眾經撰雜譬喻 2.4

2.4

外國有一呪龍師，澡罐盛水詣龍池邊一心讀咒，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，仰視山頭空無住處，一切皆熱安身無地，唯見澡罐中水可以避難，便滅其大身作微小形，入澡罐水中。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；澡罐水者，喻泥洹也；術者，喻方便也；大火燃者，喻現無常也；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同然，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 country, there was once a dragon-subduing master who filled a washing jug with water, went to the side of a dragon pool, and recited incantations single-mindedly. Thereupon, this dragon saw a great fire surge up from the bottom of the pool, and the entire pool was ablaze. Terrified at seeing the fire, the dragon emerged and looked toward the mountains, but saw a great fire burning all the mountains and marshes as well. Looking up to the mountain summits, the sky offered no abiding place; everything was scorching hot, with no ground on which to settle its body. It saw only that the water inside the washing jug could provide refuge from disaster. It therefore extinguished its large body, assumed a minuscule form, and entered the water of the washing jug. That dragon pool is a metaphor for the kāmadhātu; the mountains and marshes it looked toward are a metaphor for the rūpadhātu; looking up at the mountain summits is a metaphor for the ārūpyadhātu; the dragon-subduing master is a metaphor for the bodhisattva; the water in the washing jug is a metaphor for nirvāṇa; the magical technique is a metaphor for upāya; the blazing great fire is a metaphor for displaying anitya; the dragon's large body is a metaphor for māna; and assuming a small form is a metaphor for humility. This means that a bodhisattva displays the conflagration of the kalpa, in which both the desire and form realms are equally ablaze, terrifying sentient beings with the great fire of anitya so as to make them eliminate their māna, become humble and lowly, and only then all enter nirvāṇa.