法苑珠林 52.27

52.27

[The brahmacārin] spoke again to his wife: “Your husband is already dead; why do you not weep?” The wife spoke a parable to the brahmacārin, saying: “It is just like birds that roost in a tall tree at dusk, staying and roosting together; waiting for dawn to break, they each fly away to seek food. If there are conditions, they gather; if there are no conditions, they part. We husband and wife are also like this. When the retribution of impermanence arrives, each follows their own past actions; he cannot be saved or protected.”