眾經撰雜譬喻 2.24

2.24

昔有二人親親為知識，不相違失。後一人犯罪，罪應至死，便亡走過知識。知識不開門，逆問：「卿是何人？」答曰：「我是知識也，有罪故來相過耳！」其人語曰：「緩時為親親，有急各自當去，不前卿也！」知識大不樂，自念曰：「人緩時，出入行來，飲食不相捨離，云何有急便爾相棄耶？豈是厚乎？」便去欲入山。復有一善知識往過之，其人便開門藏之，言：「卿與我雖踈，當送卿著安隱處。」便以車載珍寶，自往送到他國，當與彼王諸長者所在相聞，為作宮室，安著田宅財寶，供給與已捨還。佛爾時見此人便引為喻：「犯罪者，喻人精神；親友者，喻四大身；善知識者，喻三歸五戒。喻人將養四大，飲食餚饍四事無乏，無常對至當墮惡趣，求其藏避須臾，反閉門不前。後遇善知識，知識將至他國，安著所須供給無乏，喻布施持戒至身死時，福力所引送到天上，七寶宮殿服天寶衣，天百味食自然至極樂無量。是以人生世勿食自養，當割減作福，如養四大身豈有所益，知者應行之！」

Formerly, two people were close friends, never failing one another. Later, one of them committed a crime punishable by death, fled, and visited his friend. The friend did not open the door, but asked from within, "Who are you?" He replied, "I am your friend; having committed a crime, I came to visit you!" That person said to him, "In peaceful times we were close friends; when an emergency arises, each must fend for himself. I will not let you in!" The friend was deeply unhappy and thought to himself, "In peaceful times, going out, coming in, traveling, eating, and drinking, we never separated. How is it that when an emergency arises, he abandons me like this? How can this be genuine intimacy?" He left, intending to enter the mountains. There was another good friend whom he went to visit. That person opened the door and hid him, saying, "Though you and I have been distant, I will escort you to a secure place." He loaded a cart with rare jewels, personally escorted him to another kingdom, introduced him to the king and elders there, built a mansion for him, settled him with fields, houses, and wealth, provided him with everything, and only then returned. At that time, the Buddha saw this person and drew an analogy: "The criminal is an analogy for the human spirit; the close friend is an analogy for the body of the four great elements; the good friend is an analogy for the three refuges and the five precepts. This is an analogy for a person nurturing the four great elements, lacking none of the four necessities of food and fine delicacies; yet when impermanence arrives and one is about to fall into bad destinies, seeking temporary shelter from it, it instead closes the door and does not let one in. Later, encountering the good friend who brings him to another kingdom, settling all his needs without lack, is an analogy for dāna and observing the precepts: when one dies, led by the power of merit, one is escorted to the heavens, with seven-jeweled palaces, heavenly jeweled clothes, and heavenly foods of a hundred flavors arriving naturally, reaching infinite supreme bliss. Therefore, living in the world, one should not indulge oneself in eating, but should curtail it to create merit. How could merely nurturing the body of the four great elements be of any benefit? The wise should practice this!"