三寶感應要略錄 2.29

2.29

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!"