經律異相 19.58

19.58

In the past, there were five hundred monks traveling through a great marsh when they encountered highwaymen. The robbers stole their robes, bound the monks, made them all sit on the ground, gathered living grass together, tied their hands with it, and then abandoned them. If these practitioners of the Way were to kill the grass to get up, they would violate the Buddha's precepts. Each conceived the thought: "I would rather destroy my own body than violate the precepts." They remained trapped for four days. The king of the country went out hunting and saw the practitioners sitting in the wilderness. He dismounted, bowed in greeting, and asked for the reason. They answered him in detail. The king untied the practitioners and brought them back to make offerings to them. (Extracted from the sixth fascicle of the Avadāna Sūtra).