經律異相 31.15

31.15

There was Prince Candraprabha (Moonlight). He went out on an excursion. A leper saw him, intercepted his carriage, and said: "My body suffers from severe illness, full of hardship and distress. Does the prince alone enjoy pleasure in sport and amusement? In your great compassion and pity, please grant me cure and healing." Hearing this, the prince asked the physicians about it. They said: "You must obtain the blood and marrow of a person who from birth to adulthood has been without anger, apply it [to the body], and drink it; only thus can he be cured." The prince reflected: "Even if such a person existed, being attached to life and cherishing longevity, how could one obtain them? Except for my own body, there is no place to obtain it." He then commanded a caṇḍāla to cut away the flesh from his body and break his bones to extract the marrow, so as to apply it to the sick man, and gave him the blood to drink. Such gifts as these, as well as giving away his wife and children, he gave without stinginess. Just as if casting away grass and trees, he contemplated the things given away and knew they arose from conditions; searching for their reality, absolutely nothing was to be found. All was pure like the characteristic of nirvāṇa, extending even to the attainment of the patience of the non-arising of dharmas. This is the practice of dānapāramitā in a physical body produced by binding karma (drawn from the Dazhidu lun, fascicle 12).