雜譬喻經 1.54

1.54

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.