A deva tempts a monk and is granted an interview with the Buddha
Translation of BZA 017. First version published in Buddhist Studies Review vol. 23-1 (2006).
Thus have I heard, once, the Buddha was staying in Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove of Jialantuo.
At that time a monk, in the last light of the day, went to the riverbank, folded his clothes, put them aside and entered the river to take a bath. He came naked out of the water and let his body dry on the riverside. There a deva, emitting rays and illuminating the riverbank, addressed him: ‘You haven’t gone forth for long yet. Your body is strong and lovely your hair. Why don’t you enjoy the five sensual pleasures [of sight, sound, scent, taste, and touch]? Haven’t you gone forth untimely?’.
The monk answered: ‘I have gone forth right on time, attaining timelessness’. The deva replied: ‘What does it mean to “have gone forth right on time, attaining timelessness”?’. The monk: ‘The Buddha, the World-honored One, has explained how the five sensual pleasures are bound to time, the Buddhadhamma, however, is not bound to time. The five sensual pleasures bring very little pleasure, but multiply our sufferings, accumulate our worries. In the Buddhadhamma I have found certainty within this very body, no more troubling passions. In everything we do, independently of time, when we sow a little karmic seed, we will obtain the full fruit of its results’.
Again the deva asked: ‘Why does the Buddha say the five sensual pleasures are bound to time, why does he say the Buddhadhamma is not bound to time?’. The monk said: ‘I am still young and have not gone forth for long. My learning is still shallow. How could I expound the wide and deep aspects of the utmost truth of the Tathāgata? The Bhagavant is staying near here in the Bamboo Grove of Jialantuo. You can go and put your questions to him yourself’.
The deva replied: ‘The Buddha is served by many powerful and virtuous devas gathered around him left and right. I, weak and lowly as I am, will not be allowed to see him. Go and speak to the World-honored One on my behalf. If the Tathāgata out of compassion graciously agrees to listen, I will go and seek his counsel to dispel my doubts’. The monk: ‘Come along then, I will inform the World-honored One that you seek counsel’. The deva said: ‘I will follow you to the World-honored One’. There the monk went to where the Buddha stayed, and having paid homage to his feet, sat to one side and put the deva’s questions to the World-honored One.
There the World-honored One spoke a verse:
Whoever says the signs / arising from name-and-form do truly exist, //
know this person / is on the road of death. //
In name-and-form perceiving / [their] empty nature, [their] absence of self-nature //
this is called to respect the Buddhas / forever escaping the realms of existence. //
And to the deva: ‘Did you understand that?’. The deva replied: ‘Not yet, World-honored One’. There the Buddha spoke another verse:
The conceit of being better [than others], the conceit of being equal / and the conceit of being inferior [to others]; //
those with these three conceits / are apt to have arguments; //
those who have done away with them / are called of unmovable mind. //
And the Buddha asked the deva: ‘Did you understand that?’. The deva replied: ‘Not yet, World-honored One’. There the Buddha spoke another verse:
By cutting off attachment to name-and-form / one extinguishes the three conceits, //
avoids all desires / extinguishes hate and anger. //
By pulling out the poisoned root / all mental discrimination, wishes and desires cease; //
those who are able to do this / cross over the ocean of birth and death. //
There the deva said: ‘Now I understand’.
The monks, having listened to what the Buddha had said, were happy and practised accordingly.
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tn0099-1078
時有異比丘,於夜明相出時出搨補河邊,脫衣著岸邊,入水洗浴。浴已,上岸,被一衣,待身乾。時有一天子,放身光明,普照搨補河側,語比丘言:
「汝少出家,鮮白髮黑,年始盛美,應習五欲,莊嚴瓔珞,塗香華鬘,五樂自娛,而於是時違親背俗,悲泣別離,剃除鬚髮,著袈裟衣,正信非家,出家學道。如何捨現前樂,而求非時之利?」
比丘答言:
「我不捨現前樂,求非時樂。我今乃是捨非時樂,得現前樂。」
天問比丘:
「云何捨非時樂,得現前樂?」
比丘答言:
「如世尊說: 『非時之欲,少味多苦,少利多難;我今於現法中已離熾然,不待時節,能自通達,現前觀察,緣自知覺。』 如是──天子!──,是名 『捨非時樂,得現前樂。』 」
天復問比丘:
「云何復是如來所說非時之欲,少樂多苦?云何復是如來所說現法利樂,……(乃至)緣自覺知?」
比丘答言:
「我年少出家,不能廣宣如來所說正法、律儀。世尊近在迦蘭陀竹園,汝可往詣如來,問其所疑,如世尊說,隨憶受持。」
天子復言:
「比丘!於如來所有諸力天,眾多圍遶。我先無問,未易可詣。比丘!汝若能為先白世尊者,我可隨往。」
比丘答言:
「當為汝去。」
天白比丘:
「唯然,尊者!我隨後來。」
時彼比丘往詣佛所,稽首禮足,退住一面,以向天子往反問答具白世尊:
「今者──世尊!──彼天子誠實言者,須臾應至;不誠實者,自當不來。」
時彼天子遙語比丘:
「我已此在!我已在此!」
爾時世尊即說偈言:
「眾生隨愛想 以愛想而住
以不知愛故 則為死方便」
佛告天子:
「汝解此偈者,便可發問。」
天子白佛:
「不解,世尊!不解,善逝!」
佛復說偈而告天子曰:
「若知所愛者 不於彼生愛
彼此無所有 他人莫能說」
佛告天子:
「汝解此義者,便可發問。」
天子白佛:
「不解,世尊!不解,善逝!」
佛復說偈言:
「見等勝劣者 則有言論生
三事不傾動 則無軟中上」
佛告天子:
「解此義者,則可發問。」
天子白佛:
「不解,世尊!不解,善逝!」
佛復說偈言:
「斷愛及名色 除慢無所繫
寂滅息瞋恚 離結絕悕望
不見於人天 此世及他世」
佛告天子:
「解此義者,乃可發問。」
天子白佛:
「已解,世尊!已解,善逝!」
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