Vepacitti, Lord of the Asuras👤person

When a victorious lord of the devas endures a captured enemy's insults with perfect calm, his charioteer questions his strength.

The Buddha compares the senses of an uninstructed person to a sheaf of barley thrashed by six flails at a crossroads—and a seventh flail if they seek future existence. Using the parable of the captive asura lord Vepacitti, whose bonds tightened or vanished based solely on his thoughts, the Buddha illustrates how conceiving “I am” is a subtle, subjective trap.