法苑珠林 69.55

69.55

Furthermore, the Sūtra on the Four Unattainable Things spoken by the Buddha says: The Buddha, together with the monks and bodhisattvas, holding bowls at dawn, entered the city of Śrāvastī for alms. The fourfold assembly followed, and the gods, dragons, and spirits each brought flowers, incense, and instrumental music, following along above. At that time, with his Buddha eye, the Buddha saw four uterine brothers who had left their families, abandoned their worldly careers, lived in seclusion in the mountains, attained the five supernatural powers, and were all called rṣis. When their karmic retribution arrived, knowing that their life spans were exhausted, they all wished to avoid death. Each thought: "With our supernatural powers of flight, we soar at will and reach wherever we wish without hindrance. Now instead we are to be caught by impermanence and lose our lives; we should devise a method to escape this disaster and must not submit to it." Thereupon, one leaped into empty space to conceal his form, [thinking]: "How can the retribution of impermanence know my place?" Another entered a crowded market place of boundless expanse to escape death within it, [thinking]: "The retribution of impermanence only takes one person at a time; why must it seek me?" Another retreated into the great ocean, three million three hundred and sixty thousand li deep, neither reaching the bottom nor coming to the surface, but staying in between, [thinking]: "What would the retribution of impermanence seek here?" Another calculated and secretly went to an uninhabited place in the great mountains, split a mountain in two, entered inside, and closed it back up, [thinking]: "How can the retribution of impermanence know my place?" At that time, the four men each sought to evade death, but in the end none could escape. The one concealed in the sky fell to the ground of his own accord, like a ripe fruit dropping. The one in the mountain perished there and was devoured by beasts. The one in the great ocean died prematurely at that time and was eaten by fish and turtles. The one who entered the market place breathed his last amidst the crowd. Thereupon the World-Honoured One, seeing them like this, declared that these four men were darkened and uncomprehending: wishing to cast off karmic retribution while their three poisons remained unerased, they had not attained the boundless wisdom of the three knowledges. From ancient times until now, who has escaped this calamity? The Buddha then spoke in verse: