法苑珠林 53.35

53.35

如善見律云般陀者。此言路邊生。何以故。般陀母本是大富長者家女。長者唯有此一女。憐愛甚重。作七層樓安置此女。遣一奴子供給所須。奴子長大便與私通。即共奴籌量。我今共汝叛往餘國。如是三問奴子。奴子言不能去。女語奴言。汝若不去我父母知必當殺汝。奴答言。我若往他方貧無錢寶。云何生活。女語奴言。汝隨我去。我當偷取珍寶共汝將去。奴答言。若如是者我共汝去。此女日日偷取珍寶與奴。將出在外藏。算計得二人重擔。遣奴前出在外共期。此女假著婢服反鑰戶而出。共奴相隨遠到他國。安處住止。一二年中即懷胎欲產。心自念言。我今在此若產無人料理。思念憶母欲得還家。共婿籌量。奴婿不去。云若歸必當殺我。婿入山斫樵不在。於後閉戶而去。婿還不見其婦。即問比隣。見我婦不。答言。汝婦已去。其夫即逐至半路及。其婦已生一男兒。夫語婦言。汝為欲產故去。汝今已產何須去耶。婦聞即還。其後未久。以復懷胎。欲產復叛。至半路中復生一男。其婿追逐半路共還。其二兒並於路邊生。故便字為般陀。般陀兄弟與諸同類共戲。二兒力大打諸同類。同類詈言。汝無六親眷屬。孤單在此。何敢打我。兒聞此呵還家啼泣。問母此事。其母默然不答。其兒啼哭不肯飲食。母見不食慈念二兒便語其實。二人聞已便語母言。送我外家不能住此。其母不許。二兒啼泣不已。母共婿籌量即共往送到父門外。遣人通知。父母聞已答言。使二兒入汝不須相見。長者即遣人迎二兒入。入已以香湯洗浴著衣瓔珞。抱取二兒置兩膝上。問言。汝母在他方云何生活。不甚貧乏耶。二兒答言。他方貧窮賣樵自活。母聞慈念即以囊。盛金遣送與女。語言。汝留二兒我自養活。汝將此金還先住處好自生活。不須與我相見。二兒年大為其取婦。翁婆年老臨欲終時。以其家業悉付二兒。其翁婆命終。其兄以家事付弟出家。出家不久即得羅漢。其弟厭俗。後往兄所求欲出家。兄即度之。兄教一偈。四月不得。忘前失後。兄呵念言。此人於佛法無緣。當遣還家。即牽袈裟驅令出門。門外啼泣不欲還家。爾時世尊以天眼觀看眾生。見周羅般陀應可度緣。往至其所問何以啼。般陀具答世尊兄驅因緣。佛知非聲聞能。度是以牽出。世尊安慰其心。即以少許白㲲與周羅般陀。汝捉此㲲向日而𣭠。當作是念。取垢取垢。世尊教已即入聚落。受毘舍佉母請。世尊臨中觀般陀將得道果。即說偈言。

