眾經撰雜譬喻 2.42

2.42

昔有父子二人共居，入山斫林，泉水有黃金，子便歸求父索分，言：「我不用餘物，物盡與父，惟與我車牛一具、米二斛、荻斫各一枚。」父不聽之。數諫不止，父便與之，言：「汝莫復來歸！」子便入山掘泉水中金，日日終不能得。父便共相將往視之，觀如是金，仰視山頭邊有金若山，影現水中，便上山以大木幢墮金於地。父語兒：「求之法當云何？但掘水，何時當得？子不曉求金者，唯人不持五戒，但逐聽色聲，人身豈復可還得也！」父者，唯如𭶑之求金者，觀如本末時，持佛五戒加行十善生天，人身世世不失，後得佛道果。

Once, a father and son lived together. They went into the mountains to clear timber, and there was gold in a spring. The son returned home and asked his father for his share of the property, saying: "I have no use for other possessions; I leave all the property to you, father. Only give me a cart and a pair of oxen, two bushels of grain, a reed mat, and an axe." The father would not permit it. The son repeatedly pleaded without stopping, so the father gave them to him, saying: "Do not ever come back!" The son went into the mountains and dug for gold in the spring, day after day, but in the end could not find any. The father then accompanied him to look at it; examining such 'gold', he looked up and saw gold like a mountain at the edge of the mountain peak, casting its reflection in the water. He then went up the mountain, and using a large wooden pole, brought the gold tumbling down to the ground. The father said to the son: "How should one search for it? By merely digging in the water, when would you ever find it? A son who does not understand how to seek gold is like a person who does not observe the five precepts, but merely pursues sights and sounds—how could a human body ever be regained?" The father was like a wise man seeking gold: seeing things according to their roots and branches, he observes the Buddha's five precepts and additionally practices the ten wholesome actions, to be born in heaven and not lose the human body life after life, ultimately attaining the fruit of the Buddha's Path.