諸經要集 2.105

2.105

又付法藏經云。昔佛涅槃一百年後。有阿育王信敬三寶。常作般遮于瑟大會。王至會日。香湯洗浴著新淨衣。上高樓上四方頂禮。遙請眾僧。聖眾飛來凡二十萬。王之信心深遠難量。見諸沙門若長若幼若凡若聖。皆迎問訊恭敬禮拜。時有一臣名曰夜奢。邪見熾盛無信敬心。見王禮拜而作是言。王甚無智。自屈貴德禮拜童幼。王聞是已。便勅諸臣。各遣推覓自死百獸。人仰一頭。唯使夜奢獨求人首。得已各勅詣市賣之。餘頭悉售。夜奢人頭見者惡賤都無買者。數日欲臭。眾人見已咸共罵辱。而語之言。汝今非是旃陀羅人夜叉羅剎。云何乃捉死人頭賣。夜奢爾時被罵辱已。來詣王所白王言。臣賣人頭反被罵辱。尚無欲見況有買者。王復語言。若無買者但當虛與。夜奢受教重齎入市。唱告眾人。無錢買者今當虛與。市人聞已重加罵辱。無肯取者。夜奢慚愧還至王所。合掌白王。此頭難售虛與不取。反被罵辱。況有買者。王問夜奢。何物最貴。夜奢答王。人最為貴。王言。若貴何故不售。夜奢答王。人生雖貴死則卑賤。王問夜奢。吾頭若死同此賤不。夜奢惶懼怖不敢對。王即語言。施汝無畏汝當實答。夜奢惶怖俛仰答王。王頭若死亦同此賤。王語夜奢。吾頭若死同此賤者。汝何怪我禮敬眾僧。卿若是吾真善知識。宜應勸我以危脆頭易堅固頭。如何今日止吾禮拜。夜奢爾時聞王此語。方自悔責改邪從正。歸敬三寶。以是因緣眾生聞者。若見三寶。應當至心恭敬禮拜。

Also, the Sūtra on the Transmission of the Dharma Pitaka says: In the past, one hundred years after the Buddha's nirvāṇa, there was King Aśoka, who faithfully revered the Triratna. He constantly held the great pañcavārṣika assembly. When the day of the assembly arrived, the king bathed in perfumed water, put on fresh, clean robes, ascended a high tower, bowed in homage to the four directions, and invited the Saṅgha from afar. Twenty myriad holy beings flew to attend. The king's faithful devotion was deep, vast, and hard to measure. Seeing the śramaṇas—whether old or young, common or holy—he went out to greet them, inquired after them, and reverently paid homage. At that time, there was a minister named Yaśa whose wrong views flared fiercely, and he had no faithful reverence in his heart. Seeing the king paying homage, he said, 'The king lacks wisdom immensely, lowering his exalted virtue to bow down to young children.' Having heard this, the king ordered his ministers, sending each to search for the heads of a hundred beasts that had died of themselves, requiring one head per person, while dispatching Yaśa alone to seek a human head. Once acquired, he ordered each of them to go to the market and sell them. All the other heads were sold, but anyone who saw Yaśa's human head despised it as vile, and absolutely no one bought it. After a few days, it began to rot. When the crowd saw it, they all reviled him together, saying to him, 'You are not a caṇḍāla, a yakṣa, or a rākṣasa—how can you hold up a dead person's head to sell?' Having been reviled, Yaśa went to the king and reported, 'Your minister tried to sell the human head, but was reviled instead. None even wished to look at it, let alone buy it.' The king further told him, 'If no one buys it, just give it away for free.' Yaśa, receiving the instruction, brought it into the market again and announced to the people, 'Those who have no money to buy it, I shall now give it to you for free.' Hearing this, the market people reviled him even more harshly, and none was willing to take it. Ashamed, Yaśa returned to the king, joined his palms, and said to the king, 'This head is difficult to sell; even given for free, no one takes it, and I was reviled instead—how could anyone buy it?' The king asked Yaśa, 'What thing is the most noble?' Yaśa answered the king, 'A human being is the most noble.' The king said, 'If it is noble, why was it not sold?' Yaśa answered the king, 'Although a person is noble when alive, in death they are vile and base.' The king asked Yaśa, 'If my head dies, will it be as base as this?' Terrified, Yaśa was afraid and did not dare reply. The king said, 'I grant you fearlessness; you must answer truthfully.' Frightened, Yaśa bowed his head and answered the king, 'If the king's head dies, it will also be as base as this.' The king said to Yaśa, 'If my head in death is as base as this, why do you fault me for bowing in reverence to the Saṅgha? If you were my true good friend, you should encourage me to exchange a fragile head for an indestructible head. Why do you now stop me from paying homage?' When Yaśa heard these words of the king, he only then reproached himself, abandoned the wrong and followed the right, and took refuge in and revered the Triratna. Because of this cause and condition, any living beings who hear this, whenever they see the Triratna, should reverently pay homage with the utmost sincerity.