經律異相 37.15

37.15

An upāsaka married his daughter to a worldly man. When sending the daughter off, the parents wished to divest her of her precepts. The daughter said, "Why divest me of my precepts?" The parents said, "Custom dictates that marrying a daughter to a worldly man is like throwing gold into cow dung; what further use are precepts?" The daughter said, "Just as a person travelling afar through a great, empty wasteland without people should pack even more provisions, so when marrying into a household that serves ghosts, I fear the ghosts might take advantage of me; I ought rather to increase my keeping of the precepts to make my resolve firm. When gold is in cow dung, it can still be used once washed; how could it become the same as cow dung?" The parents were moved by her words and gave her an image of the Buddha. The daughter placed it in a splendid vessel, and morning and evening paid homage to the vessel. When her husband asked, the wife replied, "This is the Buddha, who can prevent one's hair from turning white and keep one's complexion always beautiful." The husband joined her in making offerings. Later, they were both born in heaven and did not experience the three bad destinies. (Extracted from the fifth volume of the Ten-Fascicle Sūtra of Parables.)