法苑珠林 11.24

11.24

爾時菩薩於此鹿林。在五拘隣比丘所。學於苦行。經於六年。極生辛苦。過其本師。以自餓故而不得道。徒勞疲形。故涅槃經云。菩薩當以苦行自誡其心。日食一胡麻經一七日。粳米菉豆麻子粟糜。及以白豆亦復如是。各一七日。如是修苦行時。一切皮肉消瘦皺減。如斷生瓠置之日中。其目坎陷如井底星。肉盡肋出如朽草屋。脊骨連現如重線塼。所坐之處如馬蹄跡。欲坐則伏。欲起則偃。雖受如是無利益苦。然不退於菩提之心。

At that time, the Bodhisattva, in this Deer Forest, studied austerities under the five bhikṣus led by Kaundinya. He underwent six years of extreme hardship, surpassing his former teachers. Yet because he starved himself, he did not attain the Way, but wearied his physical form in vain. Thus the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra states: "The Bodhisattva should admonish his mind with austerities. Eating a single sesame seed a day for seven days; and non-glutinous rice, mung beans, hemp seeds, millet gruel, and white beans were likewise eaten for seven days each. When practicing austerities in this manner, all his flesh and skin wasted away, shrivelling and shrinking like a severed gourd left in the sun. His eyes were sunken like stars at the bottom of a well; his flesh was gone and his ribs protruded like a dilapidated thatched hut; his backbone stood out in a continuous ridge like stacked bricks tied with cord; where he sat was like a horse's footprint. When he wished to sit, he bent forward; when he wished to rise, he fell back. Although he underwent such useless suffering, he did not regress from the mind of bodhi."