諸經要集 5.46

5.46

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:'