眾經撰雜譬喻 1.41

1.41

Formerly, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, there were two brothers who both left household life to become śramaṇas. The elder brother loved observing the precepts and sitting in dhyāna, seeking the Way with a single mind, but did not like dāna. The younger brother loved dāna and cultivating merit, but was fond of violating the precepts. When Śākyamuni appeared in the world, the elder brother met the Buddha, left household life, and cultivated the Way, thereupon attaining arhatship; yet he alone was meager in merit and was constantly plagued by insufficient food and clothing. When he wandered for alms together with his companions, he was constantly the only one to return not full. The younger brother was reborn among elephants. As an elephant he possessed great strength and could repel enemies; he was cherished by the king of the country, who adorned his body with fine gold, silver, and precious jewels, and enfeoffed several hundred households to supply this elephant with whatever he needed. The elder brother bhikṣu, encountering a great famine in the world, wandered for alms for seven days without getting anything; at the very end he got a little coarse food, barely preserving his life. Knowing beforehand that this elephant had been his brother in a past life, he went before the elephant, held the elephant’s ear with his hand, and said to him: “Both you and I are guilty of offenses!” The elephant then reflected on the bhikṣu’s words, instantly remembered his former lives, and saw the causal conditions of his previous life. The elephant became sorrowful and would eat and drink no more. The elephant keeper was frightened and went to address the king: “The elephant no longer eats or drinks, and I do not know why.” The king asked the elephant keeper: “Did anyone offend the elephant earlier?” The keeper answered the king: “There was no one else; I only saw a śramaṇa come up beside the elephant and leave after a moment!” The king immediately sent men out in all four directions to search for this śramaṇa. Someone found him among the trees in a forest, arrested the śramaṇa, and brought him before the king. The king asked the śramaṇa: “What did you say when you went up beside my elephant?” The śramaṇa answered the king: “I did not say much; I merely said to the elephant, ‘Both you and I are guilty of offenses!’” Then the śramaṇa explained in full to the king the matters of their past life's causal conditions. The king’s mind was awakened, and he immediately released the śramaṇa and allowed him to return to his dwelling. Therefore, households that cultivate merit should practice both precepts and dāna concurrently, and not be partial to one lest their merit be incomplete.