經律異相 1.86

1.86

飢餓劫者。人多非法愚癡邪見。慳貪嫉妬守財不施。水旱不節田種無收。米穀轉盡食粒驚貴。掃擇粃糠街巷落葉以自連命。粃葉既盡穿鑿地下食草木根。不能與者在先而死。刳剔死人復共食噉。噉之轉竭於屠殺之處。乃至塚間拾諸骸骨。煮汁飲之以此自活。飢死盡者生餓鬼中。名飢餓小劫。疾病劫者。人皆正見修行十善。疾病眾多無他方計少有醫藥。雖行眾善不能攘逆。薄福德故遇病輒死。神共來侵嬈撾打杖捶。使其心亂接其精神殺之將去。人命既終皆生天上。名疾病劫。若能一日一夜持不殺戒。終不生刀兵劫中。若以一呵梨勒果施僧。終不生疾疫劫中。若一食施僧。終不生飢饉劫中。此閻浮提惡劫互起餘方則少。此間刀兵劫起彼惟重瞋。此疾疫劫起彼惟氣力羸劣。此間飢饉劫起。彼但小渴乏耳（出長阿含經第二十二卷又出三小劫經抄又出雜心第十四卷）。

In the kalpa of famine, people are mostly unlawful, foolish, and holding wrong views. They are stingy, greedy, jealous, and guard their wealth without giving. Floods and droughts are untimely, and planted fields yield no harvest. Rice and grains gradually run out, and grains of food become shockingly expensive. They sweep and gather chaff and husks, and fallen leaves from streets and lanes, to sustain their lives. When chaff and leaves are exhausted, they dig into the earth to eat the roots of grass and trees. Those unable to find food die first. They cut up dead corpses and eat them together. When corpses are depleted, they go to slaughterhouses, and even pick up various skeletons in graveyards, boiling them for broth to drink and thereby sustain their lives. Those who starve to death are all born among the hungry ghosts. This is called the minor kalpa of famine. In the kalpa of pestilence, all people hold right views and practice the ten wholesome deeds. Illnesses are numerous, yet there are no other means or remedies, and little medicine. Although they practice many wholesome deeds, they cannot ward off [calamity]; having little merit, they die whenever they fall ill. Spirits arrive together to afflict, beat, and strike them with staves, throwing their minds into confusion, seizing their vital spirits, and killing them off. When human life ends, all are born in the heavens. This is called the kalpa of pestilence. If one can keep the precept against killing for a single day and night, one will never be born into the kalpa of swords and weapons. If one offers a single harītakī fruit to the Saṃgha, one will never be born into the kalpa of pestilence. If one offers a single meal to the Saṃgha, one will never be born into the kalpa of famine. These evil kalpas alternate in this Jambudvīpa, while in other regions they are slight. When the kalpa of swords and weapons arises here, they only have severe anger; when the kalpa of pestilence arises here, they only have weakened physical strength; when the kalpa of famine arises here, they only experience a minor thirst and lack. (From the Dīrghāgama, fascicle 22; also from the San xiaojie jing chao; also from the Za xin, fascicle 14.)