諸經要集 13.29

13.29

Furthermore, the *Si bukedeqing jing* spoken by the Buddha says: The Buddha, together with the monks and bodhisattvas, held their bowls at dawn and entered Śrāvastī to beg for food. The four assemblies all followed, while the devas, nāgas, and spirits each carried flowers, perfumes, and music, following along above. At that time, with his Dharma-eye, the Buddha beheld four brothers born of the same mother who had renounced their family and abandoned their livelihood to dwell in the seclusion of the mountains; having attained the five supernatural powers, they were all called rṣis. Their past retribution arrived, and knowing their lifespans were exhausted, they all wished to avoid death. Each considered: 'Our supernatural powers allow us to fly freely, reaching wherever we wish without hindrance. Now, conversely, we are about to be overcome by impermanence and lose our lives. We must devise an expedient to avoid this calamity; it must not be undergone.' Thereupon, one leaped into the air and concealed his form, thinking: 'How could the retribution of impermanence know my whereabouts?' One entered a crowded, bustling marketplace, vast and boundless, to hide his life therein, thinking: 'If the retribution of impermanence merely seizes anyone at all, why must it seek me?' One retreated into the great ocean, three million three hundred and sixty thousand *li* wide, neither reaching the bottom below nor the surface above, staying in between, thinking: 'What would the retribution of impermanence seek here?' One calculated and secretly went to an uninhabited great mountain, split the mountain into two, entered within, and closed it back up, thinking: 'How could the retribution of impermanence know my whereabouts?' At that time, each of the four attempted to avoid death, but in the end none could escape. The one concealed in the air fell to the ground like ripe fruit falling; the one in the mountain perished there and was eaten by birds and beasts; the one in the ocean met an early death and was eaten by fish and turtles; the one who entered the marketplace passed away amidst the crowd. Thereupon, the World-Honoured One, seeing them like this, regarded these four men as ignorant and unenlightened, wishing to discard past retribution without eradicating the three poisons, failing to reach the boundless wisdom of the three masteries. From ancient times to the present, who has escaped this calamity? The Buddha then spoke in verse: