太子瑞應本起經 1.28

1.28

"Having single-mindedly contemplated this, [the Prince] then rose and gazed at the star Puṣya. The night was more than half spent. He saw the devas joining their palms above, urging the Prince to depart. He immediately called Chandaka, quietly ordered him to saddle the horse, hitched up his garments, and mounted it. Pacing back and forth in the courtyard, he considered that opening the gate would make a sound. The Heavenly King Vaiśravaṇa had long known his intention, and immediately dispatched ghosts and spirits to hold up the horse's hooves and receive Chandaka as well, leaping over the palace walls and reaching the shade of a jambu tree in the royal fields. The next day there was great commotion in the palace, for no one knew where the Prince was. Thousands of chariots and tens of thousands of horsemen pursued in continuous succession. The King personally arrived at the fields and saw the Prince in the distance, sitting beneath the tree. The sun shone fiercely, yet the tree bent its branches, following and shading his body. Startled, the King awoke to this and came to know his spiritual power; before he could dismount to pay homage, the Prince also stepped forward, bowed, and said: 'Since becoming your son, I have rarely left the kingdom. Now that I have come here just this once, why should the Great King have wearied himself by coming? I pray you return in good time. The reason I now wish to leave the world is that from what I have seen, affection and love are like a dream; family joys must all end in separation. Greed and desire are a prison from which escape is hard to find. Therefore it is said: "Shielding oneself with the net of desire, covering oneself with the canopy of love, one binds oneself in prison, like fish entering the mouth of a creel; watched over by old age and death, like calves seeking their mother's milk." I have constantly awakened myself to this, wishing to seek the spontaneous and desiring to eliminate all suffering. Those who are not yet crossed over, I wish to cross over; those who are not yet liberated, I wish to liberate; those who are not at peace, I wish to bring peace to; those who have not seen the Way, I wish to bring to attain the Way. Therefore I wish to enter the mountains to pursue what I seek. When I attain the Way, I will return, never forgetting this vow.'"