眾經撰雜譬喻 2.24

2.24

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!"