom; according to the prophecy, His Highness would turn out to be a great king or a great enlightened Master.

To keep the Crown Prince at the court to continue the royal ancestral legacy, King Bimbisàra asked the beautiful Princess Yasodhara of Sakya to marry the Prince. But according to Sakya’s custom, if the Crown Prince wished to have the Princess’ hand in marriage, he would have to win martial arts contests.

Thank you for watching today’s Enlightening Entertainment. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television. Coming up is Words of Wisdom. May you and your loved ones be graced with wisdom and noble love. Farewell for now, and we’ll see you next week.

Next is a sword duel between two royal relatives Nanda and Anuttara.

Welcome, Crown Prince Siddhartha. Welcome, Prince Devadatta.

Congratulations, Your Highness! You’re extraordinary. You didn’t let His Majesty down.

That’s enough to prove Your Highness’ talent and virtue. I now offer my precious gem to you.

Bravo, Your Highness Siddhartha!

O beloved Prince, why are you always sad? How about I call the royal maid to entertain you with story-telling? You used to like it when you were unhappy.

No. Today I’m in no mood to listen to the tasteless daily stories of the human life. Yaso! (Yes.) Stay with me here in the dark. Have these artificial lights turned off so that I can awaken my inner light.

You may leave! Wait! Put out all the candles in this room for me! (Yes.)

O beloved Yasodhara! Do you hear it? Every time I rest my head on your arm, I feel something billowing inside like unrelenting waves rolling on the sand beach, then receding into nothingness. Those were times I yearned to travel beyond high mountains and vast seas. There were days I followed the sun from dawn to dusk. There were nights I stayed awake with the moon and stars to envision other horizons where there are souls that I adore, where there are people I haven’t met, but I’m sure they will welcome me. Yet I’m confined in these 3 layers of citadel’s walls. How can I be happy? O universe! I hear you now.

What did you hear, darling?

O winds from thousands of directions! I’ve heard the laments.

Oh, wandering! We’re the winds wandering for many thousand centuries, searching for a peaceful rest which doesn’t exist on Earth. Where are we from? When did we begin? When will we rest? Where will we end up? We never know. At times, we even screamed amid the mountains over the immense seas, yet resentment and hatred still return, then again, we weep among the whizzing pines. Being wind and cloud, we still feel sorrow and suffering, as any human does – a human life is like a puff of wind. We’ve traversed hundreds of rivers and thousands of mountains, witnessed countless cases of decadence and upheavals: bodies squirming in pain, desperate voices shrieking in the dark night, the smell of burnt flesh on the pyre, the stench of blood on the battlefields. O Prince! Listen to the streaming tears of anguish, the bitter resentment of myriad withering autumns. O world! There’s a long sigh of sorrow. Why do you still wallow in fleeting pleasures? Wake up now! Wake up, Your Highness, the son of kind-hearted Maya. Set out now! Find the way of liberation for humanity to follow. Set out now, beloved Prince!

Hear ye! Hear ye! Tomorrow, Crown Prince Siddhartha will tour the capital. His Majesty ordered for all streets to be decorated beautifully to welcome His Highness. No one is allowed to expose unsightly or distressful views. The aged, feeble or disabled are not to stay about on the street. All cremations must be changed to another day. Those who don’t abide will be severely punished. Attention, everyone!

Let’s go quickly, Elder!

You people here! Move quickly! These sick people are so slow!

Have pity on them, please!

Hurry up! Don’t you hang around here! All right, move quickly! Why are you still standing there? Quickly!

Go home, Elder!

Start packing up!

A thousand Springs to the Crown Prince! A thousand Springs to the Crown Prince! The Crown Prince is so good-looking! A thousand Springs to the Crown Prince!

Stop! What an adorable child! Come to me!

This is for you.

Thank you, Your Highness.

It’s a blessing to meet His Highness face to face today. That’s right.

All right, Chandaka! Let’s move on.

Yes, Your Highness.

Continue on!

His Highness looks so kind-hearted. He looks very majestic. A thousand Springs to the Crown Prince!

Look, sweetie! The Crown Prince looks so stately, doesn’t he?

Go away! Go!

Yes, sir.

Get away!

Stop! Chandaka! What is it? Is that a human? How come he doesn’t look at all like anyone around me?

Your Highness, this is an old man. At birth, he looked like everyone else, but the destructive force of time has made him like that. It’s normal. Don’t be concerned, Your Highness.

Chandaka, you said this is normal? So, I, Yasodhara and everyone will become like that?

Everyone will, eventually, when they grow old.

Let’s go back, Chandaka! I don’t want to go anymore. (Yes.)

Your Highness, it’s meal time. Please come in, Her Highness the Princess is waiting.

Go tell the Princess that I’m not hungry yet. I want to be alone. (Yes.)

