法苑珠林 31.7

31.7

如生經云。佛告諸比丘。乃昔過去無數劫時。姊弟二人。姊有一子。與舅俱給官御府織。見帑藏中奇寶好物。即共議言。吾織作勤苦藏物多少。寧可共取用解貧乏。伺夜人定鑿作地窟。盜取官物不可算數。明監藏者覺物減少。以啟白王王詔之曰。勿廣宣之令外知聞。舅甥盜者謂王不覺。王曰。至于後日必復重來。且嚴警守以用待之。得者收捉無令放逸。藏監受詔即加守備。其人久久則重來盜。外甥教舅。舅今年尊。體羸力少。若為守者所得不能自脫。我力強盛當濟挽舅。舅適入窟為守者所執。執者喚呼諸人。甥捉不制畏明識之。輒截舅頭出窟持歸。晨曉藏監具以啟聞。王又詔曰。輿出其屍置四交路。其有對哭取死屍者。則是賊魁。棄之四衢警守積日。人馬填噎塞路奔突。其賊射鬧載兩車薪置其屍上。守者啟王。王詔微伺。若有燒者收縛送來。於是外甥教童執炬舞戲人眾總鬧。以火投薪薪然熾盛。守者不覺具以啟王。王又詔曰。若闍維更增嚴伺其來取骨則是元首。甥又覺之。兼猥釀酒特令醇厚。詣守備者微而沽之。遣守者連昔飢渴見酒叢飲。飲酒過多皆共醉寐。酒瓶盛骨而去。守者不覺。明復啟王。王又詔曰。前後警守竟不級獲。其賊狡黠更當設謀。王即出女莊嚴寶飾。安立房室於大水傍。眾人侍衛伺察非妄。必有利色來趣女者。逆抱捉喚令人收執。他日異夜甥尋竊來。因水放株令順流下。唱噭犇隱守者驚趣。謂有異人但見株杌。如是連昔數數不變。守者睡眠甥即乘株。到女房室。女則執衣。甥告女曰。用為牽衣可捉我臂。甥素凶黠。預持死人臂以用授女。便放衣捉臂而大稱噭遲。守者寤。甥得脫走。明具啟王。王又詔曰。此人方便獨百無雙。久捕不得當奈之何。女即懷妊十月生男。男大端正使乳母抱。行周遍國中有人見嗚。便縛送來。抱兒終日無就嗚者。甥為餅師住餅鑪下。小兒飢啼乳母抱兒。趣餅鑪下市餅哺兒。甥見兒嗚。具以白王。王又詔曰。何不縛送。乳母答曰。小兒飢啼餅師授餅。因而嗚之不識是賊。何因白之。王又使母更抱兒出。見近兒者便縛將來。甥沽美酒。呼母伺者勸酒醉眠。便盜兒去。醒寤失兒具以啟王。王又詔曰。卿等頑騃貪嗜狂水。既不得賊復亡失兒。甥時得兒抱至他國。前見國王。占謝答對引經說義。王大歡喜。輒賜祿位以為大臣。而謂之曰。吾之一國智慧方便無逮卿者。欲以臣女若吾之女。當以相配。自恣所欲。對曰。不敢。若王見哀其實欲索某國王女。王曰。善哉。從所志願。王即自以為子遣使求彼王女。王即可之。即遣使者欲迎王女。勅其太子五百騎乘皆使嚴整。甥為賊臣。甥懷恐懼。若到彼國王必覺我見執不疑。便啟其王。若王見遣當令人馬衣服鞍勒一無差異。乃可迎婦。王然其言。王令二百五十騎在前。二百五十騎在後。甥在其中跨馬不下。女父自出屢觀察之。王入騎中躬執甥出。爾為是非。前後方便捕何叵得。稽首答曰。實爾是也王曰。卿之聰黠天下無雙。卿之所願以女配之得為夫婦。佛告諸比丘。欲知爾時外甥者。則吾身是。外國王者舍利弗是。其舅者今調達是。女婦翁者輸頭檀王是。婦母者摩耶夫人是。其婦者拘夷是。其子者羅雲是。佛說是時莫不歡喜。

