user10844: I vaguely recall reading this story before, possible from the Suttas. Can anyone tell me the scriptural source? (Not looking for modern re-telling such as those by Ven Thich Nhat Hanh.)

THE LOST SON
"A young widower, who loved his five year old son very much, was away
on business when bandits came who burned down the whole village and
took his son away. When the man returned, he saw the ruins and
panicked. The took the burnt corpse of an infant to be his son and
cried uncontrollably. He organised a cremation ceremony, collected the
ashes and put them in a beautiful little bag which he always kept with
him. Soon afterwards, his real son escaped from the bandits and found
his way home. He arrived at his father's new cottage at midnight and
knocked at the door. The father, still grieving asked: "Who is it?"
The child answered, it is me papa, open the door!" But in his agitated
state of mind, convinced his son was dead, the father thought that
some young boy was making fun of him. He shouted: "Go away" and
continued to cry. After some time, the child left. Father and son
never saw each other again."  After this story, the Buddha said:
"Sometime, somewhere, you take something to be the truth. If you cling
to it so much, even when the truth comes in person and knocks on your
door, you will not open it."
(http://viewonbuddhism.org/resources/buddhist_stories.html)


user13709: Venerable, sadly, I could find no such reference in SuttaCentral. I performed a search for son, which revealed 730 results. None of those results had the words "ashes". And of the 20 results with "father", none revealed a story related to your search.
If there is such a story, it lies beyond the scope of what I could find in SuttaCentral, which does include Jataka stories. Unfortunately I'm not entirely sure of the extent of English translations on SuttaCentral. Perhaps such a story has yet to be translated and recorded in SuttaCentral.
What I did find was a relatable sutta addressing the panic/fear of the first part of the story:

SN1.55:1.1: “What gives birth to a person?  What do they have that runs about?  What enters transmigration?  What’s their greatest fear?”  “Craving gives birth to a person. Their mind is what runs about. A sentient being enters transmigration.  Suffering is their greatest fear.”

And I found a relatable sutta addressing the delusion in the second part of the story:

AN3.111:1.4: Any deed that emerges from greed, hate, or delusion—born, sourced, and originated from greed, hate, or delusion—is unskillful, blameworthy, results in suffering, and leads to the creation of more deeds, not their cessation.

The story illuminates these two principles in a very concrete way that is easy to understand.


user254: As mentioned in another answer the story as written is published in at least one book by Thich Nhat Hanh. The following is copied from Being Peace, it's slightly more elaborate than the version you posted (e.g. "velvet bag" instead of "little bag") but with many of the same phrases:




Thay doesn't attribute a source for this story.
The next story on the page of stories which you linked to, i.e. Angry Buddha, is attributed to Being Peace -- so I suppose that probably is where they found the Lost Son story too.
I gather that the Vietnamese tradition is eclectic so in theory Thay might have gathered that story from anywhere, but I think the content or 'moral' of the story suggests it probably is from the Mahayana or Zen tradition.

10844: <p>I vaguely recall reading this story before, possible from the Suttas. Can anyone tell me the scriptural source? (Not looking for modern re-telling such as those by Ven Thich Nhat Hanh.)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>THE LOST SON</p>
<p>&quot;A young widower, who loved his five year old son very much, was away
on business when bandits came who burned down the whole village and
took his son away. When the man returned, he saw the ruins and
panicked. The took the burnt corpse of an infant to be his son and
cried uncontrollably. He organised a cremation ceremony, collected the
ashes and put them in a beautiful little bag which he always kept with
him. Soon afterwards, his real son escaped from the bandits and found
his way home. He arrived at his father's new cottage at midnight and
knocked at the door. The father, still grieving asked: &quot;Who is it?&quot;
The child answered, it is me papa, open the door!&quot; But in his agitated
state of mind, convinced his son was dead, the father thought that
some young boy was making fun of him. He shouted: &quot;Go away&quot; and
continued to cry. After some time, the child left. Father and son
never saw each other again.&quot;  After this story, the Buddha said:
&quot;Sometime, somewhere, you take something to be the truth. If you cling
to it so much, even when the truth comes in person and knocks on your
door, you will not open it.&quot;
(<a href="http://viewonbuddhism.org/resources/buddhist_stories.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://viewonbuddhism.org/resources/buddhist_stories.html</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
 13709: <p>Venerable, sadly, I could find no such reference in SuttaCentral. I performed a search for <a href="https://suttacentral.net/search?query=son" rel="nofollow noreferrer">son</a>, which revealed 730 results. None of those results had the words &quot;ashes&quot;. And of the 20 results with &quot;father&quot;, none revealed a story related to your search.</p>
<p>If there is such a story, it lies beyond the scope of what I could find in SuttaCentral, which does include Jataka stories. Unfortunately I'm not entirely sure of the extent of English translations on SuttaCentral. Perhaps such a story has yet to be translated and recorded in SuttaCentral.</p>
<p>What I did find was a relatable sutta addressing the panic/fear of the first part of the story:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://suttacentral.net/sn1.55/en/sujato#sn1.55:1.1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SN1.55:1.1</a>: “What gives birth to a person?  What do they have that runs about?  What enters transmigration?  What’s their greatest fear?”  “Craving gives birth to a person. Their mind is what runs about. A sentient being enters transmigration.  Suffering is their greatest fear.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And I found a relatable sutta addressing the delusion in the second part of the story:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://suttacentral.net/an3.111/en/sujato#an3.111:1.4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">AN3.111:1.4</a>: Any deed that emerges from greed, hate, or delusion—born, sourced, and originated from greed, hate, or delusion—is unskillful, blameworthy, results in suffering, and leads to the creation of more deeds, not their cessation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The story illuminates these two principles in a very concrete way that is easy to understand.</p>
<p></p>
 254: <p>As mentioned in another answer the story as written is published in at least one book by Thich Nhat Hanh. The following is copied from <em>Being Peace</em>, it's slightly more elaborate than the version you posted (e.g. &quot;velvet bag&quot; instead of &quot;little bag&quot;) but with many of the same phrases:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hqSVj.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hqSVj.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wyR4P.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/wyR4P.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/jNMsQ.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/jNMsQ.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ghvME.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ghvME.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>Thay doesn't attribute a source for this story.</p>
<p>The next story on <a href="http://viewonbuddhism.org/resources/buddhist_stories.html" rel="noreferrer">the page of stories which you linked to</a>, i.e. <em>Angry Buddha</em>, is attributed to <em>Being Peace</em> -- so I suppose that probably is where they found the <em>Lost Son</em> story too.</p>
<p>I gather that the Vietnamese tradition is eclectic so in theory Thay might have gathered that story from anywhere, but I think the content or 'moral' of the story suggests it probably is from the Mahayana or Zen tradition.</p>
