法苑珠林 26.14

26.14

第四畜生趣中。云何知有宿命智。答如婆沙論中。昔有一女。置兒在地。緣行他處。時有一狼將其兒去。其母見已趁而語言。汝狼何以將我兒去。狼即報言。汝是我怨。曾於五百生中常食我兒。我今還欲於五百生殺害汝子。此乃怨讎相報。理當法爾。何以生瞋。作是報已復更語言。若汝能捨怨害者。我則放汝之子。兒母報曰。我捨怨心。時狼即便起坐思惟。觀彼女人之心乃知不捨。還復語言。汝雖口言心猶不捨。作是語已即便斷其兒命而去。此乃自識宿命。亦知於彼女人之心。此為良驗。自餘鬼及天趣。並識宿命及知他心。前後諸篇經論具說。不煩重述。然此二智非是種智。論他心宿命二種智。唯據靜慮禪定發得。此乃報得行在散心。故知非也。

Fourth, in the animal destiny, how is it known that there is the cognition of past lives? Answer: As in the *Vibhāṣā-śāstra*, in the past there was a woman who placed her child on the ground and went elsewhere on business. At that time a wolf carried off her child. When the mother saw this, she chased it and said: 'Why are you, wolf, taking my child?' The wolf replied: 'You are my enemy. In five hundred lives you constantly ate my children; now I in turn wish to kill your child in five hundred lives. This is enmity repaying enmity; according to principle, this is the natural order. Why become angry?' Having given this reply, it spoke further: 'If you can relinquish your wish to harm out of enmity, I will release your child.' The child's mother replied: 'I relinquish my resentful mind.' At that time the wolf sat down and reflected; examining that woman's mind, it knew that she had not relinquished it. It spoke to her again: 'Although your mouth speaks it, your mind has still not relinquished it.' Having spoken these words, it ended her child's life and departed. This is knowing its own past lives and also knowing that woman's mind, which serves as sound verification. As for the rest, the preta and deva destinies both know past lives and know others' minds; this is fully explained in the sūtras and śāstras of the earlier and later sections, so there is no need to repeat it. However, these two cognitions are not omniscient cognition (sarvākārajñatā). Treatises explain that the two kinds of cognition—of others' minds and of past lives—are attained only on the basis of dhyāna and samādhi; these [instances here] are retribution-born and operate within a distracted mind, and thus we know they are not the same.