As the *Samantapāsādikā* states: 'Panthaka' means 'born by the roadside'. Why is this? Panthaka's mother was originally the daughter of a very wealthy elder. The elder had only this one daughter and loved her with great tenderness. He built a seven-storied tower to house this daughter, and sent a servant-boy to supply her needs. When the servant-boy grew up, he engaged in illicit relations with her. She then conferred with the servant, saying: 'I will now flee with you to another kingdom.' Having asked the servant three times in this way, the servant said he could not go. The daughter said to the servant: 'If you do not go, when my parents find out, they will surely kill you.' The servant replied: 'If I go to another place, I will be poor and without money or jewels; how shall we live?' The daughter said to the servant: 'Follow me, and I will steal precious jewels to take along with you.' The servant answered: 'If that is so, I will go with you.' Daily, this daughter stole precious jewels and gave them to the servant, who carried them outside and hid them. Having calculated enough for two heavy loads, she sent the servant out first to make an appointment outside. The daughter disguised herself in a maidservant's clothes, locked the door from the outside, and went out. Accompanying the servant, she reached a distant kingdom where they settled down. In a year or two, she became pregnant and was about to give birth. She thought to herself: 'Now that I am here, if I give birth, there is no one to care for me.' Yearning for her mother, she wished to return home. She conferred with her husband, but the servant-husband would not go, saying: 'If I return, they will surely kill me.' When her husband went into the mountains to chop firewood and was absent, she locked the door and left. When the husband returned and did not see his wife, he asked the neighbors: 'Have you seen my wife?' They answered: 'Your wife has already left.' Her husband pursued and overtook her halfway, where his wife had already given birth to a boy. The husband said to the wife: 'You left because you wanted to give birth. Now that you have given birth, why need you go?' Hearing this, the wife returned. Not long after, she became pregnant again. About to give birth, she fled once more, and halfway on the road she gave birth to another boy. Her husband pursued her, and they returned together halfway. Because both boys were born by the roadside, they were named Panthaka. When the Panthaka brothers played with their peers, the two boys, being strong, beat the other children. The other children reviled them, saying: 'You have no family or kinsmen, being all alone here; how dare you beat us?' Hearing this rebuke, the boys returned home weeping and asked their mother about the matter. Their mother was silent and did not answer. Her boys wept and refused to eat or drink. Seeing them not eating, the mother felt tender compassion for the two boys and told them the truth. Having heard it, the two boys said to their mother: 'Send us to our maternal grandfather's house; we cannot stay here.' Their mother refused, but the two boys wept incessantly. The mother conferred with her husband, and they escorted them to the outside of her father's gate, sending someone to inform them. Hearing this, the parents answered: 'Let the two boys enter, but you need not see us.' The elder immediately sent someone to welcome the two boys inside. Once inside, they were bathed with scented warm water and dressed in clothes and necklaces. Embracing the two boys and placing them upon his knees, he asked: 'How does your mother live in that other place? Is she not extremely destitute?' The two boys replied: 'In that other place she is poor, selling firewood to sustain herself.' Hearing this with tender compassion, the mother [i.e., grandmother] filled a pouch with gold and sent it to the daughter, saying: 'You leave the two boys, and I myself will raise them. Take this gold back to your former dwelling, sustain yourself well, and do not see me.' When the two boys grew up, wives were taken for them. When the grandparents grew old and were on the verge of death, they entrusted their entire household estate to the two boys. After the grandparents passed away, the elder brother entrusted the household affairs to the younger brother and renounced household life. Not long after renouncing household life, he attained arhatship. The younger brother grew weary of worldly life, and later went to his elder brother seeking to renounce household life. The elder brother admitted him. The elder brother taught him a single verse, but after four months he could not master it, forgetting the beginning and losing the end. The elder brother scolded him, thinking: 'This person has no affinity with the Buddhadharma; he should be sent back home.' Thereupon, he pulled his kāṣāya and drove him out the gate. Weeping outside the gate, he did not want to return home. At that time, the World-Honoured One observed sentient beings with his divine eye and saw that Cūḍapanthaka had the conditions for deliverance. Coming to his place, he asked why he was weeping. Panthaka fully answered the World-Honoured One regarding the circumstances of his brother driving him out. The Buddha knew this was not someone a śrāvaka could deliver, which was why he had been cast out. The World-Honoured One comforted his mind, and gave a small piece of white fine cotton cloth to Cūḍapanthaka, [saying]: 'Hold this fine cotton cloth, rub it facing the sun, and reflect thus: "Remove defilement, remove defilement."' Having instructed him, the World-Honoured One entered the settlement to accept the invitation of Viśākhā-mātā. When it was near midday, the World-Honoured One, observing that Panthaka was about to attain the fruit of the Path, spoke a verse saying: