法句譬喻經 4.p1

4.p1

In the days of old, to the south-east of Śrāvastī, there was a great River, very deep and wide, on the banks of which there was a hamlet, consisting of some 500 houses, the inhabitants of which had not yet heard the news of Salvation, and were consequently immersed entirely in worldliness and selfish pursuits. The Honoured of the world, ever thinking on the salvation of men, resolved to go to this village and preach to the people. Accordingly, he came to the river-side, and sat down beneath a tree. The village people, seeing the glory of his appearance, approached with reverence to worship him. After they had so done, Buddha began to preach to them, but they believed him not. On this Buddha caused the appearance of a man coming from the south side of the river, where the water was very deep and the current strong, walking on the surface of it; and so coming, he approached Buddha, and, bowing down, worshipped him. All the people, seeing this appearance, asked the man in astonishment, whence he had come, “for we never in all our lives have seen such a sight as this, a man walking on the surface of the water. Tell us, then, by what artifice has this been done, and how it was you were not engulphed in the stream.” On which the man replied : “I reside on the southern bank of the river, and had ever lived in ignorance and folly till I heard that Buddha was here teaching the way of deliverance, on which, coming to the bank of the river, and not having time to wait to be carried over, I asked the men if it was deep, and whether I could not cross over without a boat. On which they said, 'Oh yes! you can cross without fear.' On this I walked over, because I believed. Simply this and nothing more enabled me to do so.” On this Buddha said: “It is well spoken—well spoken. Faith like yours alone can save the world from the yawning gulf of continual birth and death; such faith alone can enable them to walk across dryshod (to the other shore),” and then he added these lines: