大方便佛報恩經 4.8

4.8

"Prince Kalyāṇamitra went out, preceded and followed by attendants, with musicians performing music and a great crowd surrounding him. Going out of the city to sightsee, he saw a plowman turning over the soil, bringing out worms which crows followed and pecked up to devour. Prince Kalyāṇamitra saw this from afar, and felt grief and pity; having grown up in the deep palace, he had never seen such things before. He asked those around him: 'What are these creatures doing, harming one another?' Those around him answered: 'Prince! That there is a kingdom depends on the people; that there are people depends on food and drink; that there is food and drink depends on plowing the fields and planting the five grains, whereby lives are preserved.' The prince thought: 'How bitter! How bitter!' Going forward a little further, he saw men and women weaving together, moving back and forth in great toil and hardship. The prince asked: 'What are they doing?' Those around him answered: 'Prince! These people are spinning and weaving, making various garments to cover their shame and conceal their five bodily parts.' The prince said: 'This too is toil and suffering, not just one kind.' Moving further forward, he saw people slaughtering cattle, camels, and horses, and skinning pigs and sheep. The prince asked: 'What kind of people are these?' Those around him answered: 'These people slaughter and sell meat to sustain their own lives and provide for their food and clothing.' The prince's skin and hair bristled, and he spoke these words: 'How strange! How bitter! The slaughterer has an unsparing heart, the strong and weak harm one another; killing life to sustain life accumulates disaster over successive kalpas.' Moving further forward, he saw groups of people netting birds and baiting fish, unjustly entrapping the innocent, the strong oppressing the weak. The prince asked: 'What people are these? What do they call this work?' Those around him answered: 'Prince! They net birds and catch fish. All such things are done to provide for food and clothing.' When the prince heard these words, his eyes filled with sorrowful tears: 'Living beings in the world create the roots of all evils. Multitudinous sufferings do not cease, bringing distress and joylessness.' Thereupon he turned his carriage and returned to the palace.