眾經撰雜譬喻 2.38

2.38

Once, when the Buddha was in the world, there lived an old man seven li outside the Jetavana who was a heavy drinker of wine. The disciple Ānanda went to admonish and instruct him: "The Buddha is now here; you ought to go and see him." The old man said: "I have heard that the Buddha is here and wish to go see him, but the Buddha is adept at imparting the five precepts, which forbid drinking wine. If I cannot drink wine, it will be like an infant deprived of milk—I would surely die! I cannot bear it, and for that reason I will not go!" He went off to drink wine again. Becoming drunk in the evening, he was returning along the road when his foot tripped over a tree stump and he collapsed to the ground. Like a great mountain collapsing, his entire body was in pain. He then said to himself: "How miserable is this pain! Ānanda was always telling me: 'You should go to the Buddha's place.' I refused to heed his words, and now the pain in my body is beyond words." He then said to the members of his household: "I wish to go to the Buddha's place." When his family heard this, they were all astonished: "You never previously consented to go to the Buddha's place; for what reason do you now wish to go?" Having spoken, he set off and halted outside the gate of the Jetavana. At that time, Ānanda saw the old man coming and, overjoyed, addressed the Buddha: "The old man from seven li outside the Jetavana has come and is outside the gate." The Buddha said: "The old man could not come on his own; five hundred white elephants exerted themselves to bring him here!" Ānanda addressed the Buddha: "There are no five hundred elephants; he came all alone!" The Buddha said to Ānanda: "The five hundred white elephants are within the old man's body." Thereupon, Ānanda summoned the old man: "Come forward and pay homage to the Buddha." He addressed the Buddha: "I have long heard that the Buddha is here, but due to ignorance I did not come earlier to pay my respects. I pray that the Buddha will forgive my offenses!" The Buddha asked the old man: "If five hundred carts of firewood are piled on the ground and one wishes to burn them all up, how many carts of fire would be needed to burn them up completely?" The old man addressed the Buddha: "It would not take much fire; a fire the size of a bean would burn them up completely in the snapping of a finger." The Buddha asked the old man again: "For how long have you worn those clothes?" The old man said: "I have worn them for one year." The Buddha asked the old man again: "If you wish to wash this clothing to remove the grime, how many years would it take to clean it completely?" The old man said: "If I obtain one bushel of pure lye, it will become clean in just a moment of washing." The Buddha said to the old man: "Your accumulated sins are like the five hundred carts of firewood, and like the grime of one year's clothing." The old man then received and observed the five precepts from the Buddha. Thereupon, the Buddha expounded a scripture of several hundred words; the old man's mind opened with sudden clarity, and he immediately attained the stage of non-retrogression.