菩薩從兜術天降神母胎說廣普經 3.12

3.12

The Buddha told Kāśyapa: "I will now explain to you the distinct analysis of consciousness, ideation, and sensation. Ninety-one kalpas ago, there was a king named Wisdom, who devoted himself to practicing the ten virtues and governed with the Dharma without defilements. Observing the movements of the minds of beings, he knew that the thoughts of those beings were not identical. He then sent attendant ministers to tour the realm, summoning all who were blind to gather in the palace courtyard. The ministers received the king's order, went out and toured the realm, obtained five hundred blind persons, and brought them into the courtyard. The king then arranged five hundred white elephants in rows before the palace hall, instructing the blind persons to grasp the elephants as they wished. At that time, the blind persons grasped either the elephant's trunk, or the elephant's ears, or the elephant's head, or the elephant's feet, or the elephant's belly, or the elephant's tail. The king asked the blind persons: 'What is the elephant like?' The blind persons replied: the one grasping the trunk said, 'Like a horn'; the one grasping the head said, 'Like a jar'; the one grasping the ears said, 'Like a winnowing basket'; the one grasping the belly said, 'Like a round basket'; the one grasping the feet said, 'Like a pillar'; the one grasping the tail said, 'Like a peg.' At that time, sighted onlookers laughed at those blind persons for failing to grasp the complete form of the elephant. In a private place, the blind persons debated among themselves, each claiming to be right and quarreling with one another. This class of sentient beings is also like this: the dharmas of consciousness, ideation, and sensation are each different."