經律異相 44.50

44.50

Formerly, a man committed an offense against the king. The king was exceedingly enraged and had someone cut off five catties of flesh from his back and spine, placing him in an outhouse. The man was in extreme agony, and his cries reached the king. The king asked why he did not accept his fate, and he replied: 'It was truly not my crime!' The king felt remorse upon reflection and decreed that one hundred catties of flesh be bestowed on him. Yet he still groaned and cried out. The king said: 'I have made up for it at once with a hundred catties; why do you still shout loudly?' The ministers replied: 'Do you not see this truth? Even if you gave a thousand catties, how would it relieve his pain? If a man's only child has died and another gives him a hundred children, could he not yearn for his own child?' (Extracted from the Hundred Parables Sūtra, fascicle 3).