諸經要集 14.88

14.88

Furthermore, the Xianyu jing says: In the past, when the Buddha was in the world, he was heading toward Vaiśālī together with the bhikṣus. Arriving at the Rohita River, they saw people fishing who had caught in their nets a fish that had a hundred heads on its body. Five hundred men could not drag it out of the water. At that time, on the riverbank there were five hundred men who were herding cattle together, so [the fishermen] borrowed their aid to pull it. Only when a thousand men combined their strength could it be pulled from the water. Seeing it, they marvelled at it, and the multitude vied to gaze upon it. The Buddha went with the bhikṣus to the place of the fish and asked the fish, 'Are you Kapila?' The fish replied, 'I am.' He further asked the fish, 'Where is the one who instructed you now?' The fish answered the Buddha, 'He has fallen into the Avīci Hell.' Having seen this, Ānanda asked about its causes and conditions. The Buddha told Ānanda, 'Long ago in the past, at the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, there was a brāhmaṇa who had a son named Kapila, who was intelligent, broadly learned, and foremost in erudition. After the father died, his mother asked the boy, "You are now elevated and brilliant; is there anyone in the world who is superior to you?" The son answered his mother, "The śramaṇas are exceptionally superior. When I have doubts and go to ask the śramaṇas, they explain to me and bring me to understanding. If they ask me, I am unable to answer." The mother then said to him, "Why do you not study their Dharma now?" The son answered his mother, "If I wish to study it, I must become a śramaṇa. I am a white-clad layman; by what means could I study it?" The mother said to the son, "You may now temporarily feign being a śramaṇa, and once you have mastered the study, return home." The son received his mother's instruction, forthwith became a bhikṣu, and after a short time, mastered the Tripiṭaka and returned home. The mother again asked the son, "Have you now surpassed them?" The son answered his mother, "I have still not surpassed them." The mother said to the son, "From now on, if you debate together and happen to be inferior, you may then revile and insult them, and you will prevail." The son received his mother's instruction, and afterwards, when he was inferior in debate, he would revile them, saying, "You śramaṇas are foolish and senseless, with heads like the heads of beasts!" There was not one among the heads of a hundred beasts to which he did not compare them. Because of this reviling, he now receives the body of a fish with a single body and a hundred heads—the heads of camels, donkeys, cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, dogs, and various other beasts, not one of which is missing.' Ānanda asked the Buddha, 'When will it be able to escape this fish's body?' The Buddha told Ānanda, 'In this Auspicious Kalpa, even after a thousand Buddhas have passed away, it will still not have escaped this fish's body. By these causes and conditions, one cannot but be cautious regarding the karma of body, speech, and mind.'