[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [經律異相](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2121) › 6.44 # 經律異相 6.44 經律異相 6.44 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [6.44](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2121.6.44) 昔有沙門其家大富。造作塔廟。以栴檀為柱七寶為剎。未成之頃有五百沙門從遠方來。而其國內有五百賢者。各各給與袈裟衣被。國人謂寺主。遠人當去。我先發遣。阿闍梨常住自當作分寺主。沙門念言。我之功德積若須彌不可稱計。而國人不能佐助我。我但為一切賤貴近遠。便以火燒寺塔。後入地獄畜生各九十劫。後作大魚。身在海中。長四十萬里。眼如日月。牙長二萬里。正白似雪山。舌廣四萬里。正赤似火山。口廣五萬里。時有五百人。入海採寶。正是先身給五百沙門衣者。因緣宿對魚張口飲水。時舫從流甚疾。皆大恐怖。同稱南無佛。魚聞其音合口而聽。水住不流。聞船上有諷經之聲。魚便淚出。自念不聞此音其來甚久。因不復食經歷七日命終海中。浮屍著岸神生法家。墮地能語。便識宿命。年滿八歲。得羅漢道。還詣海邊見其故身。積骨如山觀髑髏內七日不遍。坐燒塔寺百八十劫在惡道中（出譬喻經第四卷）。 > Long ago, there was a śramaṇa whose family was very wealthy. He constructed a stupa-shrine, using candana for the pillars and the seven jewels for the spire. Before it was completed, five hundred śramaṇas arrived from afar, and five hundred worthy men in that country each gave them kāṣāya robes and bedding. The people of the country said to the abbot: 'These people from afar must depart; I shall send them off first. The ācārya is a permanent resident and will naturally receive a share, O Abbot.' The śramaṇa thought: 'My merit is accumulated like Mount Sumeru, beyond reckoning, yet the people of the country do not assist me; I am only doing this for all, base and noble, near and far!' He then burned down the monastery and stupa with fire. Afterward, he entered the hells and animal realm, for ninety kalpas in each. Later, he became a great fish in the sea, forty myriad leagues long, with eyes like the sun and moon, teeth twenty thousand leagues long and pure white like the Snow Mountains, a tongue forty thousand leagues wide and pure red like a volcanic mountain, and a mouth fifty thousand leagues wide. At that time, there were five hundred people who entered the sea to gather jewels; these were the very ones who in their previous life had given robes to the five hundred śramaṇas. Due to karmic conditions and past retribution, the fish opened its mouth to swallow water. The boat was moving with the current extremely swiftly, and they were all terrified; together, they chanted: 'Namo Buddhāya!' The fish heard this sound, closed its mouth, and listened. The water stood still and did not flow. Hearing the sound of chanting sūtras upon the boat, the fish shed tears and thought to itself: 'It has been very long since I heard this sound!' Consequently, it did not eat anymore, and after seven days, it died in the sea. Its floating corpse reached the shore, and its consciousness was reborn into a family of the Dharma. Falling to the ground, it could speak and immediately remembered its past lives. At the age of full eight years, it attained the arhat path. Returning to the seashore, it saw its former body: the accumulated bones were like a mountain; looking inside the skull for seven days, it could not see it all. Because of burning the stupa and monastery, it had spent one hundred and eighty kalpas in the evil destinies. (From the fourth fascicle of the Avadāna Sūtra) > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 6.43](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2121.6.43) - [Next: 6.45](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2121.6.45) - [Up: 6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2121.6) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2121~en-mt.6.44) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2121.6.44](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2121.6.44) · Pramāṇa