經律異相 2.7

2.7

Śakra said, 'It is just as the Venerable One has instructed: preserving one’s physical life is of no merit. I wish to hear about the gift of food and the gift of the Dharma.' The jackal replied, 'The giving of food and drink preserves a single day’s life. The giving of precious treasures remedies a lifetime of poverty. [Yet these] merely increase birth-and-death and are causes and conditions that bind one [to saṃsāra]. Preaching the Dharma to transform [beings] is called the gift of the Dharma. It can lead sentient beings to the supra-mundane path: first, attaining the state of an arhat; second, a pratyekabuddha; third, the Buddha path. These three sorts of happy persons all stem from hearing the Dharma and practicing in accordance with what is taught. Moreover, that all sentient beings avoid the three evil paths and receive the blessed bliss of humans and devas is entirely due to hearing the Dharma. For this reason, the Buddha taught that the merit of giving the Dharma is immeasurable.' The Heavenly Emperor asked, 'Is the Master’s current form a karmic retribution, or is it an accommodating transformation body?' [The jackal] replied, 'This is the retribution for sinful karma; it is not an accommodating transformation.' The devaputra said, 'I thought that you were a bodhisattva or holy sage who manifested accommodatingly to deliver beings. Only now do I hear it is the result of sin, yet I do not know the reason. I wish to hear the causes and conditions.' The jackal said, 'Long ago, I was born in the city of Padmāvatī in Vārāṇasī as the son of a poor family of the kṣatriya caste. From childhood, I possessed a keen intelligence and was exceptionally fond of study. When I reached the age of twelve, I followed an enlightened master deep into the mountains, serving him through hardship and striving diligently without remiss. Day and night, the master also honed and instructed me without missing the proper seasons. After fifty years, among the ninety-six varieties of scriptures, prophetic records, treatises, medical formulas, incantations, physiognomy of good and ill fortune, and natural anomalies, calamities, and blessings, there was nothing I did not master. My lofty talent and wisdom became renowned far and wide. I then reflected to myself, "That I have now attained deliverance is entirely due to the kindness of my upādhyāya’s teachings. His merit is difficult to repay. Since my family is poor and destitute, having nothing with which to make offerings, I ought simply to sell myself to repay the master’s kindness." The master said, "A recluse living in the mountains maintains himself by begging for food and lacks nothing. What need is there to ruin and sell your noble body to provide offerings for me? Now that you have perfected wisdom and eloquence, you should turn to teaching and transforming the people of the world, serving as a lamp of the Dharma. How could the merit of teaching and transforming not be sufficient to repay my kindness?" I then remained in the mountains, sustaining myself by begging for food. Not long after, the king of the country died. The ministers gathered more than five hundred scholars from within the country to debate for seven days, the victor to be made king. I, the son of the poor family, acceded to the royal throne and exhausted the wealth and power of the realm to make offerings to my master and parents. Later, the country of Andhra and the country of Mālava fought each other for many years without victory. The king of Andhra summoned his ministers [and asked], "What method should we employ to conquer the country of Mālava?" The ministers replied, "There is only the country of Padmāvatī in Vārāṇasī.'