經律異相 37.21

37.21

Formerly there was a man who had only one son, named Bakkula, who was just seven years old. When his wife died, he took another wife. Hating the child of the previous wife, she was steaming cakes in a steamer. When the boy asked his [step]mother for one, the mother took him in her arms, placed him in the steamer, and covered the top with an earthen basin, wishing to bring about the boy's death. In the steamer, the boy ate the cakes and did not die. Later she again took him in her arms and placed him upon a red-hot iron griddle; on the griddle he ate cakes and was unharmed. Later she went to the riverbank to wash clothes and threw him into deep water, where he was swallowed by a fish. After seven days had passed, the father invited the assembly of monks to hold a great gathering. Having purchased a fish, he transported it home on a cart. As he was about to cut open the fish's belly, the boy said, "Gently, gently! Do not injure my head!" This boy had previously received the single precept of non-killing, and now obtained five kinds of non-death. (Extracted from the Sūtra of Parables.)