雜譬喻經 1.8

1.8

Formerly, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, there were two brothers who left home together to become śramaṇas. The elder brother loved keeping the precepts and dhyāna sitting, single-mindedly seeking the Way, but did not love dāna. The younger brother loved dāna and cultivating merit, but frequently broke the precepts. When Śākyamuni appeared in the world, the elder brother encountered the Buddha, left home to cultivate the Way, and forthwith attained arhatship, yet he alone was lacking in merit and constantly suffered from insufficient food and clothing. When he went on alms rounds with his companions, he was always the only one who returned without his fill. The younger brother was born among elephants; being an elephant of great strength able to repel enemies, he was loved by the king, who adorned his body with fine gold, silver, and precious jewels, and granted him an estate of several hundred households to supply him with whatever he needed. At that time, the elder brother bhikṣu encountered a severe famine in the world; he went on alms rounds for seven days without obtaining anything, and only in the end did he get a little coarse food to barely stay alive. Knowing beforehand that this elephant was his brother from a previous life, he went up before the elephant, took hold of the elephant's ear with his hand, and said: "Both you and I share in blame." The elephant then reflected on the bhikṣu's words and at once recognized his past lives, seeing the nidānas of his previous life. The elephant then grieved and would no longer eat or drink. The elephant-keeper was frightened and went to report to the king: "The elephant will no longer eat or drink; I do not know why." The king asked the elephant-keeper: "Has anyone provoked this elephant before?" The elephant-keeper replied to the king: "No stranger, only a śramaṇa who came to the elephant's side and left shortly thereafter." The king immediately sent men out in all four directions to search for this śramaṇa. Someone found him among the trees in the forest and arrested the śramaṇa, bringing him before the king. The king asked the śramaṇa: "What did you say when you went to my elephant's side?" The śramaṇa replied to the king: "I did not say much; I simply said to the elephant: 'Both you and I share in blame.'" Then the śramaṇa fully explained the events of their past-life nidānas to the king. The king understood, and immediately released the śramaṇa to return to his dwelling.