經律異相 11.14

11.14

Subhūti asked, "A bodhisattva has perfected roots of goodness; why would he be reborn as an elephant or a horse?" The Buddha said, "A bodhisattva indeed possesses merit and has perfected roots of goodness; for the benefit of sentient beings, he takes on an animal form without the defilements of an animal. When a bodhisattva is among animals, he feels loving-kindness and pity toward enemies and bandits, which arhats and pratyekabuddhas do not possess. When enemies or bandits come to harm arhats and pratyekabuddhas, although they do not retaliate, they cannot cherish, support, and provide for them with affection. For instance, in a past life the Bodhisattva was a six-tusked white elephant. A hunter shot him in the chest with a poisoned arrow. At that time, the Bodhisattva embraced the hunter with his trunk, preventing the other elephants from harming him, and said to the female elephant, 'You are the wife of a bodhisattva; why would you give rise to an evil intention? The hunter is under the affliction of defilements; it is not the man's fault. When I attain anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi, I will extinguish his defilements. Just as when a demon possesses a person, a spellmaster treats the demon and does not blame the person.' He gently asked the hunter, 'Why did you shoot me?' [The hunter] replied, 'I need your tusks.' The elephant thereupon went up against a rock, broke off his tusks, and gave them to him. Flesh and blood came out together, yet he did not consider it painful. He provided him with provisions and showed him the path. Loving-kindness and compassion such as this are what arhats and pratyekabuddhas do not have. It was asked, 'Why not take human form and explain the Dharma, instead of taking this beast's body?' The answer was, 'Sometimes when sentient beings see a human body, they do not believe and accept [the teaching]; but seeing an animal body explaining the Dharma, they give rise to faith and joy, and receive its conversion. A bodhisattva wishes to complete a mind of great loving-kindness and wishes to practice its actual deeds; when sentient beings see this, they are astonished and delighted, and all are able to enter the Path.' (Extracted from Fascicle 93 of the Dazhidu lun)