法苑珠林 57.7

57.7

As the Sūtra of the Parables of the Dharmapada states: In the past, when the Buddha was in the world, there was King Pukkusāti. When he entered Rājagṛha as a monk on his almsround, at the city gate a newly calved cow gored him to death. The cow's owner was terrified, and sold the cow to someone else. As that person was leading the cow to drink water, the cow again gored its master to death from behind. The master's family members were enraged; they took the cow, killed it, and sold its meat in the market. A rustic bought the cow's head, hung it on a carrying pole, and carried it home. Beside a field, he sat beneath a tree to rest and hung the cow's head from a tree branch. After a short while, the rope broke, and the cow's head fell directly upon the man; the cow's horn pierced him, and he died immediately. In a single day, it had killed three people in all. King Bimbisāra heard of this and thought it strange. Together with his courtiers, he went to the Buddha's place and asked in full about the matter. The Buddha told the king: "In the past, there were three merchants who went to another country to engage in trade. They lodged in the house of a lonely old woman, where they owed her the rental fee for the lodging. Seeing that the old woman was alone, they cheated her and did not wish to pay. Waiting until the old woman was away, they quietly left without paying. When the old woman returned and did not see the guests, she asked the neighbours, who all said they had left. The old woman was enraged; she pursued them and caught up with them, asking for the fee in exhaustion. The three guests reviled her: 'We already gave it to you before! Why are you asking again?' Unanimously, they resisted and refused to give the fee. The old woman was frail and solitary, and could do nothing. Grievously distressed, she swore an oath: 'I am now in poverty and distress; how can you bear to cheat and resist me? May it be that in whatever place I am reborn in future lives, if I meet you, I will certainly kill you! Even if you attain the Way, I will never let you go.'" The Buddha said to King Bimbisāra: "The old woman of that time was this cow. The three merchants were the three men, Pukkusāti and the others, who were gored to death by the cow." Thereupon, the World-Honoured One spoke this gāthā: