經律異相 14.4

14.4

For sixty kalpas Śāriputra practiced the bodhisattva path. When he wished to cross the river of giving, a man came to beg for his eye. Śāriputra said, "An eye is of no use; why do you ask for it? If you need my body and material wealth, I will give them to you."
He replied, "I only want to get your eye."
Śāriputra plucked out one eye and gave it to him. The beggar took the eye, spat on it, and trampled it with his foot.
Śāriputra said, "People like this are difficult to deliver. It is better to tame myself and early subdue birth and death." Thereupon he turned back toward the Hīnayāna. (Extracted from the twelfth fascicle of the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa).