法苑珠林 53.71

53.71

百喻經云。昔有一人。貧窮困苦為王作事。日月經久身體羸瘦。王見憐愍賜一死駝。貧人得已即便剝皮。嫌刀鈍故求石欲磨。乃於樓上得一磨石。磨刀令利來下而剝。如是數數往來磨刀。後轉苦憚不能上樓。懸駝上樓就石磨刀。深為人笑。猶如愚人毀破禁戒。多取錢財以用修福。望得生天反得其殃。如懸𩥟駝上樓磨刀。用功甚多所得甚少。

The Sūtra of One Hundred Parables says: Formerly, there was a man who was impoverished, destitute, and toiling in service to a king. As the days and months went by, his body grew emaciated. Seeing this, the king took pity on him and bestowed a dead camel upon him. Having received it, the poor man immediately began to flay its hide. Resenting that his knife was dull, he sought a stone wishing to sharpen it, and found a whetstone on an upper storey. He sharpened the knife to make it sharp, came down, and flayed; in this way he went back and forth repeatedly to sharpen the knife. Later, growing tired and weary of it, he could not bear going upstairs, so he hoisted the camel up the stairs to approach the stone and sharpen the knife, being deeply laughed at by others. This is just like a fool who breaks the prohibitory precepts, takes much wealth to cultivate merit, and hopes to be born in heaven, but instead reaps disaster. It is like hoisting a dead camel upstairs to sharpen a knife: the effort expended is vast, but what is obtained is very little.