諸經要集 7.34

7.34

又法句喻經云。昔有婆羅門。少年出家學道。至六十不能得道。婆羅門法。六十不得道。然後歸家。娶婦為居家。生得一男端正可愛。至年七歲。書學聰了才辯出口。有逾人之操卒得重病。一宿命終。梵志憐惜不能自勝。伏其屍上氣絕復蘇。親族諫喻。奪尸殯斂。埋著城外。梵志自念。我今啼哭計無所益。不如往至閻羅王所乞索兒命。於是梵志。沐浴齋戒齎持花香。發舍而去。所在問人。閻羅王所治處。為在何許。展轉前行。行數千里。至深山中。見諸得道梵志。復問如前。諸梵志問曰。卿問閻羅王所治處。欲求何等。答曰。我有一子。辯慧過人。近日卒亡。悲窮懊惱不能自解。欲至王所求乞兒命。還將歸家養以備老。諸梵志等慜其愚癡。即告之曰。閻羅王所治之處。非是生人所可得到也。當示卿方。宜從此西行。四百餘里有大川。其中有城。此是諸天神。案行世間停宿之城。閻羅王常以四月四日。案行必過此城。卿持齋戒往必見之。梵志歡喜奉教而去。到其川中見好城郭。宮殿屋舍如忉利天。梵志詣門。燒香翹脚。呪願求見閻羅王。王勅守門人引見之。梵志啟言。晚生一男是以備老。養育七歲。近日命終。唯願大王。垂恩布施還我兒命。閻羅王言。所求大善。卿兒今在東園中戲。自往將去。梵志即往。見兒與諸小兒共戱。即前抱之。向之啼泣曰。我晝夜念汝。食寐不甘。汝寧不念父母辛苦以不。小兒驚喚。逆呵之曰。癡騃老公不達道理。寄住須臾。名人為子。勿妄多言。不如早去。今我此間自有父母。邂逅之間唐自手抱。梵志悵然涕泣而去。即自念言。我聞瞿曇沙門。知人魂神變化之道。當往問之。於是梵志即還佛所。時佛在舍衛祇洹。為大眾說法。梵志見佛。稽首作禮。具以本末向佛陳之。實是我兒。不肯見召。反謂語我。為癡騃老公。寄住須臾。認我為子。永無父子之情。何緣乃爾。佛告梵志。汝實愚癡。人死神去便更受形。父母妻子因緣合居。譬如寄客起則離散。愚迷縛著。計為己有。憂悲苦惱不識本根。沈溺生死未央休息。唯有慧者。不貪恩愛。覺苦捨習。勤修經戒。滅除識想。生死得盡。梵志聞已。豁然意解。即於坐上得羅漢道。

Also, the Fajubiyu jing says: In the past there was a brāhmaṇa who left home in his youth to study the way. When he reached sixty he had still been unable to attain the way. According to the brāhmaṇa custom, if one does not attain the way by sixty, one then returns home, takes a wife, and lives as a householder. He fathered a son who was handsome and lovely. When the boy reached seven years of age, he was clear-sighted in his studies, and talents and eloquence poured from his mouth; his conduct surpassed other men. Suddenly he contracted a grave illness and died in a single night. The brahmacārin pitied him and could not bear it; prostrating himself over the corpse, he fainted and revived. His kinsmen admonished and reasoned with him, took away the corpse, placed it in a coffin, and buried it outside the city. The brahmacārin thought to himself: ‘My weeping now serves no purpose whatsoever. It would be better to go to King Yama's abode and beg for my son's life.’ Thereupon the brahmacārin bathed, purified himself, took flowers and incense, and departed from his home. Wherever he went he asked people: ‘Where is King Yama's domain located?’ Moving forward from place to place, he traveled several thousand li and reached deep mountains, where he saw brahmacārins who had attained the way. He asked them as before. The brahmacārins asked: ‘Sir, why do you ask for King Yama's domain? What are you seeking?’ He replied: ‘I had a son whose eloquence and wisdom surpassed other men. Recently he died suddenly. Plunged into sorrow and distress, I cannot find relief. I wish to go to the king's abode to beg for my son's life, and bring him back home to support me in my old age.’ The brahmacārins, pitying his foolishness, said to him: ‘The place where King Yama governs is not somewhere living people can reach. We shall show you the direction: you should travel west from here for more than four hundred li, where there is a great valley with a city inside it. This is the city where the heavenly spirits stay overnight when inspecting the world. On the fourth day of the fourth month, King Yama always passes through this city on his inspection tour. If you observe the purificatory precepts and go there, you will certainly see him.’ The brahmacārin rejoiced, followed their instructions, and went. Arriving in the valley, he saw fine city walls, with palaces and houses like those in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. The brahmacārin arrived at the gate, burned incense, stood on one foot, and uttered vows seeking to see King Yama. The king ordered the gatekeeper to usher him in. The brahmacārin said: ‘Late in life I had a son to provide for my old age. I raised him for seven years, but recently his life ended. I pray only that the Great King will bestow his grace and give me back my son's life.’ King Yama said: ‘What you ask is very good. Your son is now playing in the eastern garden; go take him yourself.’ The brahmacārin went at once and saw his son playing together with other young boys. He rushed forward, embraced him, and wept, saying: ‘I have thought of you day and night, finding no savor in food or sleep. Do you not remember the hardships of your parents?’ The boy cried out in alarm and scolded him, saying: ‘You foolish old man, you do not understand the truth! I lodged there only for a moment; you call another person your son! Do not speak reckless words—you had better leave early! Now I have my own parents here. By mere chance encounter you pointlessly take me in your arms!’ The brahmacārin departed dejectedly in tears. He thought to himself: ‘I have heard that the śramaṇa Gautama knows the path of transformations of the human spirit. I should go and ask him.’ Thereupon the brahmacārin returned to where the Buddha was. At that time the Buddha was at the Jetavana in Śrāvastī, expounding the Dharma for the great assembly. Seeing the Buddha, the brahmacārin bowed his head in homage and related the matter from beginning to end to the Buddha: ‘He was truly my son, yet he would not acknowledge me; instead he called me a foolish old man, saying I lodged there for a moment and claim him as my son, showing no affection between father and son at all. What is the cause of this?’ The Buddha told the brahmacārin: ‘You are truly foolish. When a person dies and the spirit departs, it takes another bodily form. Parents, wives, and children come together by causes and conditions, just as lodgers assemble and disperse upon rising. Deluded fools are bound by attachment, reckoning them to be their own; in sorrow, grief, and distress they do not know the root. Drowning in birth and death, they never rest. Only the wise do not crave affection; realizing suffering, they abandon its origin, diligently practice the scriptures and precepts, extinguish consciousness and conception, and put an end to birth and death.’ When the brahmacārin heard this, his mind was opened in understanding, and right upon his seat he attained the path of the arhat.”