雜譬喻經 1.54

1.54

外國有呪龍師，軍遲盛水詣龍池邊，一心誦呪此龍，即時便見大火從池底起，舉池皆然。龍見火怖出頭望山，復見大火燒諸山澤，仰視山頂空無住處，一切皆熱逃身無地，唯見軍遲中水可以避難，便滅其火，身作微小形入軍遲中。彼龍池者喻欲界也，所望山澤喻色界也，視山頂者喻無色界也，呪龍師者喻菩薩也，軍遲水者喻涅槃也，彼呪術者喻方便也，大火然者喻現無常，龍大身者喻憍慢也，作小形者喻謙卑也。言菩薩示現劫燒欲色洞然，無常大火恐怖眾生，令除憍慢謙卑下下，然後乃悉入涅槃也。

In a foreign land, there was a dragon charmer who filled a kuṇḍikā with water and went to the dragon's pool. Single-mindedly reciting incantations against this dragon, he immediately saw a great fire rise from the bottom of the pool, and the entire pool blazed. Terrified upon seeing the fire, the dragon poked its head out to look at the mountains, and saw a great fire burning all the mountains and marshes. Looking up at the mountaintops, the sky offered nowhere to stay; everything was hot and there was nowhere to hide its body. It saw only the water in the kuṇḍikā where it could escape disaster; it then extinguished its fire, made its body tiny, and entered the kuṇḍikā. That dragon pool represents the desire realm; the mountains and marshes it looked toward represent the form realm; looking up at the mountaintops represents the formless realm; the dragon charmer represents the bodhisattva; the water in the kuṇḍikā represents nirvāṇa; that spellcraft represents skillful means; the burning of the great fire represents the manifestation of impermanence; the dragon's great body represents arrogance; and making a small form represents humility. This means that the bodhisattva displays the burning of the kalpa with the desire and form realms ablaze, using the great fire of impermanence to terrify sentient beings, causing them to eliminate arrogance and become humble and lowly, after which they all enter nirvāṇa.