雜譬喻經 1.56

1.56

In ancient times in a foreign land long ago, there was once a stone situated by the side of a road, which was occasionally trodden on by carts and horses and slightly damaged. A person of that age disliked that it obstructed the road and made efforts to remove it, whereupon he smashed it. He saw a venomous snake emerge from within the stone; catching the wind, it grew larger, and in a moment its body filled Jambudvīpa. In a single day, the living beings and creatures in Jambudvīpa were entirely eaten up, after which it died. If an evil retribution is as swift as this, how much more so for a bodhisattva who, originally an ordinary mortal, accumulated merits and virtues over kalpas numbering as grains of dust, and as soon as he aroused the intention, achieved the Buddha Path, expounded the Dharma to liberate people, and attained nirvāṇa—how could such swiftness be a cause for wonder?