經律異相 38.10

38.10

佛在舍衛國給孤獨園。有一孤母而喪一子。憂惱愁憒抱屍啼走。譬如狂人。出至祇洹。聞佛大聖天人所宗。宣說經道忘憂除患。孤母見佛作禮長跪。願釋憂結。佛告孤母。汝速入城遍行街巷。有不死家者乞火持還。孤母求不能得。空手而反。佛告孤母。夫人處世有四因緣不可久保。一者常必無常。二者富貴必貧賤。三者合會必別離。四者強健必當死。汝今何為。不自憂慮。何不廣施持戒月持六齋任力堪能給施孤窮。孤母白佛。我今愛子入骨徹髓。豈惜身命。時佛欲化彼令其得悟。即化作四大火坑圍繞孤母。火氣逼身以兒自障。佛語孤母。汝向自陳愛子情重入骨徹髓。寧自喪身不使子亡。火氣逼已酸痛難堪。但當自受以子障乎。人間微火蓋不足言。地獄火燃疾痛無量。畜生懷癡苦。餓鬼飢渴苦。能自利者當修布施持戒忍辱。不生地獄及餓鬼等。受天人福漸近泥洹。時彼孤母內心自責厭患恩愛。即於佛前盡諸塵垢。成須陀洹（出曜經所明）。

When the Buddha was in the Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada's park, in the kingdom of Śrāvastī, there was a solitary mother who lost her only son. Distressed, sorrowful, and bewildered, she ran about weeping while holding the corpse, like a madwoman. She came out to the Jetavana. She had heard that the Buddha was a great sage whom gods and humans venerated, who preached the scriptural path to dispel sorrow and remove afflictions. When the bereaved mother saw the Buddha, she paid homage, knelt down, and wished to be released from her knot of grief. The Buddha said to the bereaved mother: "Go quickly into the city and walk through every street and lane; if there is a household where no one has died, beg for fire and bring it back." The bereaved mother searched but could not find one, and returned empty-handed. The Buddha told the bereaved mother: "For a human being dwelling in the world, there are four conditions that cannot long be maintained: first, what is permanent must be impermanent; second, wealth and nobility must end in poverty and lowliness; third, meeting must end in parting; fourth, robust health must end in death. Why do you not look into your own concerns now? Why do you not give broadly, maintain the precepts, observe the six fasts each month, and, according to your ability and capacity, provide for and give to the solitary and the destitute?" The bereaved mother addressed the Buddha: "My love for my child pierces to my bones and marrow; how could I spare even my own body and life?" At that time, wishing to transform her so that she might awaken, the Buddha conjured four great fire pits surrounding the bereaved mother. As the heat of the fire closed in on her body, she used her child's body to shield herself. The Buddha said to the bereaved mother: "You just stated that your love for your child was profound, piercing to your bones and marrow, and that you would rather forfeit your own life than let your child die. Now that the heat of the fire presses upon you and the sharp agony is hard to bear, you merely try to shield yourself with your child. The trifling fires of the human realm are hardly worth mentioning; the blazing fires of hell cause immense, swift agony. Animals endure the suffering of ignorance; hungry ghosts endure the suffering of hunger and thirst. One who is able to benefit oneself should cultivate giving, moral discipline, and patience, so as not to be born in hell, among hungry ghosts, and the like, but rather receive the blessings of gods and humans and gradually draw near to nirvāṇa." Thereupon, the bereaved mother reproached herself within her heart and grew revulsed with affection. Right before the Buddha, she eliminated all defilements and became a srotāpanna. (Clarified in the Udānavarga.)