經律異相 40.41

40.41

Hearing the verse, the elder understood its meaning and forgot his grief. Kneeling upright, he addressed the Buddha: 'What past fault did this boy commit in his previous lives that in the prime of his life he should suffer an untimely death? I only wish you would explain the offenses he originally committed.' The Buddha said: 'Once in the past, there was a little boy who held a bow and arrows and went among sacred trees to play. Beside him were three people watching a sparrow in a tree. The boy wanted to shoot it. The three people encouraged him, saying: "If you can hit it, people will call you a brave boy!" Pleased with himself, the boy drew the bow and shot it; hitting the sparrow, it died immediately. The three people laughed together, rejoicing in his deed, and each went their own way. Passing through births and deaths across innumerable kalpas, wherever they met, they came together to receive their retribution. Among those three people, one had merits and is now in heaven; one was born in the ocean as a miraculously born dragon king; and one is today you, the elder. As for this boy, he was previously born in heaven as the son of a deva. When his life ended, he came down to become the son of the elder. Falling from the tree and losing his life, he was immediately born in the ocean as the son of the miraculously born dragon; on the very day of his birth, a garuḍa king seized and ate him. Today in three places there is inconsolable grief and weeping—can it even be described? Because in their past lives they rejoiced in his act, these three people receive the retribution of weeping for him.' (Extracted from the Dharmapadāvadāna Sūtra, fascicle 5)