經律異相 11.12

11.12

In the past, the Bodhisattva was once a lion dwelling in a forest, being close friends with a monkey. The monkey entrusted its two young to the lion. At that time, a hungry vulture was roaming in search of food. Encountering the lion asleep, it seized the monkey's young and perched in a tree. When the lion awoke and could not find the monkey's young, he saw the vulture holding them in the tree. He said to the vulture: 'I received the monkey's entrustment of its two young, but failed to guard them carefully, allowing you to take them away. I have broken faith with my word; I beg to ask them back from you. I am the king among beasts, and you are the master among birds; our noble status and power are equal, so you ought to return them.' The vulture said: 'You do not understand the time. I am now starving and exhausted; why speak of equality or difference?' Knowing he could not obtain them, the lion with his own sharp claws tore out the flesh of his own flanks to exchange for the monkey's young. Furthermore, in a past age, the people had many diseases—jaundice, paleness, and withered frailty. The Bodhisattva was at that time a red fish, giving his own flesh to all the sick to cure their illnesses. Furthermore, in the past, the Bodhisattva assumed the body of a bird dwelling in a forest. He saw a man enter deep water, a place not traversed by humans, and become snared by a water spirit. According to the spirit's law of snaring, once bound, it could not be undone; but if one could reach Mount Gandhamādana, fetch an herb, and apply it to the snare, the rope would immediately rot away and the man could escape. Immeasurable jātaka stories such as these, which brought vast rescue, are called Jātaka Sūtras. (Taken from the thirty-third fascicle of the Da zhidu lun).