འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པའ་སང་གའ་སྒྲ་ཆན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1.7

1.7

Those, Kāśyapa, are the four types of swindler-ascetics.

“Kāśyapa, imagine there came along a fierce, coarse, ferocious man who was physically powerful and endowed with great strength. That man bludgeoned every person in Jambudvīpa, or stabbed them or punched them, and after subduing them robbed them and made off with all their useful goods: cowry shells, gold, precious stones, pearls, beryl, conches, crystals, coral, gold dust, silver, and different kinds of jewels, as well as their house, vehicle, clothes, food, drink, bedding, and furniture to be used or enjoyed, and every possession that could provide pleasure or leisure. What do you think, Kāśyapa? Would that man create a great deal of nonmerit on that basis?”

Kāśyapa replied, “Yes, Blessed One, he would create a great deal. Sugata, he would create a great deal.”

The Blessed One said, “Kāśyapa, believe this and take it to heart: when someone who knows themselves to be an ordinary person who has not attained fruition, overcome by desire for gain, reverence, and praise, falsely claims in the presence of others to be a stream enterer and then enjoys so much as a single meal of alms food, that creates an even greater amount of nonmerit. That creates an inexhaustibly greater amount of nonmerit.”

Then the elder Mahākāśyapa said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, how wonderful is the response of the Tathāgata, the precepts¹⁷ taught through analogies.