法苑珠林 52.17

52.17

Hearing the verse, the elder was startled and asked him: 'Why does the practitioner say this?' He answered: 'The chicken on the table was your father in a past life; because of stinginess and greed, he was constantly reborn among chickens to be eaten by you. This small child was formerly a rākṣasa. When you were a wealthy merchant, you boarded a ship to enter the sea; the boat lost its course and fell into the realm of the rākṣasas, where you were eaten by that rākṣasa. Thus it went for five hundred lifetimes. When his lifespan ended, he came to be born as your son; because your remaining karmic offenses were not yet exhausted, he came intending to harm you. Your present wife was your mother in a past life; because her love and affection were deep and firm, she has now returned to be your wife. Now, in your foolishness, you do not recognize your past lives: you kill your father, nourish your enemy, and take your mother as wife. The samsāra of the five destinies revolves without end, turning round and round in the five destinies. Who could know this? Only a practitioner can see both this and that. When the foolish do not know, should they not be ashamed?' Thereupon the elder's hair suddenly stood on end as if in terror. The Buddha manifested his divine power to make him recognize his past lives. Seeing the Buddha, the elder immediately recognized his past lives, promptly repented, acknowledged his faults, and received the five precepts. The Buddha preached the Dharma for him, and he attained the fruit of srotāpanna. Again, the Saṃyuktaratnapiṭaka-sūtra says: When the Buddha was once traveling, he came to the country of Kośala and sat under a tree along the way. There was an old woman named Kaṭañcarā who was a bondservant drawing water at a well. The Buddha told Ānanda: 'Go and fetch water.' Receiving the Buddha's command, Ānanda went to request water. At that time, hearing that the Buddha requested water, the old woman carried the jar herself and went. Having reached the Buddha's place, she set the jar on the ground, walked straight up to the Buddha, and embraced him. Ānanda wished to stop her, but the Buddha said: 'Do not stop her. In five hundred lifetimes, this old woman was once my mother. Because her affectionate mind is not yet exhausted, she embraces me. If you were to stop her, boiling blood would surge from her face, and she would immediately die.' Having embraced the Buddha and kissed his hands and feet, she stood to one side. The Buddha told Ānanda: 'Go and summon her master.' When her master arrived, he bowed his head at the Buddha's feet and withdrew to stand to one side. The Buddha said to the master: 'Release this old woman and let her go forth. If she goes forth, she will attain arhatship.' The master then released her. Because she had gone forth to practice the path in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, she attained arhatship. At that time, as the head of an assembly, she had scolded holy nuns as servant-maids; hence she is now a bondservant to others. Because in five hundred lifetimes she was constantly my mother and hindered me from giving, she was constantly born poor and lowly.