Udanavarga 3.102-103

3.102

昔佛在羅閱祇國耆闍崛山精舍之中，為天人龍鬼轉大法輪。時有一人捨家妻子來至佛所，為佛作禮求為沙門，佛即受之令作沙門，命令樹下坐思惟道德。比丘受教便入深山，去精舍百餘里，獨坐樹間思道三年，心不堅固意欲退還，自念捨家求道勤苦，不如早歸見我妻子。作此念已便起出山。佛以聖達見此比丘，應當得道愚故還歸。佛以神足化作沙門，便往逆之道路相見。化人即問：「所從來也？此地平坦可共坐語。」於是二人便坐息語，即答化人：「吾捨家妻子求作沙門，處此深山不能得道，與妻子別不如本願，唐喪我命勞而無獲，今欲悔還見我妻子，快相娛樂後更作計。」須臾之間有老獼猴，久已遠離樹木之間，在無樹之處於中生活。化沙門問此比丘：「是獼猴何故獨在平地？無有樹木云何樂此？」比丘答化人言：「我久見此獼猴，以二事故來住此耳。何等為二？一以妻子眷屬群多，不得飲食快樂恣口。二常晝夜上下樹木，脚底穿壞不得寧息。以此二事故捨樹木來住是間。」二人語頃，復見獼猴走還上樹。化沙門語比丘言：「汝見獼猴還趣樹木不也？」答曰：「見之，此虫愚癡得離樹木，群從憒閙不厭勞煩而還入中。」化人復言：「卿亦如是，與此獼猴復何異矣？卿本以二事故來入此山中。何等為二？一以妻婦舍宅為牢獄故，二以兒子眷屬為桎梏故。卿以是故來索求道斷生死苦，方欲歸家，還著桎梏入牢獄中，恩愛戀慕徑趣地獄。」化沙門即現相好丈六金色光明，普照感動一山，飛鳥走獸尋光而來，皆識宿命心內悔過。

Formerly, when the Buddha was in the vihāra on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa in the country of Rājagṛha, he turned the great wheel of the Dharma for devas, humans, nāgas, and ghosts. At that time, a man abandoned his household, wife, and children, and came to the Buddha's abode. He paid homage to the Buddha and sought to become a śramaṇa. The Buddha at once accepted him, made him a śramaṇa, and instructed him to sit beneath a tree to contemplate the Way and virtue. The bhikṣu received the instruction and entered the deep mountains, more than a hundred li away from the vihāra. Sitting alone among the trees, he contemplated the Way for three years, but his mind was not firm and he wished to retreat. He thought to himself: 'Abandoning home to seek the Way is hard and bitter; it would be better to return early and see my wife and children.' Having formed this thought, he arose and left the mountain. The Buddha, with his holy penetration, saw that this bhikṣu ought to attain the Way, yet through ignorance was returning home. Using his supernatural power, the Buddha manifested as a śramaṇa and went to meet him, encountering him on the road. The transformed person asked: "Where have you come from? This ground is flat and even; we may sit together and converse." Thereupon the two men sat down to rest and talk. He answered the transformed person: "I abandoned my home, wife, and children to seek to become a śramaṇa. Dwelling in these deep mountains, I have been unable to attain the Way. Being separated from my wife and children does not fulfill my original wish; I have wasted my life in toil without gain. Now I wish to turn back and see my wife and children, make merry together, and later make other plans." In a short while, there was an old monkey who had long departed from among the trees and lived in a treeless place. The transformed śramaṇa asked the bhikṣu: "Why is this monkey alone on flat ground? There are no trees; how can it delight in this?" The bhikṣu replied to the transformed person: "I have observed this monkey for a long time; it came to live here because of two things. What are the two? First, its wife, children, and kin were numerous, so that it could not eat its fill or indulge its palate happily. Second, day and night it was constantly climbing up and down trees, so that the soles of its feet were worn through without rest. Because of these two things, it abandoned the trees and came to live here." While the two men were speaking, they saw the monkey run back and climb up into the trees again. The transformed śramaṇa said to the bhikṣu: "Did you see the monkey heading back to the trees or not?" He replied: "I saw it. This beast is foolish; having managed to leave the trees, yet not weary of the turmoil and toil of its flock, it goes right back in among them." The transformed person said again: "You are also like this; how do you differ from this monkey? Originally, you came into these mountains because of two things. What are the two? First, because wife and home are a prison; second, because sons, daughters, and kin are fetters. For these reasons you came to seek the Way to sever the suffering of birth and death. Yet now you wish to return home, putting on the fetters again and entering the prison, where affection and longing will lead you straight to hell." The transformed śramaṇa then manifested the marks of excellence, emitting a golden light of sixteen feet that illuminated and moved the whole mountain. Birds in flight and beasts on foot followed the light and came, all recollecting their past lives and repenting in their hearts.

In days of old when Buddha was residing in the Gridhrakūta mountain, near Rājagriha, preaching the inestimable doctrine for the sake of angels and men, there was a certain man who, having made up his mind to leave his family and become a recluse, came to the place where Buddha was, and desired permission to enter the community (church). On this Buddha required him (after he had permitted him to become a disciple) to go sit beneath a tree in the solitude, and give himself up to meditation. On this the Shaman departed into the mountain wild, more than a hundred lis from the Vihāra, and there gave himself up to a solitary life. After three years of self-denial, his heart being still unsubdued, he desired to give up his profession and to return to his home again, saying thus to himself, “This life of asceticism is troublesome and painful, and not to be compared with the happiness derived from domestic society. I will, therefore, return to my wife and family and enjoy myself.” On this he made as though he would leave the mountain and return home. Then Buddha, by his omniscience, seeing the condition of this disciple, and knowing that he had a capacity for salvation, transformed himself into the form of a Shaman, and went to meet him on the way. On encountering one another, the transformed Shaman addressed the other and asked whence he came and whether he was going. On this they agreed mutually to rest awhile and sit down together on a convenient spot (level ground). Seated thus, the disappointed Shaman explained to the other his condition, and confessed that he was going back home from a feeling of failure in his religious exercises. Now it happened while he was speaking, that an old monkey leaving the tree in which he lived, came down into the open and disported himself; then the assumed Shaman asked the other, why was this; to which the last replied: “I have often observed this same monkey come down and behave himself thus, and the reasons for his so doing are two,—1st, he is rejoiced to be free from the care of providing for his wife and his belongings; and 2dly, he is worn and hurt by constantly climbing the tree in which his family live, and so is glad to escape the labour of so doing: for these two reasons he leaves the tree and enjoys himself in the open ground. But meanwhile, as the two were conversing, the monkey retreated from the open space, and re-climbed the tree, on which the strange Shaman addressed the other, and asked if he perceived this, and how he explained it. On which the latter said that it was in consequence of fear and uncertainty that the monkey had gone back to his home; on which the other rejoined: “Such is the case with yourself; it was the anxieties caused by your wife and family that first induced you to find release in these mountain wilds, but now owing to doubt and uncertainty, you are going back to the world, and by so doing you expose yourself to all the evil consequences of renewed birth and consequent death. Whereupon he added these verses:

3.103

於是世尊即說偈言：

Thereupon the Bhagavat spoke this verse: