坐禪三昧經 1.49

1.49

Answer: "One should reflect in this way: 'In this world within saṃsāra, drawn along by the conditions of one's own karma, who is kin and who is not kin? It is merely on account of delusion that one erroneously produces an attached mind, reckoning them to be one's own kin. In past lives those who were not kin were taken as kin; in future lives those who are not kin will be taken as kin; those who are kin in this life were not kin in the past.' It is just like birds roosting: in the evening they gather in a single tree, and in the morning they fly off, each going according to conditions. Family and relatives are also like this: born into the world, each has a different mind; when conditions meet they are close, and when conditions disperse they become distant. There is nothing fixed or real; it is through causes, conditions, and karmic retributions that they are close to one another. It is like dry sand: when grasped in a fist by the hand, conditions of holding bring it together, and conditions of releasing make it scatter. Parents raise a child expecting recompense in old age; the child, having received their embrace and rearing, ought to repay them. If one conforms to their wishes, one is kin; if one opposes their wishes, one is an enemy. There are relatives who cannot benefit but instead bring harm; there are non-relatives who do no harm and bring great benefit. People produce love due to conditions, and due to conditions of love they are further cut off. It is like a painter who paints an image of a woman and then falls in love with it himself; this is just the same—one produces defiled attachment by oneself, and becomes attached to the external. In past lives you had kin; what do they do for you now in this life? You also cannot benefit your past kin, nor can your past kin benefit you; neither benefits the other. Thinking in vain that this is kin and that is not kin is unfixed and boundless in the world. Just as an arhat instructed a newly ordained disciple who longed for his kin, saying: 'Like an evil person who vomits food and wishes to eat it again, you are just like this! You have already succeeded in leaving home—why do you still wish to have loving attachment? These shaven heads and dyed robes are the marks of liberation! By clinging to kin you do not attain liberation, and are bound again by love. The three realms are impermanent, revolving without stability; whether kin or not kin, though they are kin now, after a long time they perish. Thus beings of the ten directions revolve; kin are unfixed, and these are not my kin.' When a person is about to die, being without mind and consciousness, staring straight without moving, his breath ceases and his life ends as if falling into a dark pit. At that time, where are his kin and family? When he was first born, those who were not kin in a prior life are now forcibly brought together as kin; when he is about to die, they are again not kin. Contemplating like this, one should not be attached to kin. Just as when a person's child died, parents in three places wept at the same time: deceiving the parents and wife in heaven, deceiving those among humans as well, and deceiving the parents among the nāgas as well. In such various ways correct contemplation eliminates thoughts of kin."