法苑珠林 87.16

87.16

Furthermore, the Za baozang jing states: In the past, there was a venerable arhat named Giyeta (Jñātika/Citta). Seven hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, he appeared in the country of Kaśmīra. At that time, in the country of Kaśmīra, there was an evil dragon named Arina (Hariṇa) who frequently caused disasters. There were then two thousand arhats who each exhausted their spiritual powers to drive this dragon away and cause it to leave the country's borders. Among them, one hundred arhats shook the earth with supernormal powers; five hundred emitted great radiance; and another five hundred entered meditative concentration and practiced walking meditation. Each person exhausted his spiritual power, yet they could not make it budge. At that time, the Venerable Giyeta arrived last at the dragon's pool. He snapped his fingers three times and said: "Dragon, depart now! You may not remain here." The dragon immediately left, not daring to stay. Thereupon, the two thousand arhats said to the Venerable: "We and you, Venerable, have all attained the cessation of defilements and the dharma-body of liberation; we are all completely equal. Yet we each exhausted our spiritual powers and could not make it budge. How could you, Venerable, cause the dragon to enter far into the great sea with just three snaps of the fingers?" At that time, the Venerable replied: "Ever since I was an ordinary person, I have upheld the prohibitive precepts down to the duṣkṛta transgressions, guarding them with an impartial mind, no different from the four grave offences. The reason you people now could not budge this dragon is that our spiritual powers are not the same; therefore you could not move it."