眾經撰雜譬喻 2.6

2.6

Once, a bird-catcher spread a net over a marsh and placed bird food inside it. A flock of birds called to their companions and vied to come eat it. The bird-catcher pulled the net, and all the birds fell into it. At that time, there was a bird that was large and strong; lifting the net with its body, it flew away together with the flock. Seeing its shadow, the bird-catcher followed and pursued them. Someone said to the bird-catcher, 'The birds are flying through the sky while you pursue them on foot; how foolish you are!' The bird-catcher replied, 'It is not as you say. At nightfall, those birds will seek places to roost, and their inclinations will differ; thus they are bound to fall.' The man still pursued them without stopping. The day was already drawing toward dusk; looking up, he saw the birds fluttering, bickering, and contending, some wanting to go east and some wanting to go west, some looking toward the tall forest and some wanting to head for the ravine. They contended without stopping, and in a moment they fell. The bird-catcher retrieved them and killed them one by one. The bird-catcher is like Pāpīyas; spreading the net is like the samyojanas; flying while carrying the net is like a person who has not yet parted from the samyojanas seeking an escape from saṃsāra; stopping at nightfall is like a person growing lax and no longer progressing in mind; seeking different places to roost is like giving rise to the sixty-two wrong views that oppose one another; and the birds falling to the ground is like a person suffering the reward of heterodoxy and falling into naraka. This clarifies that the dust and defilements of the samyojanas are Māra's net; therefore, the samyojanas ensnare a person just like a net. While in the two destinies, one should thoroughly guard one's body and speech, and not let laxity keep one within this net. The suffering of the three evil paths and of birth and death is enduring and remote, impossible to endure.