法苑珠林 23.43

23.43

如那先比丘問佛經云。時有彌蘭王。問羅漢那先比丘言。人在世間作惡。至百歲臨欲死時念佛。死後生天。我不信是語。復言殺一生死即入泥梨中。我亦不信是也。那先比丘問王。如人持小石置在水上。石浮耶沒耶。王言。其石沒也。那先言。如令持百枚大石置在船上。其船沒不。王言。不沒。那先言。船中百枚大石因船故不得沒。人雖有本惡。一時念佛用是不入泥犁便生天上。何不信耶。其小石沒者。如人作惡不知佛經。死後便入泥犁。何不信耶。王言。善哉善哉。那先比丘言。如兩人俱死。一人生第七梵天。一人生罽賓國。此二人遠近雖異。死則一時俱到。如有一雙飛鳥。一於高樹上止。一於卑樹上止。兩鳥一時俱飛。其影俱到地耳。那先比丘言。如愚人作惡得殃大。智人作惡得殃小。譬如燒鐵在地一人知為燒鐵。一人不知。兩人俱取。然不知者手爛大知者小。作惡亦爾。愚者不能自悔。故其殃得大。智者作惡知不當為。日自悔過。故其殃少耳。

As the Sūtra of the Bhikṣu Nāgasena's Questions to the Buddha says: At that time King Milinda asked the arhat Bhikṣu Nāgasena, saying: 'If a person does evil in the world, and upon approaching death at the age of one hundred, he is mindful of the Buddha and after death is born in heaven, I do not believe this statement. And it is said that killing a single living creature means entering Avīci upon death; I also do not believe this.' Bhikṣu Nāgasena asked the king: 'If a man takes a small stone and places it upon the water, does the stone float or sink?' The king said: 'That stone sinks.' Nāgasena said: 'If one has a hundred large stones placed on a boat, does the boat sink or not?' The king said: 'It does not sink.' Nāgasena said: 'The hundred large stones in the boat do not sink because of the boat. Although a person may have original evil, through a single moment of mindfulness of the Buddha, by this means he does not enter Avīci but is born in heaven. Why do you not believe it? That the small stone sinks is like a person who does evil and does not know the Buddha's sūtras, who after death enters Avīci. Why do you not believe it?' The king said: 'Excellent, excellent!' Bhikṣu Nāgasena said: 'Suppose two persons die at the same time: one is born in the seventh Brahmā heaven, and one is born in the country of Kaśmīra. Although the distances for these two persons differ, at the moment of death both arrive at the same time. It is like a pair of flying birds: one rests upon a tall tree, and one rests upon a low tree; when the two birds fly at the same time, their shadows reach the ground at the very same moment.' Bhikṣu Nāgasena said: 'If a foolish person does evil, he incurs great misfortune; if a wise person does evil, he incurs small misfortune. For example, when hot iron is on the ground, one person knows it is hot iron, and another does not; both take hold of it together. Yet the hand of the one who does not know is severely scalded, while that of the one who knows is scalded lightly. Doing evil is also like this: the fool is unable to repent himself, therefore his misfortune is great; the wise person, doing evil, knows it should not be done and daily repents his errors, therefore his misfortune is small.'