The Bodhisatta was once a brahmin in Bārāṇasī. His household consisted of himself, his wife, a son, a daughter, a daughter-in-law and a female slave. They lived happily together, and on the Bodhisatta’s advice kept their thoughts constantly fixed on the inevitableness of death. One day, while burning some rubbish in the field, the son was bitten by a snake and died. The father laid his body under a tree, and having sent word to his house that all the others should come with perfumes and flowers, when bringing his meal, be went on with his work. After the meal they made a funeral pyre and burnt the body, but not one of them wept a single tear. By virtue of their piety, Sakka’s throne was heated and he appeared to them in disguise. He questioned them separately as to whether their lack of any show of grief for the dead meant that they did not love him. Being convinced that their composure was due to their practice of the thought of death, he revealed his identity, and filled their house with the seven kinds of treasures. The story was related to a landowner of Sāvatthi who, when his son died, gave himself up to despair. The Buddha visited him and consoled him (J.iii.162 ff).

This story is referred to in the Dhammapada Commentary DhA.iii.277.