眾經撰雜譬喻 1.20

1.20

Once there was a stingy elder. Wishing to deliver him, the Buddha first sent Śāriputra to explain to him the merits of dāna and its various virtues. The elder was stingy and had no intention of giving. Seeing that noon was approaching, he said to Śāriputra: “Why do you not leave? I have no food to give you.” Śāriputra knew he could not be converted and immediately returned to the Buddha's place. The Buddha then sent Maudgalyāyana to use his psychic powers of transformation to preach the Dharma to him. The elder said again: “You perform this magical trick because you want my goods.” Maudgalyāyana knew he could not be converted and immediately returned to the Buddha's place. Thereupon, the Buddha, resolved to break his stinginess, went to his house in person. Seeing the Buddha come in person, the elder paid homage to him and led the Buddha to a seat. The Buddha taught the Dharma in various upāyas, and said to the elder: “Can you practice the five great gifts?” The elder said to the Buddha: “I cannot even practice small gifts, how much less great gifts!” The elder said to the Buddha: “What are the five great gifts?” The Buddha said: “The five great gifts are: not killing living beings. Can you do this?” The elder thought: “Not killing living beings does not use my wealth and goods, nor does it cause any loss.” He then said to the Buddha: “I can!” In this sequence, he explained them to him, down to not drinking alcohol; to all of them he said: “I can do it!” Thereupon, the Buddha explained the meaning of the five precepts to the elder in various ways: “If you can observe these five precepts, you will have completed the five great gifts.” He was then filled with great joy and wished to give a piece of poor-quality fine cotton cloth to the Buddha. He went into his storeroom to look, but found none of poor quality; he then took one piece and offered it to the Buddha. The remaining cloth in the storeroom all followed along, arriving before the Buddha. The Buddha knew that the elder's mind of giving was unsettled, and said to the elder: “Śakra Devānāmindra fought with the asuras; because his mind was unsettled, he was defeated three times. Later, with a settled mind, he utterly routed the asura army.” Having heard this, the elder knew that the Buddha was a great sage who deeply knew the minds of people; his mind of faith became pure. The Buddha preached the Dharma for him, and he immediately attained the path of the srotāpanna. The next day, Māra knew his state of mind and transformed himself into a buddha, wishing to come and corrupt him. Arriving at his house, the elder, not yet having attained the knowledge of others' minds, did not know it was Māra; he welcomed him with joy, saying: “Welcome,” and led him to a seat. The Māra-buddha said to the elder: “What I said yesterday was not the Buddha's words at all; discard them quickly!” Hearing these words, the elder was greatly astonished: “Although the form is a buddha, what he says is not. It is like a donkey covered in a lion's skin; though its form resembles a lion, its mind is that of a donkey.” The elder did not believe him. Knowing that his mind was upright, Māra resumed his original body and said: “I deliberately came to test you, but your mind cannot be turned.” Therefore a sūtra says: “A person who has seen the truths does not even believe [false] words attributed to the Buddha, how much less those of other paths? This is because he has deeply examined the principle.” Therefore, disciples of the Buddha must understand the deep principle, so that they can recognize whether it is spoken by Māra or spoken by the Buddha. For this reason, one must not fail to learn the meaning, and one must not fail to cultivate dāna.