翻譯名義集 2.229

2.229

【Makara】 Or makara; this translates as whale. The male is called jīng, and the female is called ní; the large ones are over ten li long. The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: "Five hundred merchants entered the sea to gather jewels and encountered the Makara Fish King opening its mouth. The ship moved exceedingly fast. The shipmaster asked the lookout in the tower, 'What do you see?' He replied: 'I see three suns and a great white mountain, and the water is rushing as if pouring into a great pit.' The shipmaster said: 'As for the three suns, one is the real sun, and two are the fish's eyes. The white mountain is the fish's teeth, and the rushing water is entering the fish's mouth; we are about to die!' At that time, the people in the ship each called upon the deities they served, but there was no efficacy at all. Among them, an upāsaka said to the crowd: 'We should together recite the Buddha's name; the Buddha is the unsurpassed savior from suffering and adversity.' The people single-mindedly recited 'Homage to the Buddha' together. In a previous life, this fish had received the five precepts and attained knowledge of past lives; hearing the Buddha's name, it immediately felt remorse and reproached itself. The fish then closed its mouth, and the people's lives were saved." The Zhuangzi says: "When a fish that can swallow a boat loses water, even crickets and ants can master it."