法苑珠林 25.9

25.9

第三論云。舍利弗所以稱智慧第一者。世尊方欲知身子智慧多少者。以須彌為硯。以四大海水為墨。以四天下竹木為筆。滿四天下人為書師。欲寫身子智慧者。猶不能盡。況凡夫五通而能測量耶。故稱智慧第一也。

Third, the treatise states: The reason why Śāriputra is called foremost in wisdom is that if the World-Honoured One wished to know how much wisdom Śāriputra possessed, using Mount Sumeru as an inkstone, the water of the four great oceans as ink, the bamboos and trees of the four continents as brushes, and all the people filling the four continents as scribes to write out Śāriputra's wisdom, they still could not exhaust it. How then could ordinary persons with the five superknowledges measure it? Hence he is called foremost in wisdom.