諸經要集 19.41

19.41

The *Dharmapada-avadāna-sūtra* also states: "Formerly, when the Buddha was at the Jetavana Monastery expounding the Dharma for gods and humans, there was an elder living by the roadside who possessed boundless wealth. He had only one son, who was twenty years old and had newly taken a wife not yet seven days prior. The husband and wife respected each other. Desiring to go to the rear garden in the third month of spring to look and play in the garden, they found a crab-apple tree, tall and large with beautiful flowers. The wife desired to have the flowers, but there was no one to fetch them for her. The husband climbed the tree for her, reaching even to the slender branches. A branch broke, and he fell to the ground and died. All members of the household, old and young, rushed to the son's side, crying out to heaven and wailing loudly, fainting and reviving again; none who heard it failed to feel heartbroken. Putting him in a coffin, they took him back home, weeping incessantly. The Bhagavat pitied their delusion and went to inquire after them. When the elder's household, old and young, saw the Buddha, they bowed down with sorrow and related the full story of their grief. The Buddha said to the elder: 'Cease and listen to the Dharma. All conditioned things are impermanent and cannot be preserved for long. Where there is birth, there is death; sins and merits follow closely behind. In three places, people are weeping, grieving, and fainting in despair for this son, which is indeed hard to endure. In the end, whose son is he, and who are his relatives?' Thereupon, the Bhagavat spoke verses, saying:"