Why are you so sad after your tour outside the citadel today? Did anything displease you? Regardless of what happened, our love is enough to bring happiness to us.

O sweetheart, this happiness we have isn’t permanent. Some day we will be old, feeble and ugly. Time will spread over our hair layers of silvery ashes. Your clear eyes will turn opaque, your rosy lips will lose their luster and these two beautiful hands will shrivel like dry sticks.

Say no more, O beloved Prince! Listening to those dismal forecasts, my fragile heart is as if broken to pieces.

Yaso, have courage to hear me through, because I feel something inside me, inside you and everyone crumbling further every day. The force of time is destroying the most precious things in a human life. I hear inside me, inside you and everyone the thunderous sound of carriages carrying those treasures away, one after another. Yet everyone simply watches the destruction, feeling helpless. We hold desperately onto the treasures inside us as if holding onto a shadow or grasping a breath of air.

You seem very tired. Let me help you go inside.

Guards?

Yes, Your Majesty, I’m at your command.

I’ve just dreamt of seven bad signs. Quickly invite the senior official here for a discussion, then summon the Crown Prince here for my instruction.

Order obeyed.

Your son, Siddhartha, respectfully greets the Royal Father.

Be at ease, son.

Did you have a good rest last night?

Last night, I dreamt of seven bad omens. Those seven signs foretold that you will abandon the throne and luxurious palace. I’m so worried.

Royal Father, last time you wished to please me, so you ordered people to hide all the unsightly and suffering scenes, and only display happy ones. I don’t know how to fully repay that favor.

No. I didn’t cover up anything I just had the guards clean up the streets; that’s all.

Royal Father, I think what I saw isn’t truly people’s everyday existence. May I implore you to magnanimously allow me to get in contact with the commoners’ lives to see clearly how they live and work, so that I understand more thoroughly about life.

All right. I’ll let you find out what daily existence is all about.

I’m very grateful to you, Royal Father. Please allow me to take leave.

Your Majesty, senior official Kaludavi wishes to present himself.

Invite him in. (Yes.)

Long live Your Majesty!

Be at ease! Last night, I dreamt of seven signs which foretold of the Crown Prince renouncing worldly life. I invited you here to discuss this, but then I just had another idea. I’ll let him go and find out about people’s everyday lives. Tomorrow, order a group of guards to disguise themselves and secretly follow the Crown Prince to protect him.

Your Majesty, your abrupt decision makes me nervous.

Don’t worry. I’ve thought it through. My son was greatly moved by the sight of people in distress because he just saw it for the first time. But this time, he will get used to other scenes of suffering and won’t feel as shocked as before. I should let the Crown Prince acquaint himself with the outside world. In fact, people always see better as outsiders. Daily contact will make him less emotionally sensitive.

Your Majesty is very wise, indeed!

Chandaka, take me outside the citadel. (Yes.) Remember to call me “Elder Brother.” Let no one know who I am, you hear?

Yes, Your Highness.

Again!

Oh... Elder Brother.

Let’s go.

Come buy freshly arrived apples, Sir. Good brocade!

Be loyal to your country. Be pious to your parents. Be loyal to your country. Be pious to your parents. Greatly respect the virtuous. Kindly treat the righteous. Forgive the ignorant. Be loyal to your country. Be pious to your parents. Greatly respect the virtuous. Kindly treat the righteous. Forgive the ignorant.

Help me, anyone!

What happened to you? Tell me! Why are you groaning so much?

Why is he groaning so miserably? Is there a cure? Tell me!

Your Highness, this man has an infectious disease. There is no cure.

But Elder Brother, let go of him, or else you will be infected.

Oh, you must feel very pained, don’t you?

Chandaka, this disease can be transmitted to me?

Yes. Let’s go, Your Highness. This disease is very dangerous.

No, I can’t abandon this man.

Move away!

Where are they taking him?

They are taking him away for treatment. If you meet another sick person, don’t get close, Your Highness. The disease will transmit to you. But this isn’t the only illness. There are many other dangerous illnesses, such as cholera, smallpox, chickenpox, and many more. Oh, how can I possibly name them all? Who knows when those negative diseases will enter us? It comes quietly like a snake crawling under the grass, like a tiger stalking by the stream, but when it surfaces it happens like lightning.

So humans always live in fear and anxiety?

Yes, Your Highness. From what I know, human life is like that. As a man of great wisdom, you also know that there are always surprises awaiting us. If we don’t run into this mishap, then we’ll run into another until we’re exhausted. That is the day we breathe our last breath. I think this is your concern.

Mom, why did you abandon me? O Mom! Don’t you love me? Why did you leave me?

There it is! The fire will burn, and a human corpse will turn to ashes in four directions. That’s the end of a life. No one can avoid that. Though I live in a glorious palace and have this strong and youthful body, in the end those things are meaningless to me.

Your Highness, please wake up, so I may have a few words.

What do you wish to say, my beloved?

O Prince, my hopes have all vanished. I just dreamt of three unfavorable signs for my future. In the first dream, there was a cow as white as crystal, walking across the street. He had a diamond sparkling like a star on his forehead. He walked leisurely toward the citadel’s gate. Then there was shouting in desperation: “If you people let the cow go, this citadel will lose its splendid beauty.” But the cow walked on. No one can stop him. I ran after him, put my arm around his neck, and called the soldiers to close the citadel gate, but the cow gently walked straight out. In the second dream, I saw something bright as lapis lazuli in the firmament approaching our citadel gate and a gust of wind passed by, the flag pole above the gate snapped, and another flag rose up.

Don’t be distressed. You’ll be comforted by an immense love. Though those dreams are the foreshadowing of events to come, though Heaven and Earth turn upside down, though everything changes, and despite whatever happens to us, have faith that I’ve loved you and will always love you. Now go back to sleep, my beloved Princess. Do you know that day and night, I think of a way to deliver this world from suffering? My love encompasses the whole universe, then to you the one who has always been by my side and taken care of my happiness, how can I not feel deep affection? Though my body is like an eagle flying all over the world, my heart will always be with my loved ones. It will be a great comfort for you to think that one day, due to your sacrifice, the whole world lives in peace and happiness. Be courageous and magnanimous to shoulder with me some of humanity’s suffering. Oh, how wonderful are the visions in your dreams!

It’s not so, O Prince! I’m very afraid because I heard frightening voices: “The time has come!”

I haven’t heard about your third dream.

In the third dream, I saw myself looking toward where you lay but you were not there anymore.

The time has come!

Those voices woke me up. What is that voice if not a sign that I’m about to die or that you’re about to leave me? Don’t leave me! It’d be a pity for me, O Prince!

Try to go back to sleep, love!

It’s late into the night. I must choose one of the two paths: Glory or compassion? Do I want to be a great king or forsake the throne and go out into the dusty world? I will go out into the world, in the silence of the dark night. I read my fate in the silvery light of the moon and stars. I’ll go; I’ll renounce the throne. I don’t want to conquer by the sharp sword. I don’t want to be a king whose chariot wheels are steeped in the red blood of a thousand battlefields and leave a dreadful memory for posterity. I want to set my pure foot on the path of hardship: the ground as my bed, leaves as my clothing, and alms as my food. I just want to eradicate the misery of humanity. I must sacrifice everything and struggle until the day I find a remedy for suffering. I believe that there is such a cure, as there isn’t a treasure that can be obtained without effort or that one needs not use all his might, intelligence and a powerful love to secure it. O humanity writhing in pain! O suffering world! Because of you, I renounce my title, forsake the valued throne, forgo golden days and jeweled nights, tear myself away from the clinging hands of my gentle wife, sunder myself from the strong love of my Royal Father, abandon my newborn now lying by his mother. From now on, I’ll never repose on this bed again. O Royal Father, gentle wife, infant son and nation! Please bear this separation until the day I attain enlightenment.

O dark night! Press down the eyelids of these beautiful women and shut tight those lips. Let not a drop of sentimental tear fall down, let not a call of loyalty hold back my steps. Everyone, I’m going to leave you. I can’t stay in this palace to witness your beauty withering away with time and feel helpless about it. I’ll go find for you a peaceful life, an everlasting beauty. I bid you all farewell. I’m leaving now.

Chandaka!

Yes, Your Highness.

Bring the horse Kanthaka here for me.

But where do you want to go at this dark hour?

Keep it down!

Yes, it’s because everything is still in darkness that I must go. I’m leaving to escape the throne that keeps me confined. I’m going to seek the Truth to deliver beings.

You forsake the throne, forsake a kingdom of which you will be the ruler to take up a beggar’s life.

That’s my wish. I wish not to be attached to this small kingdom in order to love the vast universe. I forgo these treasures to go find humanity eternal treasures. Bring the horse Kanthaka here!

Please think of His Majesty’s anguish and the Princess’ sorrow. If you go away, who will protect your loved ones?

Stand up, Chandaka! I can’t remain here to indulge in selfish pleasures. Because of my love for my Royal Father, my wife and son, I’m leaving to find eternal love for humanity. Now, go bring the horse here for me.

Kanthaka! Help carry me off on a very, very long journey! Tonight, I set out to find the Truth, though I know not yet where to find it. But I will not halt my steps until I discover it. Kanthaka, be courageous! Let no obstacles stop you. Though impeded by a thousand webs of trials, high citadels or perilous mountains, you must gallop like lightning to help me. Later, if I attain enlightenment, you will reap part of the merit.

Your Royal Highness!

Chandaka! Look at that!

Your Highness!