經律異相 45.30

45.30

This illustrates that a man dissolute in lust would rather lose his relatives than calm his mind regarding lustful matters. By the side of the city of Śrāvastī there was a woman who, holding her child and carrying a pitcher, went to a well to draw water. There was a handsome man sitting to the right side of the well playing a zither for his own amusement. Women are mostly full of desire and become deeply attached to men; the man also took pleasure in the woman. The woman became infatuated and confused; tying a rope around the child's neck, she suspended it into the well. Soon afterwards she hauled it back out, but the child was already dead. In grief, sorrow, and deep distress, she called upon Heaven, weeping, and spoke a verse herself. The Buddha gathered the great assembly and addressed the monks: "The fire of lust blazes fiercely and can burn away the roots of goodness. A man dissolute in lust does not distinguish good from bad, does not differentiate pure from defiled, and does not understand bondage and liberation. People of this sort have no sense of shame or conscience; they would rather lose their relatives and take their share of punishment and humiliation. Or, because of illicit sex, they kill their parents, siblings, and the six relations. They are executed by kings and at death receive evil retribution, life after life without end. In the past there was a man who was deeply addicted to illicit lust. His parents had only this one son. At night, at an unearthly hour, while the sky was overcast with thunder and lightning, he strapped on a blade and took arrows, wishing to go to the village of courtesans. At that time his mother realized this; she at once took hold of him and admonished him: 'The night is already dark and murky; you will be harmed by others. My past merits are few, and I have only this one son. If you encounter evildoers, I will have no one to rely on.' The son answered his mother: 'I must go and cannot stay.' His mother knew his intention was firm, so she stepped before the son. At once he drew his blade and stabbed his mother to death. He then knocked on the courtesan's door. The woman answered: 'Who are you?' He answered with a verse: