諸經要集 5.46

5.46

如欲以一指測知大海底。為智者之所笑。汝不聞佛說。四事雖小而不可輕。太子雖小當為國王。是不可輕。蛇子雖小毒能殺人。亦不可輕。小火雖微能燒山野。亦不可輕。沙彌雖小得聖神通。最不可輕。檀越聞是事已見是神通。身驚毛竪。合手向諸沙彌言。諸聖人等。我今懺悔。我是凡夫心常懷罪。今欲請問。於佛僧寶中信心清淨。何者福勝。答言我等初不見佛僧寶中有增減。何以故。如佛一時入舍婆提城乞食。有婆羅門。姓婆羅埵逝。佛數數到其家乞食。心作是念。是沙門何以來數數。如負其債。佛時說偈言。

To wish to fathom the bottom of the great ocean with a single finger is ridiculed by the wise. Have you not heard what the Buddha taught? Four things, though small, must not be slighted: A prince, though small, will become a king of the realm; he must not be slighted. A young serpent, though small, has venom that can kill a person; it also must not be slighted. A spark of fire, though small, can incinerate mountains and plains; it also must not be slighted. A novice (śrāmaṇera), though young, has attained holy supernormal powers; he is most of all not to be slighted. When the dānapati heard this and saw these supernormal powers, his body shook and his hair stood on end. Pressing his palms together toward the novices, he said: 'Holy ones, I now repent. I am an ordinary person whose mind is constantly harboured with sin. Now I wish to ask: when one has pure faith in the Buddha and in the Saṅgha-jewel, which merits are superior?' They replied: 'From the first, we see no more and no less between the Buddha and the Saṅgha-jewel. Why is this? As when the Buddha once entered the city of Śrāvastī to beg for food, there was a brāhmaṇa of the Bhāradvāja clan. The Buddha repeatedly went to his house to beg for food. The brāhmaṇa thought to himself: "Why does this śramaṇa come repeatedly, as if I owed him a debt?" The Buddha then spoke a verse:'