法苑珠林 66.12

66.12

佛告諸比丘。眾生無始生死長夜輪轉。不知苦之本際。無有一處不生不死者。如是長夜無始生死。不知苦之本際。亦無有一處無父母兄弟妻子眷屬宗親師長者。譬如大雨滴漚一生一滅。是眾生無明所蓋。愛繫其頸。長夜輪轉不知苦之本際。譬如普天大雨洪注東西南北無斷絕處。如是四方無量國土劫壞。如天普雨天下無斷絕處。長夜輪轉不知苦之本際。譬如擲杖空中。或頭落地。或尾落地。或中落地。如是無始生死長夜輪轉。或墮地獄。或墮畜生。或墮餓鬼。又增一阿含經云。爾時三十三天有一天子。身形有五死瑞。一華冠自萎。二衣裳垢坌。三腋下流汗。四不樂本位。五玉女違伴。時彼天子愁憂苦惱搥胸歎息。時釋提桓因聞此天子愁憂聲。便勅一天子。此何等聲。乃徹此間。彼天子具報所由。爾時釋提桓因自往其所。語彼天子言。汝今何故愁憂苦惱。乃至於斯天子報言。尊者那得不愁。命將欲終有五怪衰。令此七寶宮殿悉當忘失。及五百玉女亦當星散。所食甘露今無氣味。是時釋提桓因語彼天子言。汝豈不聞如來說偈乎。

The Buddha addressed the monks: 'Sentient beings transmigrate through the long night of beginningless birth and death, unaware of the fundamental limit of suffering. There is not a single place where they have not been born and have not died; thus through the long night of beginningless birth and death, they do not know the fundamental limit of suffering. Nor is there a single place where there have not been their parents, brothers, wives, children, kin, clan relatives, teachers, and elders. Just as when heavy rain falls, bubbles arise and vanish, these sentient beings are covered by ignorance and bound about the neck by craving, transmigrating through the long night unaware of the fundamental limit of suffering. Just as when heavy rain pours down universally across heaven and earth, east, west, south, and north, without any place of interruption, so too across immeasurable lands in the four directions when the kalpa is destroyed, just as rain universally pours down across the world without interruption, they transmigrate through the long night unaware of the fundamental limit of suffering. Just as when a stick is thrown into the air, sometimes the top hits the ground, sometimes the bottom hits the ground, and sometimes the middle hits the ground, so too in transmigrating through the long night of beginningless birth and death, they sometimes fall into hell, sometimes fall into animals, and sometimes fall into hungry ghosts.' Furthermore, the Ekottarikāgama says: At that time, in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven there was a devaputra whose physical body showed the five omens of death: first, his flower crown naturally withered; second, his garments became soiled with dirt; third, sweat flowed from his armpits; fourth, he took no pleasure in his original seat; fifth, the jade maidens went against his company. Then that devaputra, grieved, distressed, and suffering, beat his breast and sighed. At that time, Śakra Devānām Indra heard the sound of this devaputra's sorrow, and instructed a devaputra: 'What kind of sound is this that penetrates all the way here?' That devaputra reported the cause in full. At that time, Śakra Devānām Indra went to his place in person and said to that devaputra: 'Why are you now so grieved and distressed, even to this degree?' The devaputra answered: 'Venerable one, how could I not grieve? My life is about to end, and the five omens of decay have appeared; they will cause this palace of seven treasures to be completely lost, and the five hundred jade maidens will also be scattered like stars, and the ambrosia I eat now has no flavor.' At that time, Śakra Devānām Indra said to that devaputra: 'Have you not heard the verse spoken by the Tathāgata?'