經律異相 36.36

36.36

In ancient times, Anāthapiṇḍada had three sons. All of them turned their backs on what was proper and leaned toward evil, indulging in wine and female beauty, gallivanting about hunting, and playing board games and dice. Departing from light and entering darkness, they grew daily more mad and foolish. Their father grieved for them, instructing and illustrating to them with compassion and sorrow, pointing out misfortune and fortune, not letting a day pass without doing so. Yet the sons alone did not change, their licentiousness worsening daily. The father then clothed them in weeds and fed them peas and wheat. In their extremity they repented. The father said, "You have committed unwholesomeness and incurred calamity in this present life, becoming utterly destitute like this. How much worse the pain of burning and boiling in hell—who will rescue you then?" The sons knocked their heads on the ground and said, "Led astray by evil companions, we practiced this out of madness and delusion, like pigs residing in a privy, unaware of its stench. From this day forward we will restrain ourselves and revere the Three Honoured Ones." The father said, "Very good! If you cleanse your hearts, revere the Buddha, and keep the five precepts without violating them for the rest of your lives, I will give you fifty million in gold each year; and thirty million for taking the three refuges." The sons responded, "Yes, we will follow your honorable instructions." He then had them bathe, led them to the Buddha's presence, where they bowed their heads, received the precepts, and returned to cultivate virtue, purifying their aspirations, aiding the destitute, and relieving the impoverished. Their beneficence reached all living beings, and the scholars of the country praised their virtue, their renown equaling the sages of antiquity. (Extracted from the Sūtra on Instructing Sons)