法苑珠林 52.12

52.12

At that time, the elder's kinfolk, upon hearing what the Buddha taught, had their grief and suffering extinguished and together attained the fruits of the Way. Furthermore, the Avadāna-Dharmapada-sūtra states: In the past, there was a brāhmaṇa who went forth in his youth and studied until sixty without being able to attain the Way. According to the brāhmaṇa custom, if one does not attain the Way by age sixty, one subsequently returns home, takes a wife, and lives as a householder. He fathered a son who was handsome and lovely. When he reached seven years of age, he was intelligent in book-learning, with talent and eloquence upon his lips exceeding ordinary standards. Suddenly he contracted a severe illness and died in a single night. The brahmacārin loved him dearly and could not contain his grief; throwing himself over the corpse, he lost consciousness and revived again. His kin reasoned with him and took away the corpse for encoffining, burying it outside the city. The brahmacārin reflected to himself: “My weeping now serves no benefit; it would be better to go to King Yama's place to beg for my son's life.” Thereupon the brahmacārin bathed, observed the precepts, and carrying flowers and incense, left his house and departed. Wherever he went, he asked people: “Where is the place where King Yama rules?” Traveling on and on, he covered thousands of li into deep mountains, where he saw several brahmacārins who had attained the Way, and asked them as before. The brahmacārins asked: “Sir, you ask for King Yama's dwelling place; what do you seek?” He answered: “I had a son whose eloquence and wisdom surpassed others; recently he suddenly died. In my utter grief and distress, I cannot resolve it myself. I wish to go to the King's place to beg for my son's life, and bring him back home to support me in my old age.” The brahmacārins, pitying his foolishness, said to him: “The place where King Yama rules is not a place that living people can reach. We shall show you a way: from here you should go west for more than four hundred li, where there is a great plain with a city in it. This is the city where all heavenly deities rest when patrolling the world. King Yama always passes through this city when on inspection on the fourth day of the fourth month. If you maintain the precepts and go, you are sure to see him.” The brahmacārin rejoiced, followed their instructions, and departed. Reaching the plain, he saw a splendid city, its palaces and houses like those in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. The brahmacārin went to the gate, burned incense, stood on tiptoe, and prayed, asking to see King Yama. The King ordered the gatekeeper to usher him in. The brahmacārin said: “Late in life I fathered a son, intending him to provide for my old age. Having raised him to seven years, he recently passed away. I only pray that the Great King will bestow your gracious charity and return my son's life to me.” King Yama said: “What you seek is very good. Your son is now playing in the eastern garden; go fetch him yourself.” The brahmacārin immediately went, saw the boy playing with other small children, and stepped forward to embrace him. Weeping before him, he said: “Day and night I long for you, finding no relish in food or sleep. Do you not remember your parents' toil?” The child started in alarm, cried out, and scolded him: “You foolish old man, you do not understand the truth! We resided together for a mere moment, yet you call someone your son! Do not babble nonsense; it is better you leave early. Now I have my own parents here; why embrace me in vain on a chance encounter?” The brahmacārin departed in dejection and tears, and reflected: “I have heard that the Śramaṇa Gautama understands the way of the soul's transformations; I should go ask him.” Thereupon the brahmacārin returned to the Buddha's place. At that time, the Buddha was preaching the Dharma for the great assembly at the Jetavana in Śrāvastī. Seeing the Buddha, the brahmacārin bowed his head in homage and reported the matter from beginning to end to the Buddha: “He truly is my son, yet he refuses to acknowledge me, and on the contrary called me a foolish old man, saying we resided together for a moment yet I claim him as a son, showing no affection of father and son at all. What is the cause of this?” The Buddha told the brahmacārin: “You are truly foolish. When a person dies and the consciousness departs, it immediately assumes another form. Parents, wives, and children dwell together by cause and condition, like lodgers who scatter once they rise. The foolish and deluded are bound and attached, reckoning them as their own, experiencing sorrow, lamentation, and pain without knowing the root cause, sinking in saṃsāra without any rest. Only the wise do not crave affection and love; realizing suffering, they abandon its accumulation and diligently cultivate the sutras and precepts. When consciousness and conception are extinguished, saṃsāra comes to an end.” Upon hearing this, the brahmacārin's mind was suddenly opened to understanding, and right on his seat he attained the arhat path.