法苑珠林 79.17

79.17

The Madhyama-āgama also states: 'At that time in Setavyā, there was a king named Pāyāsi, who was immensely wealthy and had boundless assets. Together with the brahmins and householders of Setavyā, he went north to the Siṃsapā Forest. Seeing the Venerable Kumārakāśyapa from afar, they exchanged greetings and sat down to one side. He asked Kāśyapa, saying: "I hold this view and speak thus: 'There is no other world, and there are no beings who are reborn.'" The śramaṇa Kumārakāśyapa told him: "Are these sun and moon of this world or of another world?" The king said: "Although you speak thus, still there is no other world, and there are no beings who are reborn." Kāśyapa used various parables and skillful means to explain it to him, but [Pāyāsi] stubbornly clung to his own view and would not abandon it. Kāśyapa again told Pāyāsi: "Listen to a parable I will tell. If one is wise, upon hearing a parable he will understand its meaning. Pāyāsi, it is like a swineherd who, while walking along the road, saw a great deal of dry dung with no owner. He thought: 'This dung can feed many pigs to their fill. I would do well to take it and carry the load away.' So he took it and carried it on his back. Halfway along the path he encountered heavy rain from the sky; the dung dissolved and flowed all over, splashing and dirtying his body, yet he still carried it along and would not discard it. He thereby brought boundless filth upon himself and became loathed by all people. You should know, Pāyāsi, that you are just the same. If you grasp this view out of fear and folly and never abandon it, you will incur boundless evil upon yourself and become loathed by all people, just like the swineherd." King Pāyāsi said: "Although the śramaṇa speaks thus, this view of mine was grasped through desire, wrath, fear, and folly, and I can never abandon it." The Venerable Kāśyapa said: "Pāyāsi, listen further to my final parable. If you understand it, good; if you do not understand it, I will not preach the Dharma further. Pāyāsi, it is like a great boar who was the king of five hundred pigs traveling along a perilous path. Halfway along the path he encountered a tiger. Having seen the tiger, he thought to himself and said to the tiger: 'If you wish to fight, we can fight together; if not, yield the road to let me pass.' Having heard this, the tiger said to the pig: 'I grant that we fight; I will not yield the road to you.' The pig said again: 'Tiger, wait a little while; wait until I put on my grandfather's armour, then I will return to fight with you.' When the tiger heard this, he thought: 'He is no match for me, how much less his grandfather's armour!' So he said to the pig: 'Do as you wish.' The pig immediately returned to his original privy, rolled in the dung until his body was smeared up to his eyes, and then went to the tiger, saying: 'If you wish to fight, we can fight together; if not, yield the road to let me pass.' Seeing the pig, the tiger thought again: 'I habitually do not eat things mixed with small maggots, because I cherish my fangs; how much less should I approach this foul pig!' Having thought this, the tiger said to the pig: 'I yield the road to you; I will not fight with you.' Having passed by, the pig immediately turned back to the tiger and spoke a verse, saying: