法苑珠林 90.44

90.44

又百喻經云。昔有愚人養育七子。一子先死。時此愚人見子既死便欲停置於其家中。自欲棄去。傍人見已而語之言。生死道異。當速莊嚴致於遠處。爾時愚人聞此語已。即自思念。若不得留要當葬者。須更殺一子停擔兩頭。乃可勝致。於是更殺一子。而擔負之。遠葬林野。時人見之。深生嗤笑。怪未曾有。譬如比丘私犯一戒。情憚改悔。默然覆藏。自說清淨。或有智者。即語之言。出家之人守持禁戒。如護明珠。不使缺落。汝今云何違犯所受。欲不懺悔。犯戒者言。苟須懺者。更就犯之。然後當出。遂更犯戒。多作不善。爾乃頓出。如彼愚人一子既死。又殺一子。今此比丘亦復如是。

Furthermore, the Sūtra of One Hundred Parables says: In the past, there was a foolish man who raised seven sons. One son died first. At that time, seeing that the son was already dead, this foolish man wished to leave him in his home and abandon him, going away himself. A bystander saw this and spoke to him, saying: 'The paths of life and death are different; you must quickly prepare him and take him far away.' At that time, hearing these words, the foolish man thought to himself: 'If he cannot be kept and must be buried, I need to kill one more son so that a load may be balanced on both ends of the carrying pole; only then can I manage to carry them.' Thereupon he killed another son, shouldered them, and carried them far away to be buried in the wild forest. When people of the time saw this, they laughed deeply in ridicule, marvelling at what was unprecedented. This is like a bhikṣu who secretly violates a precept, fears repentance in his mind, silently conceals it, and claims that he is pure. Or there may be a wise person who speaks to him, saying: 'A renunciant preserves and upholds the prohibitive precepts as if protecting a bright pearl, not letting it be chipped or lost. Why do you now violate what you have received and refuse to repent?' The precept-breaker says: 'If it is required to repent, I will commit another violation and then emerge [through confession] afterwards.' He then went on to commit more precept-violations, doing much evil, and only then suddenly emerged. Just as that foolish man, when one son had already died, killed yet another son, so too is this bhikṣu.