經律異相 19.80

19.80

外國有沙門。行乞到買珠家。主人為設飯食。有大珠其價億數。與人持歸。置沙門邊。時有鸚鵡。便出吞之。主人不見。因問沙門。答言。我不取。主人復問。有他人耶。答言無有。主人瞋曰。我適持珠來。既無他人。獨有沙門。而言不取。珠今所在。便撾沙門。血出流地。沙門故言。我不隱珠。須臾鸚鵡出飲地血。與杖相遇。鸚鵡即死。復欲舉手撾於沙門。沙門言。止聽我語。鸚鵡吞之。即破鸚鵡得珠。主人謂沙門曰。何不早說。乃使如是。沙門曰。我持佛戒不得殺生。即欲說之。恐殺鸚鵡。今鸚鵡死。我乃說之。鸚鵡若活。卿撾我死。我終不說也。主人便自剋責悔過。辭謝之。沙門不瞋。顏色不變（出一卷雜譬喻經）。

In a foreign country, there was a śramaṇa who, while begging for alms, came to the house of a pearl merchant. The host prepared food for him. There was a large pearl worth hundreds of millions, which someone had returned; he placed it beside the śramaṇa. At that time, there was a parrot that came out and swallowed it. The host did not see this, and consequently asked the śramaṇa. The śramaṇa replied, "I did not take it." The host asked again, "Was there anyone else?" He replied, "There was no one." The host said angrily, "I just brought the pearl here, and since there is no one else and only you, the śramaṇa, yet you say you did not take it—where is the pearl now?" He then beat the śramaṇa until blood flowed onto the ground. The śramaṇa still said, "I have not concealed the pearl." Soon, the parrot came out to drink the blood on the ground, met the staff, and died immediately. The host was about to raise his hand to beat the śramaṇa again when the śramaṇa said, "Stop, listen to my words! The parrot swallowed it." They then cut open the parrot and obtained the pearl. The host said to the śramaṇa, "Why did you not speak earlier, causing things to reach this point?" The śramaṇa said, "I uphold the Buddha's precepts and must not take life. If I had spoken of it right away, I feared the parrot would be killed. Now that the parrot is dead, I have spoken of it. If the parrot had lived, even if you had beaten me to death, I would never have spoken." The host then reproached himself, repented his fault, and apologized. The śramaṇa was not angry, and his expression did not change. (From the one-fascicle Miscellaneous Avadāna Sūtra).