眾經撰雜譬喻 2.42

2.42

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.