法苑珠林 26.14

26.14

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.