經律異相 41.25

41.25

Formerly, east of the city of Śrāvastī, there was a very wealthy brāhmaṇa. His son married a wife, obtaining a woman from a Buddhist family. She observed the five precepts and kept the six fast-days, always delighting in giving alms to śramaṇas and practitioners of the Path, and urged her husband to practice giving. The husband was immediately awakened to this understanding and reported it to his parents. His parents were furious, saying, "This will ruin our household!" The wife gave money and silk to her husband; the husband gave them to the maid guarding the inner gate; the maid gave them to the male servant guarding the outer gate; and the servant took them to the Buddhist monastery to give alms to the śramaṇas, burn incense, and light lamps. The husband and wife jointly made a vow: "If giving alms brings no merit, let it end with ourselves; but if it brings merit, may everyone under heaven see it!" At that time, according to the custom of the land, on the third day of the third month, all the people of the country went to the waterside to make music, sing, and play. Just then, in the southeastern corner, a deva riding a white horse passed through the sky. The crowd looked up and asked, "What divine spirit is this?" He replied, "Ask the one coming behind me." A moment later, there was a palace of seven treasures with a jade maiden sitting alone upon it; four great heavenly spirits carried the palace as it flew. The crowd asked again, "What merit do you possess?" The jade maiden also said, "Ask the one coming behind me." Soon after, there was a jeweled palace with four pillars, where a deva and a jade maiden sat together inside, surrounded on all sides by four groups of musicians, and twelve heavenly spirits carried the palace together. The crowd asked again, "What merit do you possess?" They also replied, "Ask the ones coming behind us." A moment later, there were two preta ghosts, thirty chi tall, black, emaciated, ugly, tormented by hunger and thirst, with fire burning inside their bodies, each holding a large club and beating one another. The crowd asked again. They replied, "Have you gentlemen heard of the wealthy brāhmaṇa east of Śrāvastī? The one riding the white horse is the servant who guarded the outer gate; the jade maiden in the small palace is the maid who guarded the inner gate; the two in the large palace are my son and daughter-in-law; and we two ghosts are the brāhmaṇa husband and wife. In our previous life, we were foolish and did not believe in the true Dharma. Now we must suffer this calamity; what can be done about it?" (From the first fascicle of the Ten-Fascicle Parable Sūtra.)