法苑珠林 53.35

53.35

As the *Samantapāsādikā* states: 'Panthaka' means 'born by the roadside'. Why is this? Panthaka's mother was originally the daughter of a very wealthy elder. The elder had only this one daughter and loved her with great tenderness. He built a seven-storied tower to house this daughter, and sent a servant-boy to supply her needs. When the servant-boy grew up, he engaged in illicit relations with her. She then conferred with the servant, saying: 'I will now flee with you to another kingdom.' Having asked the servant three times in this way, the servant said he could not go. The daughter said to the servant: 'If you do not go, when my parents find out, they will surely kill you.' The servant replied: 'If I go to another place, I will be poor and without money or jewels; how shall we live?' The daughter said to the servant: 'Follow me, and I will steal precious jewels to take along with you.' The servant answered: 'If that is so, I will go with you.' Daily, this daughter stole precious jewels and gave them to the servant, who carried them outside and hid them. Having calculated enough for two heavy loads, she sent the servant out first to make an appointment outside. The daughter disguised herself in a maidservant's clothes, locked the door from the outside, and went out. Accompanying the servant, she reached a distant kingdom where they settled down. In a year or two, she became pregnant and was about to give birth. She thought to herself: 'Now that I am here, if I give birth, there is no one to care for me.' Yearning for her mother, she wished to return home. She conferred with her husband, but the servant-husband would not go, saying: 'If I return, they will surely kill me.' When her husband went into the mountains to chop firewood and was absent, she locked the door and left. When the husband returned and did not see his wife, he asked the neighbors: 'Have you seen my wife?' They answered: 'Your wife has already left.' Her husband pursued and overtook her halfway, where his wife had already given birth to a boy. The husband said to the wife: 'You left because you wanted to give birth. Now that you have given birth, why need you go?' Hearing this, the wife returned. Not long after, she became pregnant again. About to give birth, she fled once more, and halfway on the road she gave birth to another boy. Her husband pursued her, and they returned together halfway. Because both boys were born by the roadside, they were named Panthaka. When the Panthaka brothers played with their peers, the two boys, being strong, beat the other children. The other children reviled them, saying: 'You have no family or kinsmen, being all alone here; how dare you beat us?' Hearing this rebuke, the boys returned home weeping and asked their mother about the matter. Their mother was silent and did not answer. Her boys wept and refused to eat or drink. Seeing them not eating, the mother felt tender compassion for the two boys and told them the truth. Having heard it, the two boys said to their mother: 'Send us to our maternal grandfather's house; we cannot stay here.' Their mother refused, but the two boys wept incessantly. The mother conferred with her husband, and they escorted them to the outside of her father's gate, sending someone to inform them. Hearing this, the parents answered: 'Let the two boys enter, but you need not see us.' The elder immediately sent someone to welcome the two boys inside. Once inside, they were bathed with scented warm water and dressed in clothes and necklaces. Embracing the two boys and placing them upon his knees, he asked: 'How does your mother live in that other place? Is she not extremely destitute?' The two boys replied: 'In that other place she is poor, selling firewood to sustain herself.' Hearing this with tender compassion, the mother [i.e., grandmother] filled a pouch with gold and sent it to the daughter, saying: 'You leave the two boys, and I myself will raise them. Take this gold back to your former dwelling, sustain yourself well, and do not see me.' When the two boys grew up, wives were taken for them. When the grandparents grew old and were on the verge of death, they entrusted their entire household estate to the two boys. After the grandparents passed away, the elder brother entrusted the household affairs to the younger brother and renounced household life. Not long after renouncing household life, he attained arhatship. The younger brother grew weary of worldly life, and later went to his elder brother seeking to renounce household life. The elder brother admitted him. The elder brother taught him a single verse, but after four months he could not master it, forgetting the beginning and losing the end. The elder brother scolded him, thinking: 'This person has no affinity with the Buddhadharma; he should be sent back home.' Thereupon, he pulled his kāṣāya and drove him out the gate. Weeping outside the gate, he did not want to return home. At that time, the World-Honoured One observed sentient beings with his divine eye and saw that Cūḍapanthaka had the conditions for deliverance. Coming to his place, he asked why he was weeping. Panthaka fully answered the World-Honoured One regarding the circumstances of his brother driving him out. The Buddha knew this was not someone a śrāvaka could deliver, which was why he had been cast out. The World-Honoured One comforted his mind, and gave a small piece of white fine cotton cloth to Cūḍapanthaka, [saying]: 'Hold this fine cotton cloth, rub it facing the sun, and reflect thus: "Remove defilement, remove defilement."' Having instructed him, the World-Honoured One entered the settlement to accept the invitation of Viśākhā-mātā. When it was near midday, the World-Honoured One, observing that Panthaka was about to attain the fruit of the Path, spoke a verse saying: