法苑珠林 55.23

55.23

於是梵志靜住而聽聞佛所歎。心懷疑惑。前問佛言。一杓飯汁何所直耶。而乃稱讚若干寶施。而云不如一杓汁施。斯之飯汁不直一錢。然乃咨嗟若干億倍。孰當信哉。於是世尊尋即顯露廣長之舌。以覆其面上至梵天。告梵志曰。吾從無數億百千劫。常行至誠乃獲斯舌。寧以妄語能致之乎。吾欲問卿。至誠答之。曾叵往返舍衛羅閱。中路有樹。名尼拘類。蔭覆人眾五百乘車乎。對曰。唯然有之。曾所見也。世尊又問。其子大小。答曰。形如芥子。佛告梵志。卿真兩舌。實如芥子。樹何大乎。對曰。審爾不敢欺也。佛又告。種如芥子生樹廣大。地之生植。適無所置。所覆彌廣。何況如來無上正覺無量福會普勝者哉。大慈弘哀無所不濟。以饌供獻功祚難計。梵志默然無以加報。佛告阿難。斯婦壽終當轉女像得為男子生于天上。下生為人解深妙法。却十三劫當得作佛。名曰心明如來。梵志意伏五體投地。剋心自責歸命於佛。加恩矜攝令得出家。佛即納受以為沙門。佛講四諦漏盡意解。又涅槃經云。爾時十仙外道欲共佛捔試神力。阿闍世王報外道云。汝等今者欲以手爪爮須彌山。欲以口齒齚齧金剛。諸大士。譬如愚人見師子王飢時睡眠而欲寤之。如人以指置毒蛇口。如欲以手觸灰覆火。汝等今者亦復如是。善男子。譬如野狐作師子吼。猶如蚊子共金翅鳥捔行遲疾。如兔度海欲盡其底。汝等今者亦復如是。汝等今者興建是意。猶如飛蛾投於火聚。汝隨我語不復更說。

Thereupon the brahman stood quietly listening, and hearing the Buddha's praise, he felt doubt in his heart. Stepping forward, he asked the Buddha: "What is a ladle of rice broth worth, that you praise it above various gifts of jewels, saying they cannot equal the gift of a ladle of broth? This rice broth is not worth a single coin, yet you extol it several billion times over. Who could believe this?" Then the World-Honoured One immediately displayed his broad and long tongue, covering his face with it and reaching up to the Brahmā heaven. He said to the brahman: "Throughout countless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of kalpas, I have constantly practiced perfect truthfulness, and only thus did I obtain this tongue. Could one ever acquire it through falsehood? I wish to ask you a question; answer me truthfully. Have you ever traveled back and forth between Śrāvastī and Rājagṛha, and on the way is there a tree called the nyagrodha, which can shade a crowd of people with five hundred chariots?" He answered: "Yes, indeed, there is; I have seen it." The World-Honoured One asked again: "How large are its seeds?" He answered: "They are the size of a mustard seed." The Buddha said to the brahman: "You are truly speaking with a double tongue! If it is truly as small as a mustard seed, how could the tree be so vast?" He replied: "It is truly so; I dare not deceive you." The Buddha again told him: "A seed as small as a mustard seed grows into a vast tree; the earth's production of plants is such that nothing can contain it, and what it covers is exceedingly broad. How much more so the Tathāgata, the Unsurpassed Fully Awakened One, a supreme field of limitless merit! With great compassion and vast sympathy, there is none he does not deliver; the fortune and merit of offering him food are beyond reckoning." The brahman fell silent, unable to offer any further retort. The Buddha said to Ānanda: "When this woman's life ends, she will shed her female form, become a man, and be born in heaven. Born down as a human, she will understand the profound and wondrous Dharma, and after thirteen kalpas she will become a Buddha named Tathāgata Xinming (Cittaprabhāsa)." The brahman submitted at heart, cast his five limbs to the ground, reproached himself within, and took refuge in the Buddha. He begged for mercy and acceptance, requesting to leave the household life. The Buddha immediately received him as a śramaṇa. The Buddha taught the Four Truths, and his outflows were extinguished and his mind liberated. Furthermore, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: At that time, ten heterodox ṛṣis wished to compete in spiritual power with the Buddha. King Ajātaśatru told the non-Buddhists: "You now wish to scratch Mount Sumeru with your fingernails, and gnaw vajra with your teeth! Worthy sirs, it is like a fool who sees the king of lions sleeping when hungry and wishes to wake him; like a man putting his finger into the mouth of a venomous snake; like wishing to touch with one's hand a fire covered with ashes. You are now just like this. Good men, it is like a wild fox roaring like a lion; like a mosquito racing against a garuḍa; like a hare crossing the ocean and wishing to plumb its depths. You are now just like this. In conceiving this intention now, you are like moths throwing themselves into a blaze. Follow my advice, and speak of this no more!"