[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [法苑珠林](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt) › 53.43 # 法苑珠林 53.43 English (machine translation) 53.43 - **Language:** English ### [53.43](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.53.43) 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: - [Previous: 53.42](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.53.42) - [Next: 53.44](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.53.44) - [Up: 53](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.53) ## Linked texts (1) - [法苑珠林](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.53.43) — 道世, Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.53.43](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.53.43) · Pramāṇa