注維摩詰經 2.182

2.182

什曰：昔有人得罪於王，王欲密殺，篋盛四毒蛇使其守護，有五怨賊拔刀守之。善知識語之令走，其人即去，入空聚落，便於中止。知識復言：「此處是惡賊所止，若住此者須臾賊至，喪汝身命失汝財寶。宜速捨離，可得安隱。」其人從教，即便捨去。復見大水，縛栰而渡。渡已安隱，無復眾患。王喻魔也。篋喻身也。四蛇，四大也。五怨賊，五陰也。空聚落，六入也。惡賊，六塵也。河，生死也。善知識教令走者，謂佛菩薩教眾生離惡魔、棄四大、捨五陰。眾生從教，雖捨患三惡，而未出諸聚落未免惡賊，復教令乘八正栰度生死流。度生死流已，坦然無為，無復眾患也。肇曰：六情喻空聚，皆有誠證，喻在他經。是故《涅槃經》云：觀身如四大毒蛇。是身無常，常為無量諸蟲之所唼食。是身臭穢，貪欲獄縛。是身可畏，猶如死狗。是身不淨，九孔常流。是身如城，血肉筋骨皮裹其上，手足以為却敵樓櫓，目為孔竅，頭為殿堂，心王處中。如是身城，諸佛世尊之所棄捨，凡夫愚人常所味著，貪淫嗔恚愚癡羅剎止住其中。是身不堅，猶如蘆葦、伊蘭、水沫、芭蕉之樹。是身無常，念念不住，猶如電光、暴水、幻炎，亦如畫水隨畫隨合。是身易壞，猶如河岸臨峻大樹。是身不久，虎狼鵄梟鵰鷲餓狗之所食噉。誰有智者當樂此身？寧以牛跡盛大海水，不可具說是身無常不淨臭穢。寧團大地使如棗等，漸漸轉小如亭歷子乃至微塵，不能具說是身過患，是故當捨如棄涕唾。

[Kumāra]jīva says: Long ago, a man offended the king. The king wished to execute him secretly, so he placed four poisonous snakes in a basket and made him guard it, and stationed five treacherous bandits with drawn swords to watch him. A good friend told him to flee, so the man immediately left and entered an empty village, where he stayed. The friend said again: 'This place is the dwelling of vicious bandits; if you stay here, in a moment the bandits will arrive and take your life and your treasures. You should abandon it quickly, and then you will attain safety.' Following this instruction, the man immediately departed. He then encountered a great river, lashed together a raft, and crossed over. Having crossed over, he was in peace and safety, free from all troubles. The king symbolizes Māra. The basket symbolizes the body. The four snakes are the four great elements. The five treacherous bandits are the five aggregates. The empty village is the six sense-entrances. The vicious bandits are the six sense-objects. The river is saṃsāra. The good friend's teaching to flee means that the buddhas and bodhisattvas teach sentient beings to leave the evil Māra, discard the four great elements, and abandon the five aggregates. Following this instruction, sentient beings, although having abandoned the troubles of these three evils, have not yet left the village and escaped the vicious bandits; they are then further taught to board the raft of the Noble Eightfold Path and cross the flow of saṃsāra. Having crossed the flow of saṃsāra, they are tranquil and free of conditioned action, free from all troubles.
[Seng]zhao says: The six internal sense-bases are compared to an empty village; this is fully attested, and the metaphor appears in other sūtras. Thus the *Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra* says: Contemplate the body as four poisonous snakes. This body is impermanent, constantly eaten and gnawed by immeasurable worms. This body is foul and impure, bound in the prison of greedy desires. This body is terrifying, just like a dead dog. This body is impure, with its nine apertures constantly flowing. This body is like a citadel, covered outside with flesh, blood, sinews, bones, and skin; the hands and feet serve as its defensive towers, the eyes as embrasures, the head as the palace hall, and the mind-king dwells within. Such a citadel of the body is abandoned by the Buddhas, the World-Honoured Ones, but constantly relished by ordinary foolish people; within it dwell the rākṣasas of lust, hatred, and ignorance. This body is not solid, just like a reed, an eraṇḍa tree, foam on water, or a plantain tree. This body is impermanent, not persisting for a single thought-moment, just like lightning, a sudden flood, a phantom flame, or like drawing on water, which closes up as soon as it is drawn. This body is easily broken, like a great tree on a steep riverbank. This body does not last long, eaten by tigers, wolves, kites, owls, eagles, vultures, and hungry dogs. What wise person would delight in this body? One could rather fill the footprint of an ox with the great ocean's water than fully describe the impermanence, impurity, and foulness of this body. One could rather ball up the great earth to the size of a date, and gradually make it smaller, down to a mustard seed or even a speck of dust, than fully describe the faults and afflictions of this body. Therefore, one should abandon it like casting away spittle and phlegm.