As the Jātaka Sūtra states: The Buddha addressed the monks: Countless kalpas ago in the past, there were a sister and brother. The sister had a son, who along with his uncle was employed in weaving for the royal court's imperial treasury. Seeing the rare treasures and fine items in the treasury, they conferred together, saying: 'We weave and toil with great bitterness, while the treasury's goods are so vast! Should we not take some together to relieve our poverty?' Watching for the night when people were settled, they tunneled an underground burrow and stole incalculable amounts of royal goods. The next morning, the overseer of the treasury noticed that the goods were diminished and reported this to the king. The king issued a decree to him, saying: 'Do not publicize it far and wide so as to let outsiders hear of it.' The thieves, uncle and nephew, thought that the king had not noticed. The king said: 'In days to come they will surely return again. Let us strictly guard and watch to wait for them. If anyone is caught, seize and capture him; do not let him get away.' The treasury overseer received the decree and immediately reinforced the guard. After a long while, they returned to steal. The nephew instructed the uncle: 'Uncle, you are advanced in years, your body is weak and your strength is meager. If you are caught by the guards, you will not be able to free yourself. My strength is vigorous, so I should pull and rescue you.' Just as the uncle entered the burrow, he was seized by the guards. The captors shouted for the others. The nephew could not pull him free, and fearing that daylight would reveal his identity, he forthwith cut off the uncle's head, exited the burrow, and took it home. At dawn, the treasury overseer reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'Carry his corpse out and place it at a four-way intersection. Whoever cries over it and takes the dead body is the chief of the bandits.' It was discarded at the crossroads and guarded for successive days. Men and horses crowded and blocked the road in a chaotic rush. The thief took advantage of the commotion to load two carts of firewood and place them over the corpse. The guards reported to the king. The king decreed that they secretly observe: 'If someone sets fire to it, bind and deliver him here.' Thereupon, the nephew taught children to hold torches and dance in play, causing the crowd to fall into total commotion. He threw fire onto the firewood, and the firewood blazed fiercely. The guards did not notice and reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'When the cremation is complete, increase the strict observation even further; whoever comes to collect the bones is the mastermind.' The nephew noticed this as well. He secretly brewed a large quantity of wine to make it exceptionally rich and strong. He went to the guards and quietly sold it to them. Because the guards had been hungry and thirsty for nights on end, seeing the wine they drank together in a flock; having drunk to excess, all fell into a drunken slumber. Filling a wine jar with the bones, he left. The guards did not notice. The next morning they reported again to the king. The king again decreed: 'Despite successive watches, we still have not captured him. The thief is crafty; we must devise another plan.' The king then brought forth his daughter, adorned her with jewels and ornaments, and settled her in a chamber by the great water, with a crowd of attendants guarding and watching without negligence: 'Whoever covets her beauty will surely come to approach the girl. Embrace and seize him, call out, and have the people capture him.' On another night on a different day, the nephew quietly stole over. Using the water, he released a tree stump so that it drifted downstream. Shouting loudly, he made a splashing rush; the guards were startled and ran over, thinking it was a strange person, only to see a tree stump. This continued for several successive nights without change. When the guards fell asleep, the nephew rode a stump and arrived at the girl's chamber. The girl took hold of his clothes. The nephew told the girl: 'Why pull at my clothes? You may grasp my arm.' The nephew was innately cunning and fierce; in advance he had taken the arm of a dead person to give to the girl. She released the clothes, took hold of the arm, and shouted loudly. The guards were slow to awaken, and the nephew managed to escape. The next morning they reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'This person's expedients are unrivaled among hundreds! We have sought him for so long without catching him—what is to be done?' The girl then became pregnant, and after ten months gave birth to a boy. The boy was extremely handsome. The king had a wet-nurse carry him around throughout the kingdom: 'If anyone sees and kisses him, bind and deliver him here.' The wet-nurse carried the child all day, but no one went up to kiss him. The nephew had become a baker standing under a baking oven. The child cried from hunger, and the wet-nurse, holding the child, approached the baking oven to buy cakes to feed him. The nephew, seeing the child, kissed him. The wet-nurse reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'Why did you not bind and deliver him?' The wet-nurse replied: 'The child cried from hunger, and the baker gave him a cake and thereby kissed him. I did not know he was the thief, so on what grounds could I report him?' The king again sent the nurse out carrying the child: 'Whoever comes near the child, bind and bring him here.' The nephew sold fine wine, invited the nurse and the watchers, urged them to drink until they were drunkenly asleep, and then stole the child away. When they awoke and found the child gone, they reported the full details to the king. The king again decreed: 'You fools were greedy for and indulged in this maddening water! Not only did you fail to catch the thief, but you lost the child as well.' At that time, the nephew took the child and carried him to another kingdom. He presented himself before the king of that state, performing formal greetings, answering queries, and citing scriptures to expound doctrine. That king was greatly pleased and immediately bestowed upon him stipends and rank, appointing him as a great minister, and said to him: 'In my entire kingdom, none matches your wisdom and skill in expedients. I wish to give you either a minister's daughter or my own daughter in marriage; do as you please.' He replied: 'I would not presume. If Your Majesty takes pity on me, what I truly desire is the daughter of the king of such-and-such kingdom.' That king said: 'Splendid! It shall be as you wish.' The king then regarded him as his own son and sent an envoy to ask for that king's daughter. That king consented. An envoy was sent to welcome the king's daughter, and five hundred mounted escorts of the crown prince were ordered to be fully equipped and in order. The nephew was a bandit-minister, and he harbored fear: 'If I arrive in that kingdom, that king will surely recognize me, and I will be seized without doubt.' He then reported to his king: 'If Your Majesty sends me, you must order that the men, horses, garments, saddles, and bridles are entirely uniform without any difference; only then can we go to receive the bride.' The king approved of his words. The king ordered two hundred and fifty riders in front and two hundred and fifty riders behind. The nephew was in their midst, astride his horse without dismounting. The girl's father came out himself and repeatedly observed them. The king entered among the riders, personally took hold of the nephew, and brought him out: 'Are you he or not? Through all my previous expedients, why was it impossible to capture you?' Bowing his head, he replied: 'Indeed, it was I.' The king said: 'Your intelligence and craftiness are unrivaled under heaven.' The king gave his daughter in marriage according to his wish, and they became husband and wife. The Buddha addressed the monks: 'If you wish to know who the nephew was at that time, it was my own self. The king of the other kingdom was Śāriputra. The uncle was none other than Devadatta today. The father-in-law was King Śuddhodana. The mother-in-law was Queen Māyā. The wife was Gopā. The child was Rāhula.' When the Buddha spoke this, everyone rejoiced.