法苑珠林 53.43

53.43

又法句喻經云。昔有一國名多摩羅。去城七里有精舍。五百沙門常處其中讀誦行道。有一老比丘名摩訶盧。為人暗塞。五百道人傳共教之。數年之中不得一偈。眾共輕之不將會同。常守精舍勅令掃除。後日國王請諸道人入宮供養。摩訶盧比丘自念言。我生世間暗塞如此。不知一偈人所薄賤。用是活為。即持繩至後園中大樹下欲自縊死。佛以道眼遙見如是。化作樹神半身人現而訶之曰。咄咄比丘。何為作此。摩訶盧即具陳辛苦。化神訶曰。勿得作是且聽我言。汝往迦葉佛時卿作三藏沙門。有五百弟子。自以多智輕慢眾人。悋惜經義初不訓誨。是以世世所生諸根暗鈍。但當自責。何為自賤。於是世尊現神光像。為說偈言。

Furthermore, the *Avadāna-dharmapada-sūtra* says: In the past, there was a kingdom named Tāmralipta. Seven li from the city, there was a monastery where five hundred śramaṇas constantly resided, reciting [scriptures] and practicing the Way. There was an old bhikṣu named Mahālu who was dull and blocked by nature. The five hundred practitioners took turns teaching him, but in several years he could not learn a single verse. The assembly disdained him and would not include him in their gatherings, keeping him constantly to guard the monastery and ordering him to sweep it. Later, the king invited all the practitioners to enter the palace for an offering. The bhikṣu Mahālu thought to himself: "I was born into the world so dull and blocked, ignorant of even a single verse and despised by others. What is the use of living like this?" He then took a rope to the back garden, intending to hang himself under a large tree. The Buddha, seeing this from afar with his divine eye, transformed himself into a tree spirit, manifested half of a human body, and scolded him, saying: "Hey, hey, bhikṣu! Why do you do this?" Mahālu then related his hardship in detail. The transformed spirit scolded him, saying: "Do not do this; listen to my words for a moment. In the past, at the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, you were a tripiṭaka śramaṇa with five hundred disciples. Relying on your great wisdom, you were arrogant toward others, grudging the scriptural teachings and never instructing them. For this reason, in life after life you have been born with your faculties dim and dull. You should only reproach yourself; why demean yourself?" Thereupon the World-Honoured One manifested an image of divine radiance and spoke a verse for him: