經律異相 11.51

11.51

昔者菩薩身為雀王。慈心濟眾由護身瘡。有虎食獸骨拄其齒。病困將終。雀入口啄骨日日若茲。雀口生瘡身為瘦疵。骨出虎口。雀飛登樹。說佛經曰。殺為凶瘧其惡莫大。虎聞雀戒。勃然恚曰。爾始離吾口。而敢多言。雀覩其不可化。即速飛去。佛言。雀者是吾身。虎者是調達（出雀王經）。

In the past, the Bodhisattva was a sparrow king. With a compassionate mind to succour the multitude, it protected others just as one guards a wound on one's own body. A tiger had eaten a beast, and a bone was stuck between its teeth; it was distressed with illness and on the point of dying. The sparrow entered its mouth and pecked at the bone day after day like this. The sparrow's beak grew sores and its body became emaciated and flawed. When the bone came out of the tiger's mouth, the sparrow flew up into a tree and expounded the Buddha's scriptures, saying, 'Killing is fierce and calamitous; no evil is greater.' Hearing the sparrow's admonition, the tiger flared up in anger, saying, 'You have only just escaped my mouth, yet dare to talk so much!' Seeing that it could not be transformed, the sparrow quickly flew away. The Buddha said: 'The sparrow was my own person; the tiger was Devadatta. (Extracted from the Sparrow King Sūtra.)'