大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 19.55

19.55

Regarding the Commentary's words, "And dragons receive the three refuges": in the Bodhisattvagocarodbhava-sūtra, the Buddha himself related that in the past, when he was a gold-winged bird with seven-jeweled palaces and so forth, he then entered the sea to seek dragons for food. At that time, in that sea, there was a transformationally born dragon son who on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days undertook the Tathāgata's fast and the eight prohibitive precepts. At that time, the bird held the dragon in its beak and emerged from the sea. By the rule of the gold-winged bird, when eating a dragon it always swallows it tail first. Seeking its tail, it could not find it, and a day and night passed. The next day, the dragon stuck out its tail, showed it to the gold-winged bird, and said: 'I am a transformationally born dragon. If I were not upholding the eightfold fasting precepts, you might eat me; but I observe the precepts, and you are unjustly destroying me.' When the gold-winged bird heard this, it repented and blamed itself, saying: 'The Buddha's majestic spiritual power is profound and hard to fathom.' It invited the dragon into its palace, the dragon followed it in, and it then requested the dragon to receive the eight precepts.