Merchants
This page carries Ru-Yi's complete translation of fascicle 43 of the Jīng Lǜ Yì Xiàng (經律異相): "Merchants" (估客部) — sixteen entries on traders and caravan leaders, and one of the strongest narrative fascicles in the compendium. Among them: a sea-spirit's riddle about a handful of water and a sea; two brothers named at birth for what their unborn presence did to their mother's character, and a tree that gives drink, food, clothing, and treasure one branch at a time; the Siṃhala legend of the island of rākṣasī, the iron city with no gate, and the horse-king who will carry away only those who can hold a single hair without looking back; four cities of silver, gold, crystal, and lapis, and the burning iron wheel that follows them; a caravan leader who wraps his own arms in oiled cotton and lights them to lead five hundred men through seven days of darkness; a man who buys the five precepts for a thousand gold coins and argues in verse with a rākṣasa while embedded to the elbows in his scales; a merchant who spends all eight of his oxen to ransom a nāga maiden; the bodhisattva Great-Compassion, who reflects for seven days and then kills one man to save five hundred and to keep the killer out of hell; and a man driven from home for one cup of wine whose four remaining precepts are still enough to empty a house of its ghosts.
Translation Method
Fascicle 43 collects the merchants, and it is the most narratively concentrated fascicle we have translated. Nearly every entry turns on the same situation — a long journey, a company of five hundred, a danger that cannot be fought — and the interest lies in the range of answers the compendium gathers for it: wit, self-immolation, precepts bought at market, refusal to look back, and, in entry 14, deliberate killing.
The fascicle contains several deliberate doublets, and the compiler flags one of them himself. Entries 7 and 11 are the same rākṣasa-grappling story from two sources with different resolutions, and the source note at the end of entry 7 says so and gives that as the reason for keeping both. The makara fish that swallows a merchant ship appears here in entry 15 and has already appeared twice in fascicle 35; and entry 13, like fascicle 36's entry 17 and fascicle 41's entry 15, comes from the Sūtra of the Arising of Practices, the collection of the Buddha's own past misdeeds.
On names: Prasenajit, Mallikā, Ānanda, Śāriputra, Śuddhodana, Māyā, Devadatta, Dīpaṃkara, Upasena, Māndhātṛ, Cālā, Upacālā, Śakra, the Licchavi, Vārāṇasī, Śrāvastī, Rājagṛha, Jambudvīpa, Uttarakuru, and the Ābhāsvara heaven are given in their standard forms. Where a transliteration has no confident correspondence — Bōlì, Móhēyèyí, Mílián, Jūyǐn, Bímó, the Luómàn hall, Shīpīluó, Yōubōshīpóluó, Jūduō, Jílì — we keep the Chinese in pinyin. Names transparently descriptive in Chinese (Good-Seeking, Evil-Seeking, Lion, Great-Compassion, Great Forest, Full-Moon) are translated, with the Chinese kept in the contents list. Entry 3 is the Siṃhala legend and the protagonist's name means Lion; we translate it and set out the identification in the note.
Entries 1 and 7 carry verse — one at the close of entry 1, and five in the exchange between the caravan leader and the rākṣasa in entry 7. We set these off in italics with slashes for the line breaks of the Chinese; the Chinese column keeps them running on within the paragraph, as the source has them.
Entry 8 is not a narrative at all but a passage of scholastic question-and-answer from a Vibhāṣā, using the merchant and the swan as a case in a taxonomy of the four modes of birth. We translate it in that register rather than turn it into a story.
Two entries turn on killing — entry 13, where the Buddha in a former life spears a rival caravan leader, and entry 14, the classic case of killing by skillful means. Both are translated without softening, and the reading notes set out the reasoning each text gives and the difference between them.
Fascicle Contents
- 1. Bōlì Obtains a Sea-Spirit's Necklace and Presents It to the King, and the King and His Consort Offer It to the Buddha 波利得海神瓔珞上王王及夫人共以獻佛一
- 2. Good-Seeking and Evil-Seeking Gather Treasure; Famished, a Tree Produces What They Need 善求惡求採寶經飢樹出所須二
- 3. Lion, by His Wits, Escapes the Rākṣasa Women 師子有智免羅剎女三
- 4. Mílián Kept the Fast and Obtained Pleasure, Trod on His Mother and Had His Head Burned 彌蓮持齋得樂蹋母燒頭四
- 5. Upasena Married His Brother's Betrothed and Later Repented and Took the Path; His Brother Shot at Him and the Arrow Turned Back on Himself 優波斯納兄妻後悔為道兄射殺弟矢反自害五
- 6. A Caravan Leader Burns His Own Arms to Save the Merchants 薩薄然臂濟諸賈客六
- 7. A Caravan Leader Buys the Five Precepts and a Rākṣasa Cannot Harm Him 薩薄欲買取五戒羅剎不能侵七
- 8. A Merchant and a Swan Have Sons, and Both Sons Attain the Path 商人共鵠生子子皆得道八
- 9. Merchants Are Famished and Thirsty, and a God Rains Water of Eight Flavors from Between His Fingers 眾賈飢渴天人指間降八味水九
- 10. A Merchant Gives Up His Oxen to Ransom a Nāga Maiden, Obtains Gold, and Provides for His Parents 商人驅牛以贖龍女得金奉親十
- 11. A Merchant Is Bound by a Rākṣasa 賈客為羅剎所縛十一
- 12. A Merchant Gathering Treasure Saves a Man About to Die 賈客採寶救將死人十二
- 13. Two Merchant Companies Gather Treasure; the Greedy One Loses Its Lives and the Restrained One Is Safe 二賈客採寶貪者沒命廉者安全十三
- 14. A Merchant Would Have Killed His Companions to Take the Treasure Alone, and Great-Compassion Killed That One Violent Man 賈人害侶獨取珍寶大哀殺此凶人十四
- 15. Five Hundred Merchants Meet a Makara Fish and Escape by Calling on the Buddha 五百賈人值摩竭魚稱佛獲免十五
- 16. A Merchant Is Forced by a Friend to Drink and Breaks the Precept, Is Driven Abroad by His Parents, and Is Still Feared by Ghosts 賈人為友逼飲酒犯戒父母擯出遠國尚為鬼所畏十六
1. Bōlì Obtains a Sea-Spirit's Necklace and Presents It to the King, and the King and His Consort Offer It to the Buddha
A sea-spirit poses a riddle about a handful of water and a sea, and gives the merchant a necklace for the answer. The necklace then passes to a king, to the one consort who would not come out to compete for it, and to the Buddha.
昔有賈客。名曰波利。與五百人入海求寶。時海神出掬水。問波利言。海水為多掬水為多。波利答言。掬水為多。所以者何。海水雖多無益時用。不能救彼飢渴之人。掬水雖少值彼渴者持用與之以濟其命。世世受福不可訾計。海神歡喜讚言善哉。即脫身上八種香瓔挍以七寶。以與波利。海神送之。安善往還到舍衛國。持此香瓔上波斯匿王。具陳所由願蒙納受。王得香瓔以為琦異。即呼諸夫人羅列前住。若最好者以香瓔與之。六萬夫人盡嚴來出。王問。末利夫人何以不出。侍人答言。今十五日持佛法齋素服不嚴。是以不出。王便瞋恚遣人呼曰。如今持齋不應王命。如是三反。末利夫人素服而出。在眾人中明如日月。倍好於常。王意竦然加敬問曰。有何道德炳然有異。夫人白王。自念少福。稟斯女形情態垢穢。日夜山積人命促短。懼墜三塗。是以月月奉佛法齋。割愛從道世世蒙福。王聞歡喜。便以香瓔與之。末利夫人答言。我今持齋不應著此。可與餘人。王曰。我本發意欲與勝者。卿今最勝。又奉法齋道志殊高。是以相與。若卿不受吾將安置。夫人答言。大王勿憂。願王屈意共到佛所。以此香瓔珞奉上世尊。并採聖訓。累劫之福矣。王即許焉。即勅嚴駕往至佛所。稽首于地却就王位。白佛言。海神香瓔波利所上。六萬夫人莫不貪得。末利夫人與而不取。持佛法齋心無貪欲。謹以上佛。願垂受納。世尊弟子執心難。直信如此。豈有福乎。唯願世尊為受香瓔。佛說偈言。多作寶花 結步搖綺 廣積德香所生轉好 琦草芳華 不逆風熏近道聞教 德人遍香 雖曰是真不如戒香(出法句譬喻經第二卷)
Long ago there was a merchant named Bōlì who went to sea with five hundred men to seek treasure. Then a sea-spirit came out and scooped up water in his hands and asked Bōlì: which is more, the water of the sea or the water in my hands?
Bōlì answered: the water in your hands is more. Why? Because the sea water, though it is much, is of no use at the needed moment and cannot save a person from hunger and thirst; the water in the hands, though it is little, given to one who is thirsty saves his life, and the merit received for that life after life cannot be reckoned.
The sea-spirit was glad and praised him: excellent — and took from his own body a necklace of eight fragrances inlaid with the seven treasures and gave it to Bōlì; and the sea-spirit saw him off, and he went and came back safely to the kingdom of Śrāvastī.
He took this fragrant necklace and presented it to King Prasenajit, setting out how he came by it and asking that it be accepted. The king, taking the fragrant necklace for a rare and extraordinary thing, called his consorts to come and stand in a row before him: whoever is most beautiful shall have the fragrant necklace. Sixty thousand consorts all came out in their finery.
The king asked: why does Lady Mallikā not come out? An attendant answered: today is the fifteenth and she is keeping the Buddha’s Dharma fast and wears plain clothes and no adornment, and that is why she does not come out.
The king grew angry and sent a man to summon her: even keeping a fast, she should not fail to answer the king’s command. Three times over; and Lady Mallikā came out in her plain clothes, and among the crowd she was bright as the sun and moon and twice as beautiful as usual.
The king was awed and asked her with added respect: what virtue of the path is it that makes you so plainly different? The lady said to the king: I consider that my merit is small, and that having received this female form its feelings and manners are defiled, and that day and night these pile up like a mountain, and a human life is short, and I fear falling into the three evil destinies. And so month by month I keep the Buddha’s Dharma fast, and cut off attachment and follow the path, and receive blessing life after life.
The king, hearing this, was glad, and gave her the fragrant necklace. Lady Mallikā answered: I am keeping the fast now and should not wear this; give it to another. The king said: my original intention was to give it to the best, and you are now the best; and moreover you keep the Dharma fast and your resolve in the path is exceptionally high, and that is why I give it to you. If you will not take it, where am I to put it?
The lady answered: let the great king not trouble himself. I ask the king to bend his mind and go with me to where the Buddha is, and offer this fragrant necklace to the World-Honored One, and take up his holy instruction besides — that is merit for kalpas on end. The king consented at once, and ordered his carriage made ready, and went to where the Buddha was, bowed his head to the ground, and withdrew to the king’s place.
He said to the Buddha: this fragrant necklace of the sea-spirit was presented by Bōlì, and among sixty thousand consorts there was not one who did not covet it, and Lady Mallikā, being given it, would not take it, and keeps the Buddha’s Dharma fast with a mind free of greed. I respectfully offer it to the Buddha and ask that you receive it. Is it not a merit that a disciple of the World-Honored One should hold her mind so firm and her faith so straight as this? I ask only that the World-Honored One accept the fragrant necklace.
The Buddha spoke this verse:
“Many make jeweled flowers, / stringing them into swaying, patterned ornaments; / but to accumulate broadly the fragrance of virtue / makes wherever one is born the better. / Fine grasses and fragrant flowers / do not carry their scent against the wind; / one who draws near the path and hears the teaching, / that person of virtue is fragrant everywhere. / Though this be called truly so, / it is not equal to the fragrance of the precepts.” (Source: Dharmapada Parables Sūtra, fascicle 2)
The riddle at the start is the reason the entry exists, and the merchant's answer is worth reading closely: a handful of water is more than the sea, because the sea is of no use at the needed moment and the handful, given to someone thirsty, saves a life. It is a claim about occasion rather than quantity, and the whole rest of the entry restates it in another register.
Note the shape of the second half. The necklace goes to whichever consort is most beautiful; the one who wins is the only one who did not come out to compete, and she wins by coming out in plain clothes because she is keeping the fast. She then refuses the prize, and turns it into an occasion for the king to go and hear the Dharma. Three refusals in a row, each one gaining more than the acceptance would have.
2. Good-Seeking and Evil-Seeking Gather Treasure; Famished, a Tree Produces What They Need
Two brothers named at birth for what their unborn presence did to their mother's character. A tree in an empty marsh gives drink, food, clothing, and treasure, one branch at a time — and one of the brothers works out what the root must be worth.
往昔閻浮。有國名波羅奈。時有薩薄。名摩訶夜移。其婦懷妊。自然仁善意性柔和。月滿生男。形體端正。父母愛念。施設美饍。延請親戚。并諸相師共相娛樂。抱兒示眾為其立字。相師問言。此兒受胎有何瑞應。父言。受胎母自和善。相師名為善求。乳哺長大好積諸德慈愍眾生。次後懷妊。期滿生男。形體醜陋。相師問言。此兒懷妊有何感應。答言。懷兒母自弊惡。相師名曰惡求。乳哺長大好為惡事。恒生貪心懷嫉妬意。年各長大。共行入海求索寶物。各有五百侍從。塗路懸遠中道乏糧。經於七日去死不遠。是時善求及諸賈人。咸共誠心禱諸神祇欲濟飢險。於空澤中遙見一樹。枝條欝茂。便即趣之。有一泉水。善求及眾悉共求哀。樹神現身語之。斫去一枝所須當出。諸人歡喜。便斫一枝美飲流出。斫第二枝種種食出百味具足。咸共承接各得飽滿。斫第三枝出諸妙衣種種備具。斫第四枝種種寶物悉皆具足。裝馱悉滿所須盡辦。惡求後到。眾人如前盡得充足。便自念言。今此樹枝能出是種種好物。況復其根。今當伐之。足得極妙佳好物。令人伐之。善求語惡求言。我等飢乏蒙此樹恩得濟餘命。云何而欲伐之。惡求即掘其根。善求感佩不忍見之。領眾歸家。伐樹已竟。有五百羅剎取此惡求及眾賈人悉皆噉之。財物喪失。佛告阿難。善求者今我身是。父者今淨飯王是。母者今摩耶是。惡求者提婆達多是。我於往昔常與相值恒教善法。而不用之。返更以我為怨(出賢愚經第九卷)。
Long ago in Jambudvīpa there was a kingdom named Vārāṇasī, and at that time there was a caravan leader named Móhēyèyí. His wife conceived, and of herself she became humane and good and her nature gentle and harmonious; and when the months were full she bore a boy of upright form, and his parents loved him and set out fine dishes and invited their kin and the physiognomists to enjoy themselves together.
They held the child up before the company to give him a name, and the physiognomists asked: what auspicious sign was there when this child was conceived? The father said: when he was conceived his mother became of herself harmonious and good. So the physiognomists named him Good-Seeking; and as he was suckled and grew he delighted in accumulating virtues and was compassionate toward beings.
Afterward she conceived again, and when the term was full bore a boy of ugly form. The physiognomists asked: what response was there when this child was conceived? He answered: when she carried this child his mother became of herself vicious and evil. So the physiognomists named him Evil-Seeking; and as he was suckled and grew he delighted in doing evil, constantly gave rise to a greedy mind, and harboured jealousy.
When they had both grown up they went together to sea to seek treasure, each with five hundred attendants. The road was long and remote and halfway along their provisions ran short, and after seven days they were not far from death. Then Good-Seeking and the merchants together, with sincere hearts, prayed to all the spirits to be saved from famine and danger.
In an empty marsh they saw a tree in the distance, its branches lush and dense, and they made for it; and there was a spring there. Good-Seeking and the crowd all begged for pity, and the tree-spirit showed itself and said to them: cut off one branch and what you need will come out.
The people were glad and cut off one branch, and fine drink flowed out; they cut a second branch, and food of every kind came out, complete in a hundred flavors, and they all caught it and each ate his fill; they cut a third branch and fine clothing of every kind came out, complete in every sort; they cut a fourth branch and treasures of every kind came out in full, and their pack-animals were all loaded and everything they needed was provided.
Evil-Seeking arrived afterward, and the crowd, as before, all had their fill; and he thought to himself: if the branches of this tree can produce such fine things as these, how much more the root. I shall cut it down now, and get things of the utmost excellence. And he had it cut down.
Good-Seeking said to Evil-Seeking: we were hungry and worn out, and by this tree’s kindness we have saved what was left of our lives. How can you mean to cut it down? Evil-Seeking then dug up its root; and Good-Seeking, moved by gratitude and unable to bear the sight, led his company home.
When the felling of the tree was finished, five hundred rākṣasas took Evil-Seeking and the merchants with him and ate them all, and their goods were lost.
The Buddha told Ānanda: Good-Seeking is myself; the father is King Śuddhodana now; the mother is Māyā now; Evil-Seeking is Devadatta. In ages past I have constantly met with him and always taught him good dharmas, and he did not use them, and turned instead to making an enemy of me (Source: Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, fascicle 9).
3. Lion, by His Wits, Escapes the Rākṣasa Women
The rākṣasa island: a warning not to take the left-hand road, an iron city with no gate, and a horse-king from Uttarakuru who will carry away anyone who can take hold of one of his hairs without looking back.
閻浮利地有眾多賈客。共相率合入海採寶。正值迴波惡風吹壞大船。復有諸人。乘弊壞船隨風流迸墮羅剎界。羅剎女輩顏貌端正前迎賈客云。此間多寶。明珠無價恣意取之。我等無夫汝無妻妾。可止此間共相娛樂。後得善風良伴歸家。諸君當知。若見左。面有道者。慎莫隨從。時商客中有一智者言。諸女所說此不可從。即進左道行數里。中聞一城裏數千萬人稱怨喚呼。云何捨閻浮提就此命終。賈客前詣城下周匝觀察。見城鑄鐵垣牆亦無門戶出入處所。去城不遠有尸梨師樹。即往攀樹見城裏數千萬人。遙問城裏人曰。何為。稱喚父母兄弟耶。城裏人報曰。我等入海採致寶物為風所漂。又為羅剎女所誑閉在牢城。前有五百人漸漸取殺。今有二百五十人在。君莫呼此女謂為是人。皆是羅剎鬼耳。其人下樹以語同伴。勸我還家善求方計。卿等今日意欲云何。眾人答曰。卿昨夜何不重問。彼人頗有權宜方計。眾人及我身得安隱歸家不乎。智人即報曰。我今暮起往更問之。須女睡眠竊起上樹。問城裏人頗有方計。卿等諸人復及我身。得還閻浮地不耶。城裏人答。我等生念欲還。此鐵城便化數重不可敗壞。死者日次無由得免。唯卿外人少有權宜。可得度脫還至本土。十五日清旦有一馬王。從欝單曰來至此界。住高山頂。王自喚呼。誰欲還歸閻浮利地。卿等若聞馬聲。皆往禮敬求還本鄉。其人向伴具陳情狀。眾人報曰。今可去不。答曰。須十五日至馬王。當來乃得去耳。未經數日馬王便至。商客聞已往馬王所。白言。我等咸欲求還本鄉。願見將接。馬王告曰。卿等慧意聽我所說。各欲歸家還本鄉者。心意專正便得歸家。心不專正不得歸也。此諸婦女抱男女。追逐卿後啼哭喚呼。其中諸人興戀著心。正使在我脊上猶不得去。若能捨恩愛。正心一意無所戀著。至心捉我一毛便得歸家。時諸婦女各語夫曰。誠可捨我賤身。何為捐棄兒女。先教兒女往抱父頸。啼哭喚呼。捨我等為欲何處去。心意戀著者便不得還。唯有大智師子一人。安隱還歸。時羅剎婦。抱其男女往逐師子。告語村落。師子身者是我夫主。共生男女。捨我逃走不知所趣。諸人聞已問師子曰。觀卿婦女。體性容貌人中英妙。兒女可愍何為捨之。師子報曰。此亦非人是羅剎鬼耳。往海渚中殺噉商賈不可稱數。吾伴數百閉在鐵城。唯我一人幸得免濟。今此鬼女復逐我後。規欲害我恐不免濟。轉復前行。還至本國。鬼猶逐後到其國土。鬼往白王。我與師子共為夫婦。生此男女。後望得力非圖今日永已見捨。王召師子問其情實。師子具以上事白王。王告師子。設卿不用可持與我。師子報曰。此實非人是羅剎鬼。備有愆咎後莫見怨。復語左右諸臣。斯鬼至此必有傷害。王今不信欲內深宮。如是不久王及內宮盡當灰滅。王復瞋恚語師子曰。女中姿容如天玉女。何緣復稱為羅剎鬼耶。速出在外吾自觀之。王將鬼女入宮一宿。明日食時宮門不開。諸臣共議。王新納妻意相貪樂故不開耳。師子說曰。不如來議。王及夫人并諸婇女。必為羅剎所食噉盡故門不開耳。即施高梯踰牆入內。見死人骸骨滿數間舍。諸臣責師子曰。正坐汝身將羅剎鬼。殺王喪國宮殿滅亡。卿欲云何。師子答曰。吾先有契後莫見怨。卿等何為復見責數。諸臣人民前白師子。王今已死更無胤嗣。唯願師子當登王位領理人民。師子告曰。若欲舉我為王者。當隨我教異形同響咸皆稱善。王告諸臣。當共集兵入海攻擊。殺羅剎男女無有遺在。後破鐵城出其中人。土俗常法。若一人不事佛者當送山西付鬼噉之。自爾已來佛法熾盛得道無數。是故說。諸有信佛者如此眾生安隱得還皆由馬王。又彼國常儀。國王生子。若十若百若至無數。盡出作道誦習佛經。三藏備舉。還復罷道。登陟王位。凡諸不通經籍不舉則不得陟王位也(出承事勝已經)。
In the land of Jambudvīpa there were many merchants who joined together and went to sea to gather treasure; and just then a returning wave and an evil wind blew and wrecked their great ship. Some of them, on a broken and battered boat, drifted with the wind and fell upon the shore of the rākṣasas.
The rākṣasa women were beautiful of face, and came out to meet the merchants and said: there are many treasures here, and bright pearls beyond price — take them as you please. We have no husbands and you have no wives; you may stay here and enjoy yourselves together, and later, when there is a good wind and good companions, go home. But know this, gentlemen: if you see a road to the left, be careful not to follow it.
Among the merchants there was a wise man who said: what these women say is not to be followed. And he went off along the left-hand road, and after a few li he heard, inside a city, several tens of thousands of people crying out in grievance: how is it we have left Jambudvīpa to come and end our lives here?
The merchant went to the foot of the city and looked all around, and saw that the city was cast iron, walls without a gate or any place to go in or out. Not far from the city there was a śirīṣa tree, and he climbed it and saw the several tens of thousands of people inside, and asked them from a distance: why are you calling out to your parents and brothers?
The people inside answered: we went to sea to gather treasure and were driven by the wind, and then were deceived by the rākṣasa women and shut in this strong city. Five hundred were here before, and they have been taken and killed one by one, and now two hundred and fifty are left. Sir, do not take these women for human beings; they are all rākṣasa ghosts.
The man came down from the tree and told his companions, and urged them to seek a way to go home: what do you gentlemen mean to do now? The crowd answered: why did you not ask more last night? Might that man have some expedient or plan by which we and you might get home safely?
The wise man answered: I shall get up this evening and go and ask him again. He waited until the women were asleep, slipped out, climbed the tree, and asked the people in the city: is there any plan by which you and I might get back to Jambudvīpa?
The people in the city answered: we have thought of getting back, but this iron city then turns into several walls that cannot be broken, and one of us dies each day and there is no escaping it. Only you, being outside, have some means and may get free and return to your own land. On the fifteenth, at first light, a horse-king comes from Uttarakuru to this land and stands on a high mountain top, and calls out himself: who wishes to go back to the land of Jambudvīpa? When you hear the horse’s voice, go and pay your respects and ask to be returned to your homeland.
The man told his companions the whole state of the matter, and the crowd answered: may we go now? He answered: we must wait until the fifteenth, when the horse-king comes, and only then can we go.
Not many days later the horse-king came, and the merchants, hearing of it, went to the horse-king and said: we all wish to return to our homeland; we ask you to take us. The horse-king told them: listen with your wits to what I say. Whoever wishes to go home to his own land — if his mind and intention are wholly right, he gets home; if his mind and intention are not wholly right, he does not. These women will carry their sons and daughters and follow after you, crying and calling out; and any among you who gives rise to a mind of attachment, even sitting on my back, still cannot go. If you can cast off love and affection, keep your mind right and your intention single, and be attached to nothing, and take hold of a single hair of mine with a sincere heart, you will get home.
Then the women each said to their husbands: you may well cast off my worthless self, but why abandon your sons and daughters? And they first taught the children to go and clasp their fathers’ necks and cry and call out: you cast us off — where are you going? Those whose minds and intentions were attached could not return; and only the one great wise man, Lion, got safely home.
Then the rākṣasa wife took her son and daughter and followed after Lion, and told the villages: Lion is my husband and lord, and we have children together, and he has run away and abandoned me and I do not know where he is going.
The people heard her and asked Lion: looking at your wife, in body and appearance she is the finest of women, and your children are pitiable — why cast them off? Lion answered: this too is no human being but a rākṣasa ghost. On an island in the sea she has killed and eaten merchants beyond counting; several hundred of my companions are shut up in an iron city, and I alone was fortunate enough to escape; and now this ghost-woman follows me again, meaning to harm me, and I fear I shall not escape.
He went on further and came back to his own country, and the ghost still followed him. Coming to that land, the ghost went and said to the king: Lion and I are husband and wife and have borne these children; I hoped for support later, and today, without warning, I am cast off for good.
The king summoned Lion and asked the true state of it, and Lion told the king the whole of the above. The king told Lion: if you have no use for her you may give her to me. Lion answered: this is truly no human being but a rākṣasa ghost. Should there be any calamity afterward, do not hold it against me. And he said to the ministers around him: if this ghost comes here there will certainly be harm. If the king does not believe it and means to take her into the inner palace, before long the king and the whole palace will be reduced to ash.
The king grew angry and said to Lion: a woman of a face like a heavenly maiden’s — on what grounds do you call her a rākṣasa ghost? Get out, and I shall see for myself. And the king took the ghost-woman into the palace for a night.
The next day at mealtime the palace gates did not open, and the ministers conferred: the king has newly taken a wife and is enjoying himself, and that is why they are not opened. Lion said: it is not as you say. The king, his consort, and all the attendant women have certainly been eaten by the rākṣasa, and that is why the gates are not opened.
So they set up a high ladder and climbed over the wall and went in, and saw the bones of the dead filling several rooms. The ministers reproached Lion: it is entirely on your account, in bringing a rākṣasa ghost, that the king is killed, the country bereaved, and the palace destroyed. What do you mean to do? Lion answered: I made my terms beforehand — do not hold it against me afterward. Why do you now reproach me?
The ministers and the people came before Lion: the king is now dead and there is no heir. We ask only that Lion take the throne and govern the people. Lion told them: if you would raise me up as king, you must follow my instruction. With different forms but one voice they all agreed.
The king told the ministers: we shall gather troops together and go to sea and attack, and kill the rākṣasa men and women and leave none remaining. Afterward they broke open the iron city and brought out the people in it. It became the standing custom of that land that if anyone did not serve the Buddha, he was sent west of the mountain and handed over to the ghosts to be eaten; and from then on the Buddha’s Dharma flourished and those who attained the path were beyond counting.
It is therefore said: all those who have faith in the Buddha — such beings got home safely, and all of it by the horse-king. And it is a standing rule in that country that when a king begets sons, whether ten or a hundred or beyond number, they all go forth and enter the path and recite and study the Buddha’s sūtras until they are complete in the three collections, and then leave the path again and ascend the throne; and any who are not versed in the scriptures are not raised up and cannot ascend the throne (Source: Sūtra of Serving and Surpassing).
This is the Siṃhala legend — the story of the merchant Lion, the island of rākṣasī, and the flying horse-king who carries the survivors home — which is the traditional foundation narrative of Sri Lanka and is told across Buddhist Asia. The details here are the standard ones: the warning against the left-hand road, the iron city with no gate holding the previous cargo of merchants, the śirīṣa tree climbed to talk over the wall, and the horse-king who comes from Uttarakuru on the fifteenth.
The condition the horse-king sets is the point of the whole story and is stated twice. It is not strength or speed but singleness of mind: one may sit on his back and still not be carried if attachment arises, and one who holds a single hair with a right mind gets home. The women then deploy the children precisely against this, teaching them first to clasp their fathers' necks — and of the whole company only Lion gets away.
The king who takes the rākṣasī into his palace against explicit warning is a familiar type, but note what Lion does afterward: he does not say he told them so, he reminds the ministers that he had made his terms in advance, and he accepts the throne only on condition that they follow his instruction. The ending — a standing law that anyone who does not serve the Buddha is fed to ghosts west of the mountain — is reported without comment, as is the more attractive custom that royal sons must master the three collections before they may take the throne.
4. Mílián Kept the Fast and Obtained Pleasure, Trod on His Mother and Had His Head Burned
Four cities of silver, gold, crystal, and lapis, with four, eight, sixteen, and thirty-two women, and thousands of years in each. Then an iron city, and a man with a burning wheel on his head who explains what he is being paid out for.
昔五百賈人。一字彌蓮。是最尊老也。五百人共船入海。為摩竭魚觸破其船。五百皆死。彌蓮騎板得活。在鼻摩地。為防魚故東西行走。見一小徑。入見銀城。樹木參天。間有浴池。其城方正地周匝渠水。有四女人從城中出。端正如玉。女共迎彌蓮言。甚獨勞苦。多賀來到。貪欲相見久矣。當侍仁者。今是銀城是仁者有也。城中幸樂樹木參天。有渠水浴池戲觀廬舍。城中有七寶殿。名曰羅縵。以金銀水精瑠璃珊瑚虎珀車璩為殿。我等四人當供給使。晚臥早起心存教勅。便可止此。不須到他面。彌蓮即與四女人入城。上七寶殿上日日極意。在此城中千有餘歲。後彌蓮自念。是四女人不欲令我去行到他面。何等意耶。彌蓮伺四女人寢臥。竊起下殿出城前行。遙見金城。樹木浴池事事如前。有八女人。端正要說辭皆如前。彌蓮與八女人相樂極意經數千歲。後彌蓮思惟。疑是八女人。不欲令我更到他面。何等意耶。彌蓮伺八女晝臥。竊起前行。遙見水精城。樹木浴池事事如前。有十六女人從城出迎辭說如前。彌蓮即與十六女。共樂極意經數千歲。彌蓮復去乃見瑠璃城。事亦如前。三十二女從城出迎。彌蓮與女共樂極意經數千歲。後出城前行。遙見鐵城。中了無迎者。彌蓮入城門。有鬼問之。彌蓮為行道。城中目見一男子。字俱引。燒鐵輪走其頭上。由入諸城坐不厭足。故使燒鐵輪走我頭上。彌蓮念。羅縵殿屑末殿羅摩殿氾欝單殿。淚出言。我何事入是中耶。彌蓮語灌鐵城鬼言。入燒鐵輪走我頭上何時當脫耶。鬼報言。有人如卿來乃得脫耳。佛言。鐵輪走彌蓮頭上。却後六十億萬歲乃得脫耳。彌蓮者我身是。未求道時。愚癡沐浴著新衣脚蹋母頭。是故燒頭一日。八關齋四月心猶歡喜。故得四寶城金銀水精瑠璃。壽數千萬歲。是故世間人至死不厭五欲。所思欲人。不孝父母師。車輪踐之。當如彌蓮矣(出彌蓮經又出福報經)。
Long ago there were five hundred merchants, one of whom, named Mílián, was the most senior of them. The five hundred took ship together to sea, and a makara fish struck and broke their ship, and all five hundred died; Mílián rode a plank and lived, and came to the land of Bímó. To guard against the fish he ran east and west, and saw a small path, and going in he saw a silver city, its trees reaching to the sky, with a bathing pool among them, the city foursquare and its ground ringed about with channels of water.
Four women came out from the city, beautiful as jade, and together they received Mílián and said: you have been alone and worn out; how welcome you are. We have longed to see you a long while and shall wait upon you, sir. This silver city is now yours. In the city there is joy and pleasure, trees reaching to the sky, channels of water, bathing pools, places for play and viewing, and lodgings; and in the city there is a hall of the seven treasures called Luómàn, made of gold, silver, crystal, lapis, coral, amber, and cornelian. We four shall attend you, sleeping late and rising early and keeping your instructions in mind. You may stay here, and there is no need to go on to any other place.
Mílián went with the four women into the city and went up onto the seven-jewelled hall and had his fill of pleasure day by day, and stayed in that city more than a thousand years.
Afterward Mílián thought: these four women do not wish me to go on to any other place. What is their purpose in this? Mílián watched until the four women were asleep, slipped out, came down from the hall, and went out of the city and travelled on; and in the distance he saw a golden city, with trees and bathing pools and everything as before, and eight women, beautiful, whose words in receiving him were all as before.
Mílián enjoyed himself with the eight women to his heart’s content for several thousand years. Afterward Mílián reflected and suspected that these eight women did not wish him to go on to any other place, and what their purpose might be. Mílián waited until the eight women slept in the daytime, slipped out and went on, and saw a crystal city in the distance, with trees and bathing pools and everything as before, and sixteen women who came out of the city to receive him, speaking as before. Mílián enjoyed himself to his heart’s content with the sixteen women for several thousand years.
Mílián went on again and saw a lapis city, all as before, and thirty-two women came out of the city to receive him; and Mílián enjoyed himself with the women to his heart’s content for several thousand years.
Afterward he went out of the city and travelled on, and saw an iron city in the distance, and there was no one at all to receive him. Mílián went in at the city gate, and a ghost questioned him; and Mílián was travelling the road. In the city he saw a man named Jūyǐn with a burning iron wheel running on his head: because I went into all those cities and was not satisfied, a burning iron wheel runs upon my head.
Mílián thought of the Luómàn hall, the Xièmò hall, the Luómó hall, and the Fànyù dān hall, and tears came out, and he said: what did I do, to come into this place?
Mílián said to the ghost of that iron city, molten with heat: with a burning iron wheel running on my head, when shall I get free? The ghost answered: when someone like you comes, then you get free. The Buddha said: with the iron wheel running on Mílián’s head, it is sixty hundred million ten thousand years before he gets free.
Mílián is myself. Before I sought the path, in my folly I bathed and put on new clothes and trod on my mother’s head with my foot, and for that my head burned one day. And because in the eight-precept fast my mind was glad for four months, I obtained four jewelled cities of gold, silver, crystal, and lapis and a lifespan of several tens of millions of years. Therefore people in the world are never satisfied with the five desires to the day they die. Those who think of desire and are not filial to their parents and teachers, the cart-wheel treads upon them, as it did upon Mílián (Source: Sūtra of Mílián; also the Sūtra of the Reward of Merit).
A story of graded pleasure and its bill. The four cities double at each stage — four women, eight, sixteen, thirty-two — and each is enjoyed for thousands of years, and each time what moves Mílián on is not dissatisfaction but suspicion: why do they not wish me to go further? Curiosity is what carries him to the iron city.
The accounting at the end is exact and unusually mechanical. Four months of gladness while keeping the eight-precept fast buys four jewelled cities and tens of millions of years; one act of treading on his mother's head buys one day of a burning head — which, in the iron city, is a wheel of burning iron for sixty hundred million ten thousand years. And the condition of release is the same as the one the man already there gives him: it lasts until someone like you arrives.
The identification is the sting: Mílián is the Buddha himself, before he sought the path.
5. Upasena Married His Brother's Betrothed and Later Repented and Took the Path; His Brother Shot at Him and the Arrow Turned Back on Himself
A brother reported dead, a marriage, an ordination, a bounty of five hundred taels, and an arrow that hits the man who commissioned it. Then five hundred lives of dying by poison.
羅閱祇國有賈客。兄弟二人共住一處。兄求長者女欲以為婦。其女年小未任出適。兄與眾賈遠至他國。經歷多年滯不時還。女年向大而語其弟。卿兄遠行沒彼不還。汝今宜可取我女。其弟答言。何有是事。長者數說。其弟意堅未曾迴轉長者詐作遠書。託諸賈客說兄死亡。復告之曰。卿兄已死。汝當云何。弟娶其女經歷數時。女已懷妊。兄從遠還。弟心懷懼逃至舍衛。如是展轉到於佛前。求索出家。佛即聽許。便成沙門名優波斯。奉持律行得阿羅漢。兄知忿恨。欲殺之至舍衛國。即出重募賞金五百兩。應募者相將俱進。見弟坐禪欻生慈念。云何殺此比丘。吾設不殺當奪我金。欲射比丘乃中其兄。其兄懷恚憤命忽而終。受毒蛇形。生此道人戶樞之中。戶數開閉。撽身而死。還願更作小形毒虫。依道人屋。從屋下墮比丘頂上。惡毒猛熾即便命終。告舍利弗。乃往過去有辟支佛。出現於世處在山林。時有獵師恒捕禽獸。施設方計望伺苟得。辟支佛驚其禽獸伺捕不得。便懷瞋恚以毒箭。射辟支佛。時辟支佛。心愍此人欲令改悔。為現神足。於時獵師心懷敬仰。恐怖自㥽歸誠謝過。時辟支佛受其悔懺。毒攻而死。其人命終便墮地獄。既出地獄。五百世中常被毒死。至于今日得羅漢道。猶為毒虫所螫而死(出賢愚經第十卷)。
In the kingdom of Rājagṛha there were two merchant brothers who lived in one place. The elder sought an elder’s daughter to be his wife, and the girl was young and not yet fit to be married. The elder brother went with a company of merchants far off to another country, and after many years was delayed and did not come back in time.
The girl was growing up, and she said to the younger brother: your elder brother has gone far away and has died there and is not coming back; you should take my daughter now. His younger brother answered: how could such a thing be? The elder said it several times, and the younger brother’s mind was firm and never turned. So the elder faked a letter from abroad and, entrusting it to some merchants, said that the elder brother had died, and told him besides: your elder brother is dead; what will you do? The younger brother married the girl, and after some time she was with child.
The elder brother came back from abroad, and the younger, afraid in his heart, fled to Śrāvastī; and so, going on, he came before the Buddha and asked to go forth. The Buddha permitted it, and he became a śramaṇa named Upasena, upheld the discipline, and attained arhatship.
The elder brother learned of it and was filled with resentment and wished to kill him, and went to the kingdom of Śrāvastī and posted a heavy reward of five hundred taels of gold; and those who answered the call went forward together with him. Seeing his younger brother sitting in meditation, a thought of kindness suddenly arose in him: how should I kill this monk? But if I do not kill him he will take my gold from me. He meant to shoot the monk and hit his own elder brother instead; and his elder brother, in resentment and rage, suddenly ended his life and took the form of a venomous snake, and was born in the pivot of this religious man’s door, and as the door was opened and shut it struck his body and he died.
He wished again to take a small form as a venomous insect and lived under the religious man’s house, and fell from the roof onto the monk’s head; and its evil venom blazed up and it died at once.
He told Śāriputra: long ago there was a pratyekabuddha who appeared in the world and dwelt in a mountain forest. At that time there was a hunter who constantly caught birds and beasts and set up devices in hope of taking them. The pratyekabuddha startled the birds and beasts so that they were not caught, and, harbouring anger, he shot the pratyekabuddha with a poisoned arrow. Then the pratyekabuddha, pitying this man and wishing to make him repent, manifested his supernormal powers, and the hunter’s heart was filled with reverence, and in terror he came of himself and confessed his fault; and the pratyekabuddha accepted his repentance, and the poison worked and he died.
That man’s life ended and he fell into hell; and having come out of hell, for five hundred lives he was constantly killed by poison. Down to this present day, having attained the path of an arhat, he is still stung to death by a venomous insect (Source: Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, fascicle 10).
6. A Caravan Leader Burns His Own Arms to Save the Merchants
Three sentences of narrative: a caravan leader wraps his own arms in cotton, soaks them in oil, and lights them, and leads five hundred men for seven days through the dark.
昔閻浮提。五百賈客。共行曠野經由嶮路。大山孔中極為黑闇。時諸商人迷悶愁憂。恐失財物。此處多賊而復怖畏。咸共同心。向于天地日月山海一切神祇。啼哭求哀。時薩薄。愍諸商客。告言莫怖。吾當為汝作大明照。是時薩薄即以白㲲自纏兩臂。蘇油灌之。然用當炬。將諸商人。經於七日乃越此闇。時諸賈客感戴其恩慈敬無量。各獲安隱喜不自勝。時薩薄我身是。諸賈客者今五百比丘是(出賢愚經第六卷)。
Long ago in Jambudvīpa five hundred merchants were travelling together through a wilderness by a dangerous road, and in the hollow of a great mountain it was utterly dark. Then the merchants were bewildered and distressed and feared to lose their goods, and there were many bandits in that place and they were afraid besides; and with one mind they cried out and begged for pity from heaven and earth, sun and moon, mountain and sea, and all the spirits.
Then the caravan leader took pity on the merchants and told them: do not be afraid; I shall make a great light for you. And the caravan leader wrapped his own two arms in white cotton and poured butter and oil over them, and lit them and used them as torches, and led the merchants for seven days until they had passed through that darkness.
Then the merchants were moved by his kindness and honored him without measure, and each came through safely and could not contain their joy. The caravan leader of that time is myself; the merchants are the five hundred monks now (Source: Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, fascicle 6).
7. A Caravan Leader Buys the Five Precepts and a Rākṣasa Cannot Harm Him
A merchant buys the five precepts from a man sitting on an empty couch in the market for a thousand gold coins, and finds himself embedded to the elbows and knees in a rākṣasa's scales, arguing in verse.
昔有薩薄。聞於外國更有異寶。欲往治生。而二國中間有羅剎難。不可得過。薩薄遊行見市西門。有一道人空床上坐云賣五戒。薩薄問云五戒云何。答曰。無形直。口受心持。後得生天。見世能却羅剎鬼難。薩薄欲買。問索幾錢。答金錢一千。即就授與受五戒竟。語言。卿向外國到界畔上。羅剎若來卿但語言。我是釋迦五戒弟子。薩薄少時到二國中間。見羅剎。身長一丈三尺。頭黃如蘘。眼如赤丁。舉體鱗甲。更互開口如魚鼓鰓。仰接飛鷰踏地沒膝。口熱血流。群眾數千直捉薩薄。語言。我是釋迦五戒弟子。羅剎聞此永不肯放。薩薄聊以兩拳扠之。拳入鱗甲拔不得出。又以脚踏頭。撞拔復不出。五體沒鱗甲中。唯背得動。羅剎謂言。汝身及手足 一時悉被羈但當去就死 跳踉復何為薩薄志意猶固。語羅剎曰。我身及手足 一時雖被繫攝心如金石 終不為汝斃羅剎又語薩薄曰。吾是鬼中王 為人多力膂從來食汝輩 不可得稱數但當去就死 何為自寬語薩薄冐欲罵怒。自念。此身輪迴三界。未曾乞人。我今當以乞。此羅剎作一頓飽。即曰。我此腥臊身 久欲相去離羅剎得我便 悉持以布施志求摩訶乘 果成一切智羅剎聰明。解薩薄語。便生愧心。放薩薄去。長跪合掌向其謝曰。君是度人師 三界之希有志求摩訶乘 成佛當不久是故自歸命 頭面禮稽首羅剎悔過。竟送薩薄至外國。大得珍寶。又送還家。大修功德。遂成道跡(出雜譬喻經與前多同意向小異故復兩存)。
Long ago there was a caravan leader who heard that there were rare treasures in another country and wished to go and trade there; but between the two countries there was the peril of a rākṣasa and it could not be passed.
The caravan leader, going about, saw at the west gate of the market a religious man sitting on an empty couch, saying that he sold the five precepts. The caravan leader asked: what are the five precepts? He answered: they have no shape or price; they are received with the mouth and kept in the mind, and afterward one gains birth in heaven, and in this present life they can turn back the peril of rākṣasa ghosts.
The caravan leader wished to buy them and asked how much he wanted. He answered: a thousand gold coins. And he received and conferred them on him; and when he had taken the five precepts he told him: when you go to the other country and reach the borderland, if the rākṣasa comes, only say: I am a five-precept disciple of Śākya.
A little later the caravan leader came to the ground between the two countries and saw the rākṣasa: his body thirteen feet tall, his head yellow as bulrushes, his eyes red as bosses, his whole body scaled, opening his mouth by turns like a fish working its gills, catching flying swallows in mid-air, sinking to the knee where he trod, and hot blood running from his mouth. With a crowd of several thousand he seized the caravan leader at once.
He said: I am a five-precept disciple of Śākya. The rākṣasa heard this and would not let him go at all. The caravan leader struck at him lightly with both fists, and the fists went into the scales and could not be pulled out. He trod on his head with his foot and butted him, and could not pull those out either; and all five parts of him were sunk in the scales and only his back could still move.
The rākṣasa said to him:
“Your body and your hands and feet / are all at once fastened fast. / You have only to go to your death — / what use is all this leaping about?”
The caravan leader’s resolve was still firm, and he said to the rākṣasa:
“My body and my hands and feet, / though all at once they are bound, / I hold my mind like gold and stone / and shall never be destroyed by you.”
The rākṣasa said to the caravan leader again:
“I am a king among ghosts, / and among men my strength is great. / From of old I have eaten your kind, / beyond any reckoning. / You have only to go to your death — / why comfort yourself with words?”
The caravan leader risked his anger and abuse, and thought to himself: this body of mine has turned in the three realms and has never yet been given away to anyone. I shall now give it away, and let this rākṣasa have one full meal. And he said:
“This rank and stinking body of mine / I have long wished to be rid of. / The rākṣasa has got his chance at me; / let him have it all as a gift. / My aim is the great vehicle, / and the fruit is complete omniscience.”
The rākṣasa was intelligent and understood what the caravan leader said, and gave rise to a mind of shame, and let the caravan leader go, and knelt at length with joined palms and apologized to him:
“You are a teacher who delivers people, / a rarity in the three realms. / Your aim is the great vehicle / and you will become a buddha before long. / Therefore I turn to you for refuge / and bow my head and face at your feet.”
The rākṣasa repented, and escorted the caravan leader to the other country; and he obtained a great deal of treasure and was escorted home again, and cultivated merit greatly and came at last to the traces of the path (Source: Miscellaneous Parables Sūtra — it is largely the same as the one before it, with a slightly different tendency, and so both are kept).
A closely related version of the story in entry 11 of this same fascicle, and the compendium says so itself in the source note — largely the same, with a slightly different tendency, and so both are kept. The physical predicament is identical, but the resolution is not. In entry 11 the man wins by declaring that his vigor will never rest; here he wins by giving up.
The turn is worth marking. Having exhausted force, the caravan leader reflects that this body has turned in the three realms and has never yet been given away to anyone, and offers it to the rākṣasa as a meal — and it is that verse, not the earlier one about holding his mind like gold and stone, that shames the rākṣasa into releasing him and bowing at his feet. The purchase at the market gate frames the whole thing: the five precepts are sold for a thousand gold coins by a man on an empty couch, described as having no shape or price.
8. A Merchant and a Swan Have Sons, and Both Sons Attain the Path
A short scholastic passage in question-and-answer form, using a merchant, a swan, and two eggs to establish that human beings can be born from eggs.
畜生及人一切四生。問曰。云何知人中有卵生。答曰。如所說。閻浮利地。多有商人入海採寶。得二鵠。隨意所化失一一在。與共遊戲。寢臥一室共彼合會。遂生二卵。卵漸溫熟。便生二童。後大出家學道。得阿羅漢果。一名尸披羅。二名優鉢尸婆羅。問曰。云何知人中有濕生。答曰。如經所說。有頂生王。尊者遮羅。尊者優婆遮。羅利女。問曰。云何知人中有化生。答曰。劫初人是也。已得聖法者不復卵生濕生。問曰。何故不復卵生濕生耶。答曰。卵生濕生畜生趣所攝(出鞞婆沙經第十四卷)。
Animals and humans, and all four kinds of birth. Question: how do we know that among humans there is birth from an egg? Answer: as it is said — in the land of Jambudvīpa there were many merchants who went to sea to gather treasure, and got two swans, which changed as they pleased; one was lost and one remained, and he played with it and slept in the same room with it and coupled with it, and she bore two eggs. The eggs grew warm in time, and two boys were born; and afterward, grown up, they went forth to study the path and attained the fruit of arhatship. One was named Shīpīluó and the other Yōubōshīpóluó.
Question: how do we know that among humans there is birth from moisture? Answer: as it is said in the sūtras — there is King Māndhātṛ, the venerable Cālā, the venerable Upacālā, and the rākṣasī’s daughter.
Question: how do we know that among humans there is spontaneous birth? Answer: the people at the beginning of a kalpa are such.
Those who have already attained the holy Dharma are no longer born from an egg or from moisture. Question: why are they no longer born from an egg or from moisture? Answer: birth from an egg and from moisture are comprised within the destiny of animals (Source: Vibhāṣā Sūtra, fascicle 14).
9. Merchants Are Famished and Thirsty, and a God Rains Water of Eight Flavors from Between His Fingers
Five hundred men digging for water at the foot of a tree, and a god who arrives in the time it takes to stretch out an arm.
昔有導師。與五百賈人共行作賈到。大曠野絕無水漿。飢渴困極四方求索。登高遠望見有樹木。謂當有水。俱共馳往。至見樹下。周匝生草其地清潔。咸共穿鑿。時有天人遙見導師。如申臂頃來到其所。住于樹上申其右手。從五指間流出八味甘美之水。而無窮盡。皆得飽滿(出十卷譬喻經第三卷)。
Long ago there was a caravan leader who went with five hundred merchants to trade, and they came to a great wilderness where there was no water or drink at all, and were worn out with hunger and thirst and sought in all four directions.
They climbed high and looked into the distance and saw trees and supposed there would be water, and all raced there together; and coming to the foot of the trees, grass grew all around and the ground was clean, and they all began to dig.
Then a god saw the caravan leader from afar, and in the time it takes to stretch out an arm came to that place, and stood upon the tree and stretched out his right hand, and from between his five fingers there flowed water of eight sweet and fine flavors, without end; and they all had their fill (Source: Ten-Fascicle Parables Sūtra, fascicle 3).
10. A Merchant Gives Up His Oxen to Ransom a Nāga Maiden, Obtains Gold, and Provides for His Parents
A merchant gives away all eight of his oxen, one at a time, to buy a nāga maiden from the man leading her by a hole in her nose. What she tells him about being a nāga is the heart of the entry.
佛住舍衛城南有大林邑。商人驅八牛。到北方俱哆國。復有一商人。共在澤中放牛。時離車捕得一龍女。穿鼻牽行。商人見之。即起慈心。問離車言。汝牽此欲作何等。答言。我欲殺噉。商人言勿殺。我與汝一牛。貿取放之捕者不肯。乃至八牛。方言。今為汝故我當放之。即取八牛放去龍女。時商人復念。此是惡人恐復追逐更還捕取。即自隨逐看其所向。到一池邊。龍變為人身。語商人言。天施我命今欲報恩。可共我入宮。當報天恩。商人答言。汝等龍性卒暴瞋恚無常。或能殺我。答言。前人繫我。我力能殺。彼但以受布薩法故。都無殺心。何況天今施我壽命。而當加害。小住此中。我先入摒擋。是龍門邊見二龍繫在一處。問言。汝為何事。答言。此龍女半月中三日受齋法。我兄弟守護此龍女。不堅固為離車所得。以是故被繫。唯願天慈語令放我。此龍女若問欲食何等食者。當索閻浮提人間食。龍女摒擋已。便即呼入。坐寶床蓐上。龍女白言。天今欲食何等食。答言。欲須閻浮提人間食。即下種種食。問龍女言。此人何故被繫。龍女言。此有過我欲殺之。商人言。汝莫殺。不爾要當殺之。商人言。汝放彼者我當食耳。白言。不得直爾放之。當罰六月擯置人間。商人問言。汝有如是莊嚴用受布薩為。答言。我龍法有五事苦。何等五。生時龍。眠時龍。婬時龍。瞋時龍。一日之半三過。皮肉落地熱沙煿身。復問。汝欲求何等。答言。我欲求人道中生。問我已得人身應求何等。答言。出家難得。又問。當就誰出家。答言。如來應供正遍知今在舍衛城。未脫者脫。汝可就出家。便言。我欲還歸。龍女即與八餅金語言。此是龍金。足汝父母。眷屬終身用不盡語言。汝合眼。即以神變持著本國。行伴先至。語其家言。入龍宮去。父母謂兒已死。眷屬宗親聚在一處悲號啼哭。時放牧者及取薪草人。見已先還語其家言。某甲來歸。家人聞已即大歡喜。出迎入家已為作生會。作生會時以八餅金持與父母。此是龍金。截已更生。盡壽用之(出僧祇律第三十三卷)。
The Buddha was staying at Śrāvastī. South of the city there was a town called Great Forest, and a merchant drove eight oxen to the country of Jūduō in the north; and there was another merchant with him, pasturing his cattle in a marsh.
Then a Licchavi caught a nāga maiden and pierced her nose and led her along. The merchant, seeing it, gave rise to a compassionate heart and asked the Licchavi: what will you do with the one you are leading? He answered: I mean to kill and eat her. The merchant said: do not kill her; I shall give you an ox and buy her from you and let her go.
The captor would not, and so on up to eight oxen; and then he said: for your sake I shall let her go. And he took the eight oxen and let the nāga maiden go.
Then the merchant thought again: this is an evil man, and I fear he may follow after and catch her again. And he followed her himself to see where she went; and coming to the side of a pool the nāga changed into a human body and said to the merchant: heaven has given me my life, and I now wish to repay the kindness. Come with me into the palace and let me repay heaven’s kindness.
The merchant answered: you nāgas are hasty by nature, and your anger is not to be relied on; you may kill me. She answered: the man before had me bound and I had the strength to kill him, but only because I keep the uposatha rule I had no mind to kill at all — how much less should I do harm to heaven, who has now given me my life. Stay here a little; I shall go in first and set things in order.
Beside the nāga gate he saw two nāgas bound in one place, and asked them: what have you done? They answered: this nāga maiden receives the fast rule three days in each half-month, and we brothers were guarding her, and did not hold firm, and she was taken by the Licchavi; and for that we are bound. We ask only that heaven be kind and tell her to release us. And if this nāga maiden asks what food you wish to eat, ask for the food of humans in Jambudvīpa.
When the nāga maiden had set things in order she called him in and seated him on a jewelled couch and mat, and the nāga maiden said: what food does heaven wish to eat now? He answered: I should like the food of humans in Jambudvīpa. And food of every kind was set down.
He asked the nāga maiden: why are those men bound? The nāga maiden said: they have committed a fault and I mean to kill them. The merchant said: do not kill them. Otherwise I shall certainly kill them, she said. The merchant said: if you release them, then I shall eat. She said: I cannot simply release them; I shall punish them by banishing them among humans for six months.
The merchant asked: with such splendor as you have, what do you receive the uposatha for? She answered: in the nāga condition there are five sufferings. Which five? At birth one is a nāga; when asleep one is a nāga; in intercourse one is a nāga; when angry one is a nāga; and three times in half a day skin and flesh fall to the ground and the hot sand scorches the body.
He asked again: what do you wish to seek? She answered: I wish to be born in the human destiny. He asked: I have already obtained a human body — what should I seek? She answered: it is hard to obtain going forth. He asked again: under whom should I go forth? She answered: the Tathāgata, worthy of offerings and rightly and fully awakened, is now in Śrāvastī, and delivers those not yet delivered; you may go forth under him.
