經律異相 21.25

21.25

The Buddha was dwelling in Rājagṛha. At that time, Devadatta wished to split the harmonious saṅgha; the monks admonished him three times, yet he would not stop. The Buddha said, "In the past, in the kingdom of Vārāṇasī, there was a brāhmaṇa who set up a public charity well in the wilderness to supply travelers. When the day was drawing to dusk, a pack of jackals came to drink the leftover water. The jackal king would not drink the water on the ground; he put his head into a pitcher to drink. Having drunk the water, he raised the pitcher high on his head and smashed it. The jackals spoke kindly to him, but he would not accept their advice. In this manner, not once [but many times], he broke fourteen pitchers. Then the brāhmaṇa watched and saw the jackal, so he made a wooden pitcher, sturdy and hard to break, easy to enter but hard to exit, placed it beside the well, and waited with a staff. The jackals gathered, and the king drank as before, but when he threw it to the ground, he could not break it. Then the brāhmaṇa came out holding his staff and beat the jackal to death. The jackal king at that time was this Devadatta today; the pack of jackals at that time were these monks who admonished Devadatta today." (From the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya, fascicle 8.)