法苑珠林 44.24

44.24

The Venerable One said: "Great King, I shall now briefly explain an analogy for the king. Listen with earnest mind! Once there was a man travelling on a desolate road who encountered a great vicious elephant and was pursued by it. Frantic with fear, he ran wildly with nowhere to rely on. Seeing an abandoned well, he grasped a tree root and entered the well to hide. Above, there were two mice, one black and one white, gnawing alternately at the tree root. Around the four sides of this well were four venomous serpents wanting to bite him, and beneath this well were three great venomous dragons. On the flanks he feared the four serpents, and below he feared the venomous dragons; the root of the tree he clung to was shaking. Honey from the tree dropped into his mouth, five drops. At that moment the shaking of the tree disturbed and broke a beehive; a swarm of bees scattered in flight and stung him, and a wildfire flared up, coming again to burn the tree. Great King, you should know that this man's anguish was beyond reckoning, yet what he tasted was exceedingly little, while his suffering was exceedingly great. The flavor he tasted was like water in an ox's footprint; his suffering was like the great ocean. The flavor was like a mustard seed; the suffering was like Mount Sumeru. The flavor was like a firefly's light; the suffering was like the sun and moon. It is like the hole in a lotus root compared to the vast emptiness of space, or like a mosquito compared to a Garuḍa. The relative amount of its flavor and suffering was like this." The Venerable One said: "Great King, the desolate wild represents saṃsāra. That man represents the ordinary worldling. The elephant represents impermanence. The abandoned well represents the human body. The tree root represents human life. The white and black mice represent day and night. Their gnawing at the tree root represents destruction from moment to moment. The four venomous serpents represent the four great elements. The honey represents the five desires. The swarm of bees represents bad thoughts and investigations. The burning by wildfire represents old age. The three venomous dragons below represent dying and falling into the three bad destinies. Therefore, you should know that the flavor of desires is exceedingly little, while suffering is exceedingly great. Birth, old age, sickness, and death hold sovereign sway over all people. People in the world are toiled and afflicted in body and mind with nowhere of refuge; pressed by manifold sufferings, they are fleeting as lightning. This is cause for sorrow, and should not be craved or clung to."