經律異相 42.9

42.9

昔有大姓。常好惠施。後生一男。無有手足。形體似魚。名曰魚身。父母終亡襲持家業。寢臥室內又無見者。時有力士。仰王厨食。恒懷飢乏。獨牽十六車樵。賣以自給。又常不供。詣此四姓求所不足。魚身請與相見。示其形體。力士自惟。我力乃爾。不如無手足人。往到佛所問其所疑。佛言。昔迦葉佛時。魚身與此王行飯佛。汝時貧窮助其驅使。魚身所具與王行之。而謂王言。今日有務不得俱行。若行無異斷我手足。時行者今王是也。不行言者魚身是也。時佐助者汝身是也。力士意悟。即作沙門。得阿羅漢道（出舊譬喻經上卷）。

In the past, there was a man of prominent clan who always delighted in giving. Later, a son was born to him who had neither hands nor feet; his body resembled a fish, and he was named Fish-Body. When his parents died, he inherited and maintained the family estate, lying in his bedchamber so that no one saw him. At that time, there was a strongman who relied on the king's kitchen for food and was constantly hungry and lacking. By himself, he pulled sixteen carts of firewood and sold them to support himself, yet his needs were never met. He went to this man of four castes to seek what he lacked. Fish-Body invited him to meet and showed him his physical form. The strongman reflected to himself, "Even with strength such as mine, I am not as well-off as a man without hands or feet!" He went to the Buddha's place to ask about his doubts. The Buddha said, "In the past, at the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, Fish-Body and this king went to provide a meal for the Buddha. At that time, you were poor and helped them as a servant. What Fish-Body prepared, he sent with the king, but said to the king, 'Today I have business and cannot go with you; if I were to go, it would be no different from cutting off my hands and feet.' The one who went then is the king today. The one who did not go and uttered those words is Fish-Body. The one who assisted then is yourself." The strongman came to realization, immediately became a śramaṇa, and attained the path of arhatship. (Extracted from the upper fascicle of the Jiu piyu jing).