法苑珠林 27.11

27.11

如雜譬喻經云。昔有人名薩薄。聞於外國更有異寶欲往治生。而二國中間有羅剎難不可得過。薩薄游行見市西門有一道人空床上坐云賣五戒。薩薄問言。五戒云何。答曰。無形。直口授心持後得生天。現世能却羅剎鬼難。薩薄欲買。問索幾錢。答金錢一千。即就受竟。語言。卿向外國到界畔上。羅剎若來卿但語言。我是釋迦五戒弟子。薩薄少時到二國中間。見有羅剎身長一丈三尺。頭黃如蓑眼如赤丁。舉體鱗甲。更互開口如魚鼓鰓。仰接飛燕蹈地沒膝。口熱血流。群眾數千直捉。薩薄語言。我是釋迦五戒弟子。羅剎聞此永不肯放。薩薄聊以兩捲扠之。捲入鱗甲拔不得出。又以脚蹋頭衝拔復不出。五體沒鱗甲中。唯背得動。羅剎以偈語言。

As the Za piyu jing says: Formerly, there was a man named Sābō (Sārthavāha). Hearing that foreign lands possessed rare treasures, he wished to go there to trade. However, between the two countries there was the danger of rākṣasas, making it impassable. Traveling along, Sābō saw a man of the Way sitting on a bare couch at the west gate of the marketplace, who said that he was selling the five precepts. Sābō asked, "What are the five precepts like?" He answered, "They have no physical form. Straightforwardly transmitted by mouth and upheld in the mind, one will later be born in heaven, and in this present life they can avert the danger of rākṣasa ghosts." Sābō wished to buy them and asked how much money was required. He answered, "One thousand gold coins." Having thus received them, [the seller] told him, "When you head to the foreign land and reach the border, if a rākṣasa comes, you need only say, 'I am a five-precept disciple of Śākya.'" A short while later, Sābō arrived between the two countries, where he saw a rākṣasa thirteen feet tall, whose head was yellow like a straw cape and whose eyes were like red spikes. His entire body was covered in scales, and his mouth repeatedly opened and shut like a fish flapping its gills. Looking up, he could catch flying swallows, and his tread sank to his knees in the ground; his mouth was hot and dripping blood. Leading a crowd of several thousand, he directly grabbed Sābō. Sābō said, "I am a five-precept disciple of Śākya." Hearing this, the rākṣasa refused to release him. Sābō struck him with both fists; his fists penetrated the scales and could not be pulled out. He then kicked with his feet and rammed with his head, but again could not pull them out. His five limbs were submerged in the scales; only his back could move. The rākṣasa spoke in verse, saying: