經律異相 47.50

47.50

In a past age, there were three close friends: an elephant, a monkey, and a partridge bird (the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya, fascicle 27, now calls it a tittira bird). They dwelt relying upon a single nyagrodha tree. They said to one another, 'Since we jointly rely upon this tree, we ought to revere one another.' The monkey and the partridge together asked the elephant, 'How far back do your memories go?' The elephant said, 'I remember when I was young, walking past this tree, it reached level with my belly.' The elephant and the partridge asked the monkey, and the monkey answered, 'I remember when I was young, lifting my hand to this tree reached my head' (the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya says: 'urinating on this tree'). The elephant said to the monkey, 'You have lived more years than I.' The elephant and the monkey together asked the partridge, and the partridge said, 'I remember to the right of the Snowy Mountains there was a great nyagrodha tree. I ate its fruit, came here, and defecated, whereupon this tree sprouted.' They said to one another, 'The partridge has lived the most years.' The elephant placed the monkey upon his head, and the monkey placed the partridge upon his shoulder. Together they wandered among human habitations, from village to village and from town to town, constantly reciting a verse: