分別功德論 2.14

2.14

諸佛之中勇猛精進無過釋迦文者，兄弟之中彌勒應在前，今反在後。何者？昔三十劫前，時有三菩薩共在山上遊行。時見有餓虎欲食其子。一人念曰：「此虎既為畜生，復食其子，死有痛苦，母復不慈。我今身者，四大合成會當歸死，便當以身救彼子命。」二人不肯，方欲詣市買肉用代子命。一人思惟曰：「若此往返，子命不全。且當投身於山下，濟其子命耳。」即從山上投身來下，趣彼虎口。身則安隱，虎不敢食。所以爾者，夫入慈三昧者，物莫能害也。故以竹自刺，使虎得食。由是勇猛，即超九劫，今在彌勒前。以是言之，道無前後，意決為先。是故我今成佛，故以遺典委付阿難。汝於當來稱聞如是。

Among all the Buddhas, in valiant vigor none surpasses Śākyamuni. Among the brothers, Maitreya should have been in front, but now on the contrary he is behind. Why? Formerly, thirty kalpas ago, three bodhisattvas were traveling together on a mountain. At that time, they saw a starving tigress about to eat her cubs. One person thought: 'This tiger is already an animal, and moreover is about to eat her cubs; in death there is bitter pain, and the mother is not compassionate. As for my present body, compounded of the four great elements, it must inevitably end in death; I should use my body to save the cubs' lives.' The two persons were unwilling, intending rather to go to the market to buy meat to substitute for the cubs' lives. The one person reflected: 'If there is this going and returning, the cubs' lives will not be preserved. I should cast my body down from the mountain to save the cubs' lives.' He immediately cast himself down from the mountain and approached the tiger's mouth. His body remained unharmed, and the tigress did not dare eat him. Why was this so? Because when one enters the loving-kindness samādhi, nothing can harm him. Therefore, he pierced himself with a bamboo [splinter] to let the tigress eat him. Due to this vigor, he surpassed nine kalpas, and now precedes Maitreya. From this perspective, in the Path there is no before or after; determination of will comes first. Therefore, now that I have become a Buddha, I entrust the bequeathed scriptures to Ānanda. In the future you shall say, 'Thus have I heard'.