經律異相 5.32

5.32

At that time, there was enmity between the two kingdoms of Śrāvastī and Vaiśālī, and they repeatedly raided and attacked each other. The king of Śrāvastī thought to himself: “Being the king of a state, I ought to repel enemies and bring peace to the people. Why should I allow bandits to plunder people and property?” He immediately commanded his generals and soldiers: “I charge you to pursue and capture them; you must ensure their arrest!” At that time, monks of Śrāvastī had completed their summer retreat and wished to go to Vaiśālī. The monks lost their way and fell in among those bandits. The monks then asked, “O elders, where are you going?” They answered, “Toward Vaiśālī.” The monks said again, “Let us travel as companions.” The bandits replied, “We are bandits. We traverse dense thickets and travel without choosing open paths. You are good men; why would you follow us?” The monks pleaded again, “Please take us along.” Before their speech was finished, the pursuing troops immediately arrived. They seized the monks along with them and brought them to the king, saying, “These are the pack of bandits.” The king said, “First bring the monks forward.” The king asked, “You are renunciants; why did you become bandits?” They replied, “We are not bandits.” [The king asked,] “Why were you travelling together?” The monks fully recounted the above events to the king. The king ordered them to be released. The king then asked the bandits, “Were these renunciants your companions?” They answered, “They were our companions.” The king said, “Take the bandits away and summon the monks again.” The king questioned them: “Monks, you told a falsehood to deceive the authorities. The bandits say you were companions; why did you say you were not?” The monks answered as before. The king then ordered: “Let the bandits be dealt with according to the law.” They took the five hundred bandits, adorned them with kapittha garlands, beat drums, and paraded them as a warning, intending to execute them. The bandits wept loudly. The Buddha, knowing this, purposefully asked, “Whose loud shouting is that?” The monks replied, “Bhagavat, those are the five hundred bandits ordered by the king to be executed; that is their crying.” The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Go and tell the king: ‘You are a king of men. You should love the people like children. Why execute five hundred people all at once?’” Receiving the instruction, Ānanda went to the king’s court and fully related the Buddha’s words. The king said, “Venerable One, I know this matter. The sin of killing one person is already great, how much more five hundred? Yet they repeatedly destroy villages and plunder the people. If the Bhagavat can cause them never again to act as bandits, they may be released and spared.” Ānanda returned and reported this in full to the Buddha. The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Tell the king simply to release them; I will make these men never act as bandits again from this day forward.” Ānanda received the instruction and first went to the execution ground, saying to the overseer of the execution: “These criminals have been saved by the Bhagavat; they must not yet be executed.” He then returned to the king’s court: “The Bhagavat tells the king that he can ensure these men will never act as bandits again.” The king thereupon spared their lives, and while still bound, had them sent to the Bhagavat. At that time, the Bhagavat, wishing to deliver those people, was seated in the open air. Seeing the Buddha from afar, the bandits’ bonds broke open of themselves. They bowed their heads and faces to his feet and stood to one side. The Buddha observed their conditions and expounded the Dharma accordingly: generosity, keeping precepts, the karmic retribution of deeds, and the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths of suffering, origination, cessation, and the path. Right at that moment, they attained the stage of srotāpanna. He asked them, “Do you delight in leaving the household life?” They replied, “Bhagavat, if we had previously gone forth, we would not have encountered this suffering. We only wish that you deliver us to go forth now.” The Buddha said, “Come, monks!” At once, the clothing worn on the five hundred bandits’ bodies transformed into the three robes; alms bowls appeared naturally, and their comportment was decorous and composed, just like monks of a hundred years’ standing. They all became arhats (derived from the nineteenth fascicle of the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya).