Dhammapada 18.7.p2

18.7.p2

Tesu hi eko pāṇātipātāveramaṇisikkhāpadameva rakkhati, itare itarāni. Te ekadivasaṃ ‘‘ahaṃ dukkaraṃ karomi, dukkaraṃ rakkhāmī’’ti vivādāpannā satthu santikaṃ gantvā vanditvā tamatthaṃ ārocesuṃ. Satthā tesaṃ kathaṃ sutvā ekasīlampi kaniṭṭhakaṃ akatvā ‘‘sabbāneva durakkhānī’’ti vatvā imā gāthā abhāsi –

For of these five hundred lay disciples, one kept only the precept of abstinence from the taking of life; another, another precept, and so on. One day they fell into a dispute, each of them saying, “It is a hard thing I have to do; it is a hard precept I have to keep.” And going to the Teacher, they saluted him and referred the whole matter to him. The Teacher listened to what they had to say, and then, without naming a single precept as of lesser importance, said, “All of the precepts are hard to keep.” So saying, he pronounced the following Stanzas,