眾經撰雜譬喻 2.4

2.4

In a foreign country, there was once a dragon-subduing master who filled a washing jug with water, went to the side of a dragon pool, and recited incantations single-mindedly. Thereupon, this dragon saw a great fire surge up from the bottom of the pool, and the entire pool was ablaze. Terrified at seeing the fire, the dragon emerged and looked toward the mountains, but saw a great fire burning all the mountains and marshes as well. Looking up to the mountain summits, the sky offered no abiding place; everything was scorching hot, with no ground on which to settle its body. It saw only that the water inside the washing jug could provide refuge from disaster. It therefore extinguished its large body, assumed a minuscule form, and entered the water of the washing jug. That dragon pool is a metaphor for the kāmadhātu; the mountains and marshes it looked toward are a metaphor for the rūpadhātu; looking up at the mountain summits is a metaphor for the ārūpyadhātu; the dragon-subduing master is a metaphor for the bodhisattva; the water in the washing jug is a metaphor for nirvāṇa; the magical technique is a metaphor for upāya; the blazing great fire is a metaphor for displaying anitya; the dragon's large body is a metaphor for māna; and assuming a small form is a metaphor for humility. This means that a bodhisattva displays the conflagration of the kalpa, in which both the desire and form realms are equally ablaze, terrifying sentient beings with the great fire of anitya so as to make them eliminate their māna, become humble and lowly, and only then all enter nirvāṇa.