The Long Āgama Sūtra 21.15

21.15

「如餘沙門、婆羅門食他信施，行遮道法，邪命自活，召喚鬼神，或復驅遣，種種𥜒禱，無數方道，恐熱於人，能聚能散，能苦能樂，又能為人安胎出衣，亦能呪人使作驢馬，亦能使人聾盲瘖瘂，現諸技術，叉手向日月，作諸苦行以求利養，沙門瞿曇無如是事。如餘沙門、婆羅門食他信施，行遮道法，邪命自活，或為人呪病，或誦惡呪，或誦善呪，或為醫方、鍼炙、藥石，療治眾病，沙門瞿曇無如此事。如餘沙門、婆羅門食他信施，行遮道法，邪命自活，或呪水火，或為鬼呪，或誦剎利呪，或誦象呪，或支節呪，或安宅符呪，或火燒、鼠囓能為解呪，或誦知死生書，或誦夢書，或相手面，或誦天文書，或誦一切音書，沙門瞿曇無如此事。如餘沙門、婆羅門食他信施，行遮道法，邪命自活，瞻相天時，言雨不雨，穀貴穀賤，多病少病，恐怖安隱，或說地動、彗星、月蝕、日蝕，或言星蝕，或言不蝕，方面所在，皆能記之，沙門瞿曇無如此事。如餘沙門、婆羅門食他信施，行遮道法，邪命自活，或言此國當勝，彼國不如，或言彼國當勝，此國不如，瞻相吉凶，說其盛衰，沙門瞿曇無如是事。諸比丘！此是持戒小小因緣，彼寡聞凡夫以此嘆佛。」

“‘There are other ascetics and priests who eat the faithful alms of others and practice teachings that obstruct the path. They make their living with wrong livelihoods. They summon demons and spirits or drive them away with various rites and prayers. In countless ways, they frighten and afflict people. They gather and scatter [people] and cause them pain and pleasure. They can also prevent miscarriages, produce clothing, and make people act like donkeys with spells, or make people blind, deaf, and dumb. They demonstrate these arts with their palms together raised to the sun and moon, and they practice asceticism in pursuit of profit. The ascetic Gautama doesn’t do such things.’

“‘There are other ascetics and priests who eat the faithful alms of others and practice teachings that obstruct the path. They make their living with wrong livelihoods. They might perform spells for people [that cause] illness, chant evil and good spells, and practice medicine with acupuncture, cauterization, and herbs and minerals to cure various ailments. The ascetic Gautama doesn’t do such things.’

“‘There are other ascetics and priests who eat the faithful alms of others and practice teachings that obstruct the path. They make their living with wrong livelihoods. They might perform spells of water and fire, spells for demons, chant warrior spells, elephant spells, and spells for limbs. They might perform spells or make charms for making households peaceful, or they might perform spells to understand [things] burnt by fire or chewed by mice. They might chant from books of discerning death and life, chant from books about dreams, tell fortunes using people’s hands and faces, chant from books of gods, or chant from language books. The ascetic Gautama doesn’t do such things.’

“‘There are other ascetics and priests who eat the faithful alms of others and practice teachings that obstruct the path. They make their living with wrong livelihoods. They make predictions based on the heavens and seasons: “It will rain … it won’t rain … the harvest will be bountiful … the harvest will be poor … many people will fall ill … few will be ill … there’ll be terrible [events] … there’ll be peace.” They might discuss earthquakes, comets, solar and lunar eclipses, stellar occultations and non-occultations and where they will happen, and they’re able to predict them. The ascetic Gautama doesn’t do such things.’

“‘There are other ascetics and priests who eat the faithful alms of others and practice teachings that obstruct the path, making their living from wrong livelihoods. They might say, “This country will win; that country is not their equal … that country will win; this country is not their equal.” They divine the fortune and misfortune and discuss the flourishing and demise [of different countries]. The ascetic Gautama doesn’t do such things.’

“Monks, these are the minor matters of observing the precepts for which ordinary, uneducated people praise the Buddha.