經律異相 35.23

35.23

The elder Zuisheng heard the preaching of the wondrous Dharma, and right upon his seat all defilements and stains were eliminated and he obtained the purification of the Dharma-eye. He received the three refuges, became an upāsaka, and vowed not to kill for the rest of his life. Not long after the Buddha departed, the evil Māra Pāpīyān transformed himself into the Buddha’s likeness, complete with his physical marks and signs, and came to the elder’s house. The elder thought, “The Tathāgata left just now; how has he returned so quickly?” The counterfeit Buddha told him, “I considered you, elder, to be of high talent and broad intelligence, discerning subtleties. But examining you carefully, elder, you are foolish, deluded, and without wisdom. The Four Truths I spoke of earlier are not truly real truths. That is inverted and practiced by non-Buddhists.” The elder immediately became aware of this himself, and directly responded to him, saying, “Stop, stop! Speak no more! I have attained the eye of wisdom and dwell on firm ground. Even if you were to transform yourself into hundreds of thousands of kotis of bodies, I would not regress. How could the light of a firefly compete in brightness with the sun? How could a farmer's ash heap compare to Mount Sumeru? How could kites, vultures, crows, and magpies fly alongside the garuḍa?” Pāpīyān was ashamed, reverted to his own body, and departed (taken from the *Zuisheng zhangzhe shou zhouyuan jing*).