經律異相 19.20

19.20

At that time, the Buddha went with five hundred monks to the country of Vṛji and stayed in the city of Vaiśālī. The people suffered famine, the five grains did not ripen, the dead lay strewn in disorder, and almsfood was difficult to obtain. In the city there was an elder named Yaśas. Yaśas had gone forth from home, but almsfood was difficult to obtain, and he frequently returned home to seek food. His mother told him, "You are suffering greatly. My household's wealth is not small; use it as you please. Your wife is still alive; you should live together with her. We will let you practice giving and make offerings to the Three Jewels as you please." After she repeated this three times, Yaśas would not comply. His mother told him again, "If you take no pleasure in the five desires, just grant me your seed to continue the lineage, so that after I die the property will not be confiscated by the authorities, and that is all." Yaśas answered, "If you wish to retain my seed, I will now comply with this command." His mother quickly went inside and told the daughter-in-law, who said, "Very well." She adorned herself, and as soon as they met once, the wife became pregnant. Later she gave birth to a boy, who was therefore named "Continuing the Seed." The people of the world called him this, and even the family's property was all referred to as "Continuing the Seed." When Yaśas heard this, he felt great shame and immediately reported it to Śāriputra. Śāriputra reported it to the Bhagavat. Yaśas and Śāriputra went together to the Buddha's place and reported it fully to the Buddha. The Buddha said, "Monk Yaśas, this has never before occurred within the saṅgha. You foolish man, you have opened the gate to great wrongdoing!" The Buddha said, "It is not only today that within my Dharma you have had such base defilements. In a past life, you were born in the Ābhāsvara heaven. When this world was first formed, there was one person who was frivolous and greedy, and who first came to eat this taste of the earth. The other sentient beings successively imitated him and their minds became attached. Their bodies grew heavy, and from this desires arose. They retrograded from their supernormal powers, and their radiance was extinguished. From this time onward, the sun and moon were born. That frivolous sentient being was Yaśas. His mother has not merely enticed and deceived her son today; in the past she did so as well." He told the monks: "At that time, the country was named Kāśi and the city was named Vārāṇasī. The prince was named Mahāyaśas; through giving and upholding the precepts, he transformed the world by means of the Way. His chief consort, observing the stars and constellations, saw a golden deer-king coming from the south and flying northward through the air. The consort thought, 'If I obtain this hide to make into a cushion, I will die with no regrets. If I cannot obtain it, of what use is it to be the king's consort?' She immediately took off her necklaces, put on soiled and tattered clothes, and entered the sorrow chamber. When the king finished attending to affairs, he went back to look for her and asked the attendants. The attendants answered, 'The consort has just gone into the sorrow chamber to stay.' The king then went and asked her, 'Who has offended you?' She was silent and did not answer. The king sent someone to ask her, and again she did not answer. He then ordered an elderly serving maid of many expedients to persuade her with varied speech. The consort answered, 'No one has offended me. I have something else on my mind, which is why I do not speak.' She then related that she had seen the golden deer and vowed to obtain its hide to make a cushion. The maid reported this to the king. The king asked his ministers, 'Who can obtain it?' He then assembled the hunters and told them to search urgently. The hunters all said, 'We have never even heard its name, let alone seen it.' He ordered them bound in prison. At that time, there was a hunter named Naija, brave and robust, possessed of great strength, who could run fast enough to catch fleeing beasts; shooting upward at flying birds, his arrows never missed. Thinking to himself that he had committed no crime yet had been imprisoned, he proposed a plan and asked, 'Has anyone seen or heard of it?' The king said, 'You may ask the consort yourself.' The consort answered, 'From the upper storey I saw it coming from the south and flying northward through the air.' The hunter was skilled at discerning the habits of birds and beasts; he realized the deer roosted in the south and fed in the north, and that he should seek it at its feeding place. Then the hunter took his bow and arrows and gradually journeyed north, arriving before the Snow Mountains (Himavat). In the mountains was an immortal. Concealing his hunting gear, he went to the immortal's place, bowed, and inquired after him. The immortal told him to sit down and served him various drinks and fruits. The hunter asked, 'How long have you stayed here?' The immortal answered, 'Already for several years.' The hunter asked, 'Have you ever seen anything unusual?' He answered, 'To the south of this mountain there is a tree named nyagrodha. Often a golden deer-king flies there, perches upon it, and eats its leaves.' The immortal showed him the way. Arriving beneath the tree, he saw that the tree was luxuriant and its leaves spread wide in canopy. Presently, he saw the deer coming through the air like a king of wild geese, landing on the tree to eat the leaves. Having eaten to the full, it flew away again. Returning, he reported to the king, 'It cannot be reached by nets or arrows; there is no way to take it. You may go yourself to report to the consort.' The consort told the hunter, 'You may smear the top leaves with honey, and descending downward, set up nets and snares. The deer, seeking the scent of the honey, will gradually descend as it eats the leaves until it reaches the snare and be caught by the snare. Then drive it living and bring it here.' The immortal saw from afar and said, 'Alas, what a terrible calamity! Though it can mount the air, it cannot escape the hands of evil men.' The immortal spoke a verse: