釋氏要覽 2.148

2.148

The Samyukta-avadāna Sūtra says: In the past, there was a country where the five grains were abundant, wars had ceased, and there were no pestilences; the people were always joyful. The king suddenly asked his ministers, 'I hear there is calamity in the four directions; what does it look like?' They replied, 'Your ministers do not know either.' The king sent them to search for it, insisting on seeing it. The ministers then investigated and searched. At that time, a deva transformed into an animal resembling a pig and sold it in the marketplace. The ministers asked its name, and [the vendor] said, 'This is the Mother of Calamity. The calamities of the four directions all arise from this.' They asked what it ate, and he said, 'It eats one sheng of needles a day.' They then bought it and presented it to the king, who ordered it to be raised. Feeding it with needles depleted the state, so levies were imposed upon the people. The people could not bear the payments and fled to other lands. A wise minister requested that it be killed, yet even when hacked and stabbed, it could not be harmed. They then burned it, but its body became fire itself; it leapt up, ran into the city, and burned everything to the ground. This was caused by buying the Mother of Calamity. It is a metaphor for a monk who does not protect his body of precepts: burned by the fire of desire, both his body and reputation are lost.