眾經撰雜譬喻 2.36

2.36

Once, there was a śramaṇa who sat beneath a tree reciting sūtras. A bird came and listened to the sūtra recitation from the tree, listening with single-minded devotion without looking to the left or right, when it was shot and killed by a hunter. As the bird faced death, its mind was not disordered; its soul was immediately born in heaven. Reflecting on the origin of where it had come from, it recognised its former life from one rebirth ago. Having been born in heaven, it came down and scattered flowers over the śramaṇa beneath the tree. The god said to the renunciant: "Owing to the blessing of the renunciant reciting the sūtra, I was freed from that bird's body and became a god." Hearing the bird's words, the renunciant attained the stage of the Path. In an instant, the god suddenly vanished and returned to his original abode. The master said: "For all practitioners of the Path, if their minds are not disordered when their lives are about to end, their place of rebirth will not fall into the agony of the evil paths; they will immediately recognise the former lives through which they have passed. Therefore, this sūtra is delivered to instruct future generations!"