法苑珠林 76.12

76.12

又賢愚經云。昔佛在世時。與諸比丘。向毘舍離。到梨越河。見人捕魚網得一魚。身有百頭。有五百人挽不出水。是時河邊有五百人。而共放牛。即借挽之。千人併力方得出水。見而怪之。眾人競看。佛與比丘。往到魚所。而問魚言。汝是迦毘梨不。魚答言是。復問魚言。教匠汝者今在何處。魚答佛言。墮阿毘獄。阿難見已問其因緣。佛告阿難。乃往過去迦葉佛時。有婆羅門生一男兒。字迦毘梨。聰明博達多聞第一。父死之後其母問兒。汝今高朗世間頗有更勝汝不。兒答母言。沙門殊勝。我有所疑往問沙門。為我解說令我開解。彼若問我。我不能答。母即語言。汝今何不學習其法。兒答母言。若欲習者當作沙門。我是白衣。何緣得學。母語兒言。汝今且可偽作沙門。學達還家。兒受母教即作比丘。經少時間學通三藏。還來歸家。母復問兒。今得勝未。兒答母言。由未勝也。母語兒言。自今已往。若共談論。儻不如時。便可罵辱。汝當得勝。兒受母教。後論不如。便罵言。汝等沙門愚騃無識。頭如獸頭。百獸之頭無不比之。緣是罵故今受魚身。一身百頭。駝驢牛馬猪羊犬等。眾獸之頭無不備有。阿難問佛。何時當得脫此魚身。佛告阿難。此賢劫中千佛過去。猶故不脫此魚身也。以是因緣。身口意業不可不慎。又王玄策行傳云。佛在世時。游毘耶離城。觀一切眾生有苦惱者。即欲救拔。乃觀見此國。有雞越吒二眾總五百人。於婆（去音）羅俱末底河。網得摩竭大魚。十有八首。三十六眼。其頭多獸（自外同前）佛為說法。魚聞法已便即命終。得生天上而為天子。却觀本身是大魚。蒙佛說法遂得生天。乃持諸種香華瓔珞寶珠。從天而下至佛供養。于時二眾並發心悔過。即於俱末底河北一百餘步燒焚魚網。銅瓶盛灰。埋之向說法處。於上起塔。尊像儼然。至今現在。雕飾如法。覩者生善。

The *Damamūka-nidāna-sūtra* also states: In the past, when the Buddha was in the world, he set out with the monks toward Vaiśālī. Arriving at the River Liyue, they saw fishermen who had netted a fish with a hundred heads. Five hundred people pulled at it, but could not draw it out of the water. At that time there were five hundred people grazing cattle by the river, so [the fishermen] borrowed their aid to pull it; only with the united strength of a thousand people was it finally brought out of the water. Astonished at the sight, the crowd vied with one another to look. The Buddha and the monks went to where the fish was, and [the Buddha] asked the fish, saying, 'Are you Kapila or not?' The fish answered, saying, 'I am.' He further asked the fish, saying, 'Where is the teacher who instructed you now?' The fish answered the Buddha, saying, 'He has fallen into the Avīci hell.' When Ānanda saw this, he asked about its karmic causes and conditions. The Buddha told Ānanda: Long ago in the past, at the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, there was a brahman who had a son named Kapila, who was intelligent, broadly learned, and foremost in erudition. After his father died, his mother asked the boy, 'You are now so brilliant; is there anyone in the world who surpasses you or not?' The boy answered his mother, saying, 'The śramaṇas are superior. Whenever I have doubts, I go to question the śramaṇas, and they explain them to me, bringing me to understanding; but if they question me, I cannot answer.' The mother then told him, 'Why do you not now study their teachings?' The boy answered his mother, saying, 'If I wish to study them, I must become a śramaṇa. I am a white-robed layman; by what means could I study them?' The mother told the boy, 'For now, you may falsely become a śramaṇa, and once you have mastered the studies, return home.' The boy complied with his mother's instruction and became a bhikṣu. In a short time he thoroughly mastered the tripiṭaka and returned home. His mother asked him again, 'Have you now surpassed them or not?' The boy answered his mother, saying, 'I still have not surpassed them.' The mother told the boy, 'From now on, whenever you debate with them, if you happen to be unequal to them, you may simply revile and insult them, and then you will prevail.' The boy complied with his mother's instruction. Later, when he was bested in debate, he reviled them, saying, 'You śramaṇas are stupid and ignorant, with heads like the heads of beasts!' There were no heads among the hundred beasts to which he did not compare them. Because of this reviling, he has now received the body of a fish—a single body with a hundred heads, possessing all the heads of beasts, including camels, donkeys, cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, and dogs. Ānanda asked the Buddha, 'When will it be able to escape this fish's body?' The Buddha told Ānanda, 'Even after the thousand Buddhas of this Bhadrakalpa have passed, it will still not have escaped this fish's body.' By these causes and conditions, one cannot fail to be cautious in the actions of body, speech, and mind! Also, Wang Xuance's *Xiguo xingzhuan* states: When the Buddha was in the world, he traveled to the city of Vaiśālī. Observing all sentient beings who suffered, he wished to rescue them. He then observed that in this country there were two groups of fishermen (kaivarta), numbering five hundred in all, who had netted a great makara fish in the River Vālumatī that had eighteen heads and thirty-six eyes, its heads mostly resembling beasts (the rest is the same as above). The Buddha preached the Dharma for it. Having heard the Dharma, the fish immediately died and was reborn in heaven as a devaputra. Looking back, he saw that his original body had been a great fish, and that thanks to the Buddha's preaching of the Dharma he had attained rebirth in heaven. He then took various incense, flowers, necklaces, and precious gems, descended from heaven, and came to make offerings to the Buddha. At that time, both groups of people gave rise to the mind [of faith] and repented their faults. Thereupon, over one hundred paces north of the River Vālumatī, they burned the fishing nets, put the ashes in bronze jars, and buried them at the place where the Dharma had been preached, erecting a stūpa above it. The venerable image stands dignified and still exists today, carved and adorned in accord with the Dharma, inspiring goodness in all who see it.