法苑珠林 92.36

92.36

Then the World-Honoured One further told Saṃgharakṣita: 'The first camel you saw was a person in hell. In the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, he was a renunciant and a senior elder in the temple. He regularly took extra food portions, sometimes taking portions meant for one or two other people. When a Vinaya master instructed him in accordance with the Dharma, saying that the conduct of an elder should not be like this, the old monk answered the Vinaya master, saying, "You know nothing! Your voice sounds like a camel. I am an elder among the Saṃgha; I chant blessings, expound the Dharma, and at times chant hymns. Reckoning my toil, I deserve to receive this. Why do you constantly get angry and reprove me?" Because of these causes and conditions, he entered hell and took the body of a camel, wailing as he is burned by fire and enduring suffering without ceasing down to the present day.'