諸經要集 7.32

7.32

As the Sūtra of the Elder Sumati says: When the Buddha was in the world, in the city of Śrāvastī there was the son of a great elder named Sumati. When this person passed away, his parents, clan relatives, and acquaintances wailed together in mournful grief, beating their breasts and jumping, shouting grievances, and falling senseless to the ground. Some called out for father, mother, or brothers; some cried for their husband, master, or elder; in such diverse manners did they wail and weep. Some grabbed dirt and threw it upon themselves; some held knives and severed their hair, like someone pierced through the heart with a poisoned arrow undergoing boundless distress. Some covered themselves with their garments and wept sorrowfully, like trees in a forest blown and swayed by a great wind with branches crashing against one another; or like fish deprived of water writhing on the ground; or like a great tree chopped down, collapsing in utter ruin. Such cruel afflictions were inflicted upon their bodies. At that time, the World-Honoured One, knowing this already, deliberately asked: 'Ānanda, why is that great assembly wailing and weeping like this?' Ānanda reported everything to the Buddha: 'I only pray, World-Honoured One, that to deliver all beings you will go there. The Buddhas, World-Honoured Ones, do not expound anything without being invited; I now exhort and invite the Buddha, the World-Honoured One, on behalf of those people: out of great maitrī-karuṇā, may you go there.'