分別功德論 3.11

3.11

How does mindfulness of death allow one to reach nirvāṇa? Formerly, King Aśoka practiced the Dharma with vigorous energy, constantly providing the four necessities to a sangha of five hundred monks within the palace without lack, while also supplying outside five hundred āraṇyakas who begged for food, and sending five hundred people with provisions to make offerings to them. Furthermore, at the four city gates he gave to the poor and destitute. As the offerings continued for a long time, the wealth and treasures gradually diminished. At that time, his younger brother, named Sugātra, did not believe in the Three Jewels. The minister Yaśa and the queen Śubhācārā likewise did not believe. The three were of one mind in being troubled by the king, repeatedly admonishing him: “Making offerings to śramaṇas exhausts the state’s wealth for nothing. What is the use of doing this?” The king said, “You had better guard your mouth. When a man lives in the world, the reason his body is beheaded is due to his evil words.” Sugātra said to the king, “These śramaṇas are all young; fine delicacies indulge their palates, and their lustful desires burn fiercely. Yet they dwell in the inner palace among women—how can they be trusted?” The king replied, “The śramaṇas restrain their physical forms and defend themselves with the Dharma, exercising temperance over their bodies and maintaining the precepts; they are not bent by sensual lust.” Later, Sugātra went out hunting and saw a herd of deer with a human among them. He spread a net, captured the herd, and took the person. He asked, “Who are you?” The person said, “When I was eight years old, I lost my parents and fled into the mountains, where I was suckled by deer, right up to the present.” He further asked, “When the deer had no milk, what did you eat?” The person said, “I followed the deer, eating grass and leaves to sustain my life.” He further asked, “Do you have any lustful desire?” He replied, “I do.” He then brought him back and reported the situation to the king, saying, “This grass-eating man’s body is emaciated, yet he still has lustful desire. How much more so these śramaṇas, who indulge their palates with food and drink and whose bodies are fat and robust—how could they be without lustful desire?” The king thought to himself: “By what expedient means can I convert this younger brother?” He then devised an expedient plot, pretending to go on a tour, assembling a great host of troops, and formally departing. The king secretly returned inside and concealed himself from sight. The king had previously discussed with his ministers: “After I go out, elevate him to be king.” The ministers then urged him to try on the royal robes, but he pretended to refuse. The ministers said, “Just do it, and we shall put them on you.” He then put on the heavenly crown and royal robes, and all shouted “Ten thousand years!”, attending him on the left and right in the manner of a cakravartin. King Aśoka, seeing that his position was established, came in from outside and said, “How is it, Great King?” The brother, seeing the king, was ashamed and terrified, not knowing where to turn. King Aśoka said, “I went out for a short tour, so why did you all do such a thing? Is my iron wheel not present? Why are you so reckless? I could kill you in an instant.” He then ordered the ministers to seize and shackle him, but secretly sent a messenger to tell a śramaṇa: “Keep this intention well in mind, and come to plead for his rescue.” [The king said to his brother:] “I was just about to kill you. Considering that you have been king for only a short time and have not yet been able to indulge yourself, I will now grant you seven days to be king according to my royal law, with ministers and attendants, palace ladies and courtesans, and food and drink presented to you. After indulging yourself for seven days, you shall face the ultimate punishment.” It was carried out just as instructed, yet though the seven days elapsed, he had no heart to enjoy himself. A śramaṇa came to plead, holding an alms bowl and carrying a staff as he arrived at the royal palace gate. The king asked, “What does the śramaṇa desire?” He replied, “I wish to beg for the condemned man.” The king said, “This guilty man deserves death; he cannot be begged for, śramaṇa!” The śramaṇa repeated, “Just grant the request; the śramaṇa will make him study the Path.” The king said, “Ask this man whether he can study the Path or not.” The śramaṇa then asked, “I now beg for you to become a śrāmaṇera. Can you do it?” He replied, “Even if made a slave I would still not refuse, how much less a śrāmaṇera!” The king said, “Being a śramaṇa is difficult; can you truly do it? The rule of a śramaṇa is to wear coarse robes, eat bad food, barely sustain bodily life, and simply practice the Path. You are accustomed to pleasure; how can you endure such asceticism?” He replied, “I was facing death; how could I not endure asceticism?” The king said, “If you can endure it, let him beg for food for seven days.” The king ordered the inner palace: “When Sugātra comes to beg, give him the most wretched food, leftover, foul, and stinking.” He then made him wear ragged clothes and visit the various quarters; everywhere he begged for food, he received wretched food. Because his desire to escape death was so strong, he willingly ate the wretched food. When the seven days were complete, the king saw that he had no regret or resentment and allowed him to enter the Path: “You always said, ‘The śramaṇas are idle and pleased, full of passions and difficult to trust.’ The food you begged was still within my palace, and so it was still refined. When śramaṇas beg for food, it is even worse than this. When their food is like this, how could they have lustful desires?” He then entrusted him to Subuddhi to become a śramaṇa. The king sent an emissary to accompany him to Aśmaratha, where in that city he practiced various meditations, sometimes among the graves, sometimes beneath trees. Once, while observing corpses in a cemetery, at night he saw a preta beating a corpse. He asked, “Why are you beating this corpse?” The preta said, “It was on account of this corpse that I am troubled like this, and therefore I beat it.” The śramaṇa said, “Why do you not beat your mind? What benefit will beating this corpse bring?” In a short while, a deity came and scattered heavenly māndārava flowers upon the corpse. The śramaṇa asked again, “Why are you scattering flowers upon this foul corpse?” The deity replied, “It was because of this corpse that I was born in heaven. This corpse was my good friend, so I came to scatter flowers to repay its past kindness.” The śramaṇa said, “Why do you not scatter flowers upon your mind, instead scattering flowers upon this foul corpse? The root of good and evil is entirely created by the mind; do you now abandon the root and grasp at the branches?” At that time, Sugātra thought to himself: “I was saved from death to life, and by this cause and condition I shall attain liberation.” Thereupon, contemplating the body and being mindful of death, reflecting and discerning, he understood impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self, immediately attaining the state of an arhat. Thus it is said that one who is mindful of death also reaches nirvāṇa.