諸經要集 10.154

10.154

Furthermore, the *Faju piyu jing* states: "In the past, in a foreign land, there was a lay devotee who made offerings to the Triratna without ever tiring. At that time there was a śramaṇa who was close friends with him, who had attained supernormal faculties and whose cycle of birth and death had already ended. Later, the lay devotee fell grievously ill with pain; medicines and treatments were applied, but he could not recover. At that time, his wife was at his side, weeping in sorrow and distress: 'Together as husband and wife, why must you alone suffer this agony? If impermanence befalls you, on what shall I rely? The sons and daughters are lonely and alone; on whom can they depend?' Hearing her sorrowful yearning, the husband died immediately, and his conscious spirit returned to his wife's nose, transforming into a worm. The wife wept bitterly, unable to stop herself. At that time, the man of the Way came to meet the wife; knowing that the husband had passed away and become a worm in her nose, he wished to admonish and console her to make her abandon her grief and sorrow. Seeing the man of the Way arrive, the wife's grief intensified: 'What can be done, upādhyāya? My husband has died!' Just then the wife blew her nose, and the worm fell to the ground. The wife felt ashamed and was about to crush it with her foot. The man of the Way told her: 'Stop, stop! Do not kill it. This is your husband, transformed into this worm.' The wife said to the man of the Way: 'My husband upheld the sūtras, kept the precepts, and had vigor hard to equal. For what reason has he died and fallen to become this worm?' The man of the Way replied: 'Because of your affection, sorrow, and lamentation, he gave rise to an affectionate mind; because of this, when his life ended, he immediately fell to become a worm.' The man of the Way then expounded the sūtras for the worm: 'You should have been born in the heavens before the Buddhas, yet merely on account of affection you fell to become this worm; should you not feel ashamed?' Hearing his words, the worm's mind opened and understanding dawned; reproaching itself, it immediately died and attained rebirth in heaven above. Therefore, examining oneself for the sake of others, one must not be lax and thereby harm one's future retribution."