太子瑞應本起經 2.23

2.23

"Kāśyapa said: ‘What instruction or mission brings you here?’ The Buddha said: ‘I wish to announce a request; if you will not be angered, I trouble you to lend me your fire chamber for a single night.’ [Kāśyapa] said: ‘I do not begrudge it, but inside there is a venomous dragon, and I fear it will harm you.’ The Buddha said: ‘There is no trouble. The dragon will not harm me.’ He repeated the request up to three times. Kāśyapa said: ‘Very well. The Great Man of the Way is of lofty virtue; if you can dwell inside, that will be very good.’ The Buddha then bathed and went forward into the fire chamber, spreading grass upon the ground. Just after he sat down for a moment, the venomous dragon grew furious and emitted smoke from its body; the Buddha also displayed spiritual power, emitting smoke from his body. The dragon became enraged, and fire burst forth from its whole body; the Buddha also displayed spiritual power, his body emitting blazing light. The dragon's fire and the Buddha's light were then both blazing intensely; the stone chamber was completely on fire, its flames and smoke pouring out as if a conflagration had broken out. Kāśyapa arose at night to observe the stars, and seeing the fire chamber ablaze, sighed in distress, saying: ‘Alas! This śramaṇa is handsome and dignified, what a pity he did not follow my words, and ended up being harmed by the venomous fire!’ The Buddha, knowing his thoughts, used his spiritual power of the Way within the chamber to extinguish the dragon's venomous fury, subdued the dragon's body, transformed it, and placed it inside his alms bowl. In panic and haste, Kāśyapa ordered his five hundred disciples, each holding a pitcher of water, to run and throw it to extinguish the fire; but each pitcher only turned into another fire. Master and disciples became even more terrified, all saying: ‘Alas, alas! This great śramaṇa has been killed!’ The next morning, the Buddha walked out holding the bowl containing the dragon. Kāśyapa, surprised and delighted, asked: ‘Is the Great Man of the Way still alive? What is inside that vessel?’ The Buddha answered: ‘Indeed, I have survived on my own. What is inside this bowl can be called the venomous dragon that everyone feared and dared not enter the chamber for. Now I have subdued it, and it has already received the precepts.’ Kāśyapa, considering himself to have attained the Way, thought the Buddha was not genuine, and turned to say to his disciples: ‘This great śramaṇa is extremely miraculous; even so, he has not yet attained the Way, and is not equal to my attainment of arhatship!’