諸經要集 8.18

8.18

又雀王經云。昔者菩薩身為雀王。慈心濟眾。由護身瘡。有虎食獸。骨拄其齒困飢將終。雀王入口啄骨。日日若茲。雀口生瘡身為瘦疵。骨出虎活。雀飛登樹。說佛經曰。殺為兇虐其惡莫大。虎聞雀誡動聲。勃然恚曰。爾始離吾口而敢多言。雀覩其不可化。即速飛去。佛言。雀王者是吾身。虎者是調達身。

Furthermore, the Que wang jing (Sūtra of the Sparrow King) says: In the past, the Bodhisattva was born as a sparrow king. With a compassionate heart he aided the multitude, just as one guards a sore on one's body. A tiger had eaten an animal, and a bone became stuck in its teeth so that it was distressed by hunger and on the verge of death. The sparrow king entered its mouth and pecked at the bone, day after day like this. Sores broke out in the sparrow's mouth and its body became emaciated and scarred. The bone came out and the tiger lived. The sparrow flew up into a tree and expounded the Buddha's sūtra, saying, "Killing is brutal and cruel; no evil is greater than it." When the tiger heard the sparrow's admonishing voice, it flared up in anger and said, "You have only just left my mouth, and yet you dare to say so much!" Seeing that it could not be transformed, the sparrow quickly flew away. The Buddha said, "The sparrow king was myself, and the tiger was Devadatta."