三寶感應要略錄 2.29

2.29

昔罽賓國末田地阿羅漢精舍。有一阿羅漢。三明六通清徹。達三藏十二分教。於中戒律清高。一同在世優婆離。恒呵門徒云。汝等當勤修學戒律。所以者何。吾昔在凡地。依惡業故受鼠身。在石窟中而住。時有一比丘。夜宿窟中誦律藏。吾聞之。乘此善根受人身。得阿羅漢。戒律精明。以鼠身聞律藏尚爾。何況信心修行乎。

Formerly, at the arhat vihāra of Madhyāntika in the country of Kapiśa, there was an arhat whose three clarities and six supernatural knowledges were purely luminous. He had mastered the Tripiṭaka and the twelvefold teaching, and among these his monastic discipline was pure and lofty, identical to Upāli when he was in the world. He constantly scolded his disciples, saying, "You should diligently cultivate and study the Vinaya. Why is this? Formerly, when I was in the ordinary state, due to evil karma I took on the body of a rat and dwelt in a stone cavern. At that time, a monk stayed overnight in the cave and recited the Vinaya Piṭaka. I heard it, and relying on this wholesome root I obtained a human body and attained arhatship, becoming lucid and clear in the Vinaya. If it is thus even for hearing the Vinaya Piṭaka in the body of a rat, how much more so for those who practice it with faithful mind!"