諸經要集 12.17

12.17

Third, the rebuke of the fault of craving for fragrances: people say that attachment to fragrances carries little guilt, yet attachment and desire for fragrances open the gate of the fetters (saṃyojana). Even if one has kept the precepts for a hundred years and been able to cut them off, in a single moment one can destroy them. For example, there was an arhat who regularly entered the dragon palace. Having finished eating, he handed his bowl to a novice (śrāmaṇera) to have him wash it. In the bowl there remained a few grains of rice. The novice smelled them and found them extremely fragrant; he ate them and found them exceedingly delicious. Thereupon he devised an expedient: he went beneath his master's rope bed, holding the legs of the rope bed with both hands. When the master's time came, he entered the dragon palace along with the rope bed. The dragon said, 'This [person] has not yet attained the Way; why have you brought him along?' The master said, 'I was unaware.' The novice obtained food and drink, and he also saw that the bodies of the dragon maidens were upright and wondrously fragrant beyond compare; his mind became greatly attached, and he immediately made an evil vow: 'By cultivating merit, I shall seize this dragon's place and dwell in his palace.' The dragon said, 'Hereafter, do not bring this novice.' After the novice returned, he single-mindedly practiced dāna and maintained the precepts, exclusively seeking what he had vowed, wishing soon to become a dragon. At that time, when he circumambulated the monastery, water issued from beneath his feet; he knew of himself that he would definitely become a dragon. He went directly to the side of the great pool where his master originally entered, covered his head with his kāṣāya, and entered. He died immediately and turned into a great dragon. Because his merit was great, he at once killed that dragon; the entire pool turned red. Before this had happened, the masters and the monastic community rebuked him. The novice said, 'My mind is already set, and the signs in my mind have already manifested.' He brought the saṃgha to the pool to behold it. Such circumstances as these stemmed from the fault of attachment to fragrance. Furthermore, there was a bhikṣu who was walking back and forth (caṅkramaṇa) beside a lotus pond in a forest. Smelling the fragrance of the lotuses, his nose received it and his mind became attached. The deity of the pond spoke to him, saying, 'Why have you abandoned your place of quiet meditation beneath the forest to steal my fragrance? Because of attachment to fragrance, all the dormant fetters are aroused.' At that time, another person came into the pond, gathered many of its flowers, dug and pulled up the roots and stalks, leaving everything in disarray, and departed. The deity of the pond was silent and said nothing. The bhikṣu said, 'That person destroyed your pond's flowers, yet you said nothing at all. I merely walked along the pond's edge, and I was rebuked and scolded, being told that I was stealing the fragrance.' The deity of the pond said, 'The wicked people of the world always abide in the filth and dung of guilt, submerged head-deep in impurity; I do not speak with them. But you are a good person who practices meditation, yet you are attached to this fragrance, ruining your good deeds; therefore I rebuke you. It is like clean, white fine cloth that is spotted and soiled by a foreign substance—everyone sees it. That wicked person is like black clothing: spotted with black on black, no one sees it; who would question it?' Various such circumstances as these are called the rebuke of the fault of craving for fragrances.