經律異相 32.15

32.15

過去有王名摩訶羅陀。修行善行國無怨敵。王有三子。長名摩訶波那羅。次名摩訶提婆。小名摩訶薩埵。共出遊觀至一竹林憩駕止息。轉復前行見有一虎。新生七日七子圍遶。飢餓窮悴身體羸損命將欲絕。第一王子言。怪哉此虎不得求食。為飢所迫必還噉子。第三王子言。此虎經常所食何物。第一王子曰。食熱血肉。第三王子曰。誰能與此虎食。第二王子曰。其餘命無幾設餘求者必不濟及。誰能不惜身命。第一王子曰。難捨之至莫過己身。第三王子曰。智慧薄少貪惜深重。不能捨身聞即驚怖。惟有大士心懷慈悲。為饒益他捨此身命不足為難。皆懷憂念熟視而去。第三王子心念。我捨身時至。自從昔來空棄此身都無所為。常護屋宅衣服。飲食種種將養令無所乏。不識恩愛反生怨害。終歸無常既無利益。可惡如賊又如行廁。我今此身於生死海作大橋梁。無量癰疽瘭疾百千怖畏。大小便利筋血皮髓共相連持。我今當捨以求寂滅無上涅槃。無量禪定智慧功德。具足成就微妙法身。與諸眾生作諸法樂。慮其二兄為作留難。即便白兄。可與眷屬前還所止。薩埵還至虎所。脫諸衣裳懸置竹上。我為菩提智永離三有。即自放身臥餓虎前。虎不能食。以乾竹刺頸。從高投下大地震動日無精光。天雨雜華種種妙香。空中讚言。得未曾有。虎即舐血漸能噉肉。轉得食力。唯餘骨在（出金光明經第四卷）。

In the past, there was a king named Mahāratha. He cultivated wholesome conduct, and his state was free of enemies. The king had three sons: the eldest was named Mahāpraṇāda, the second Mahādeva, and the youngest Mahāsattva. They went out together to sightsee and wander, arriving at a bamboo grove where they halted their carriage to rest. Moving further forward, they saw a tigress that had given birth seven days prior, surrounded by seven cubs. Exhausted and emaciated from starvation, its body was weak and frail, on the verge of death. The first prince said: “How strange! This tigress is unable to seek food; pressed by hunger, it will certainly turn to devour its cubs.” The third prince said: “What does this tiger customarily eat?” The first prince said: “It eats hot blood and flesh.” The third prince said: “Who could give food to this tigress?” The second prince said: “Its remaining life is short; even if someone were to seek [meat] elsewhere, it would certainly not arrive in time to save it. Who could begrudge neither body nor life?” The first prince said: “Of that which is difficult to relinquish, none surpasses one’s own body.” The third prince said: “Those whose wisdom is shallow and meager, whose greed and clinging are profound and heavy, cannot sacrifice their bodies and are terrified upon hearing of it. Only a Great Being who cherishes loving-kindness and compassion within his heart, for the sake of benefiting others, would not consider it difficult to sacrifice this body and life.” All harboring sorrowful thoughts, they gazed intently at it and walked away. The third prince thought in his heart: “The time for me to sacrifice my body has arrived. From the past until now, I have cast away this body in vain, achieving nothing at all. Constantly protecting dwellings, clothing, food, and drink, I have nourished and tended it in various ways so that it lacked nothing; yet it knows no gratitude or love, producing instead enmity and harm. In the end it returns to impermanence, offering no benefit whatever; it is detestable like a bandit and like a walking privy. Now let this body of mine serve as a great bridge upon the ocean of birth and death! Beset with countless ulcers, boils, and virulent diseases, and a hundred thousand terrors, it is held together by excrement, urine, tendons, blood, skin, and marrow. I shall now cast it away to seek tranquil cessation, unsurpassable nirvāṇa, boundless meditative stabilization, wisdom, and meritorious virtue, fully realizing the wondrous and subtle Dharma-body and providing all living beings with the various joys of the Dharma.” Fearing that his two elder brothers would hinder him, he promptly addressed his brothers: “You may proceed ahead with your retinue and return to where we halted.” Mahāsattva returned to the tigress's location, took off all his garments, and hung them upon the bamboo: “For the sake of bodhi-wisdom, I permanently leave behind the three realms of existence!” He then cast himself down, lying before the starving tigress. The tigress was unable to eat him. He pierced his neck with a dry bamboo stalk and threw himself down from a high cliff. The great earth shook, the sun lost its brilliant radiance, and the heavens rained assorted flowers and various wondrous perfumes, while voices praised him from midair, saying: “Unprecedented!” The tigress then licked the blood and gradually became able to eat the flesh, regaining strength to consume it until only the bones remained. (Extracted from the fourth fascicle of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra).