法句譬喻經 28.p1.1

28.p1.1

In days of old there was a Brahman, who when young had left his home for the purpose of religious seclusion, and who remained a solitary student till he was sixty years of age, but even after this long period he was unable to arrive at supreme wisdom (Bōdhi). Now, according to the law of the Brahmans, if a man at sixty years of age has not reached wisdom, it is his duty to return to his home and marry a wife. Accordingly, the man having so done, there was born to him a very graceful boy, who when seven years of age, being already deeply read in the books of his religion, and possessed of wonderful dialectic skill, was suddenly struck by a fatal disease and died. The father, overwhelmed by sorrow, gave himself up to immoderate grief, and was quite unable to control himself. He threw himself on the corpse of his child, and lay there as one dead. On recovering himself, the child's body was enshrouded and coffined—the father having been remonstrated with by his relatives and those of his caste— and finally taken without the city for interment. On this occasion the Brahman began to reflect with himself thus— “What use is it thus giving way to tears? It is not of any service;