經律異相 19.86

19.86

Formerly, there was a practitioner of the Way who practiced the Way day and night without ever slacking or resting. Yet, having the bodily necessity of food and drink, he went out begging. Suddenly, he arrived by a hunter to beg. The hunter had no morality, became extremely enraged, and wished to shoot the practitioner of the Way. The practitioner of the Way said, "Stop, stop! Do not shoot me elsewhere; shoot directly at my belly!" He then opened his clothes, bared his belly, and called for him to shoot. The hunter immediately lowered his bow, released his arrow, stepped forward, and asked the practitioner of the Way, "Among humans living in the world, there is none who does not fear death. Why, then, does the practitioner of the Way bid me shoot his belly?" The practitioner of the Way said to him, "This belly desires food, and it is on account of this that I do not avoid danger; therefore, shoot it." The hunter immediately had an awakening: "I scale mountain ridges without avoiding tigers and wolves also on account of this belly." His past merit came to fruition, and he suddenly understood. The practitioner of the Way preached for him the sufferings of the three wretched realms and the bliss of nirvāṇa. The hunter, knowing on his own that the sin of killing and hunting was heavy, then received the precepts from him and aroused the bodhicitta. (From Fascicle 10 of the Avadāna Sūtra).