He said: I wish to go home. The nāga maiden then gave him eight cakes of gold and said: this is nāga gold; it is enough for your parents and kin to use to the end of their lives and it will not be used up. And she said: close your eyes — and by her transformation put him in his own country.
His travelling companions had arrived earlier and told his household that he had gone into the nāga palace, and his parents supposed their son already dead, and the kin and the clan were gathered in one place wailing and weeping.
Then the herdsmen and the gatherers of firewood and grass saw him and went back first and told his household: so-and-so has come home. The household heard it and rejoiced greatly, and went out and received him into the house and held a feast of life for him; and at the feast of life he gave the eight cakes of gold to his parents: this is nāga gold; cut it and it grows again, and they used it to the end of their lives (Source: Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya, fascicle 33).
The transaction at the start is exact and the entry counts it: one ox, refused; and so on up to eight, which is all the merchant has. He then follows the freed nāga not to collect a reward but because he suspects the captor will come back for her.
What the nāga maiden says about her own condition is the substance of the entry. She keeps the uposatha three days each half-month, and the reason she gives is the five sufferings of a nāga: one is a nāga at birth, in sleep, in intercourse, in anger, and three times in half a day the skin and flesh fall away and the hot sand scorches the body. What she is fasting for is human birth — and when the merchant, who already has one, asks what he should seek, her answer is going forth, and she tells him where the Buddha is. The story ends with him back home with eight cakes of gold; whether he ordains is not said.
The two bound nāgas at the gate are her own brothers, punished for failing to guard her; and it is at the merchant's insistence — I shall not eat unless you release them — that their sentence is reduced to six months' banishment among humans.
11. A Merchant Is Bound by a Rākṣasa
The shortest entry in the fascicle: five limbs stuck fast, and one answer.
有一賈客主。將諸賈人入嶮難處。遇羅剎鬼。以手遮之言。汝住莫動不聽汝去。賈客主即以右拳擊之。拳即著鬼挽不可離。復以左拳擊之。亦不可離。以右足蹴之。亦復如是。以頭衝之。頭即復著。鬼問言。汝今如是欲作何等。心休息未。答言雖復五事被繫。心終不息。當以精進力與汝相擊。鬼時念。此人膽力極大。即曰。汝精進力大必不休息。今放汝去(出大智論第十六卷)。
There was a caravan leader who took his merchants into a place of danger and difficulty and met a rākṣasa ghost, who blocked him with his hand and said: stand and do not move; I shall not let you go.
The caravan leader struck him at once with his right fist, and the fist stuck to the ghost and could not be pulled away; he struck with his left fist, and that too could not be pulled away; he kicked with his right foot, and it was the same; he butted with his head, and his head too stuck fast.
The ghost asked him: being as you are now, what do you mean to do? Has your mind rested yet? He answered: though I am bound in five places, my mind will never rest; I shall strike at you with the power of vigor. Then the ghost thought: this man’s courage and strength are very great — and said: your power of vigor is great and you will certainly never rest; I shall let you go now (Source: Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, fascicle 16).
12. A Merchant Gathering Treasure Saves a Man About to Die
A merchant with eighty million pearls buys a condemned man's life, and the king's price is everything he owns plus his own execution. He calls this a great gain.
有賈客主。名為吉利。入海取大珍寶。安隱而出。凡有八十億摩尼珠。一一皆直百億兩金。以多寶物與一乞人。不入其家復還至海。採取珍寶。入海之後倍得寶物。經八十歲還到本國。欲入城時見犯罪人。殺者執縛打惡聲鼓。街巷唱令將至殺處。加以刑戮。時應死者逢見吉利。作是言。賈客主。救我死罪。施我壽命。是大檀越賢善好人。吉利聞已語應死者。咄人。我今施汝無畏。救汝死罪。即至殺者所。人人皆與之摩尼珠價直一億兩金。汝今小住待。我今者至王邊還。爾時吉利疾至王所。白言。大王。我欲以好珍寶買此人命。王答。吉利。是人罪不可恕不可得買若必欲買。汝所有物盡以與我。并自代死乃可得脫。吉利歡喜。我得大利得滿所願。能救此人得稱我意。即以居家所有財物及於大海所得珍寶。無量千億金銀寶物。皆送與王白大王言。可放此人。我所有物盡現在此。語殺者言。將吉利殺。即縛吉利將至殺處。右手舉刀欲斫吉利。手直不下。驚怪恐怖即以告王。自看。王聞此語。即自執刀欲殺吉利。舉刀兩手落地得大衰惱發聲而死。時吉利即我身是。時王者調達是(出菩薩藏經下卷)。
There was a caravan leader named Jílì who went to sea and took great treasure and came out safely with eighty million maṇi pearls, each worth ten billion taels of gold. He gave a great quantity of these treasures to a beggar and did not take them into his own house, but went back to the sea again to gather treasure; and after going to sea he obtained twice as much, and after eighty years came home to his own country.
As he was about to enter the city he saw a criminal: the executioners had him bound and were beating an evil-sounding drum and proclaiming through the streets and lanes as they brought him to the killing-ground, to inflict the punishment on him.
Then the man who was to die caught sight of Jílì and said: caravan leader, save me from the punishment of death and give me my life. You are a great donor, a worthy and good man. Jílì heard him and said to the man who was to die: alas, man — I now give you fearlessness and save you from the punishment of death. And going to the executioners he gave each and every one of them a maṇi pearl worth a hundred million taels of gold: wait here a moment while I go to the king and come back.
Then Jílì went in haste to the king and said: great king, I wish to buy this man’s life with fine treasure. The king answered: Jílì, this man’s offense cannot be pardoned and cannot be bought. If you must buy it, give me all that you have and take his death upon yourself, and then he may be let go.
Jílì was delighted: I have obtained a great gain and have got my full wish, and can save this man and satisfy my intention. And he sent all the goods of his household and all the treasure he had obtained in the great sea, measureless thousands of millions in gold, silver, and jewels, to the king, and said: great king, you may release this man. All that I have is here before you.
He said to the executioners: take Jílì and kill him. And they bound Jílì and brought him to the killing-ground, and one raised the knife in his right hand to strike Jílì, and his hand stiffened and would not come down; and, startled and terrified, he told the king.
The king came to see for himself, and, hearing this, took the knife himself and meant to kill Jílì; and as he raised the knife both his hands fell to the ground, and in great affliction he cried out and died. Jílì of that time is myself; the king of that time is Devadatta (Source: Bodhisattva-piṭaka Sūtra, lower fascicle).
13. Two Merchant Companies Gather Treasure; the Greedy One Loses Its Lives and the Restrained One Is Safe
Two goddesses give opposite warnings from the air on a treasure island, and two caravan leaders each believe one of them. What the survivor does from the deck of the ship is not passed over.
昔無數阿僧祇劫前。有兩部賈客各五百人。在波羅奈。撰合資財嚴船渡海。解繫張帆乘風徑往。即至寶渚。上妙婇女無物不有。一部賈客主曰。我等以資財故勤苦至此。當住自娛。第二薩薄言。此間雖饒眾寶不當久住。時有天女慈愍此輩。便於空中語眾人曰。此間雖樂不足久住。却後七日此地當沒。語訖化去。復有魔女欲使賈客於此沒盡。空中告曰。卿等不須嚴駕還去。此地無水設當有水。此之眾寶眾女五樂何由而有。前天所說皆是虛妄。說已化去。第一薩薄勅其部眾。卿等勿去莫信前天。第二薩薄還告其眾。卿等莫貪速裝治船。前天所說至誠不虛。水不至者於此自娛然後徐歸。若水審來治嚴已去。佛語舍利弗。却後七日如前天言。水滿其地。第二薩薄將其部眾即得上船。第一薩薄先不治嚴。水至之日便著鎧仗共相挌戰。第二薩薄於船上以鋑牟鋑第一薩薄脚。徹過即便命終。佛語舍利弗。汝知第一薩薄者不則提婆達兜是。第二薩薄者則我身是。時第一賈客眾五百人者則今提婆達兜五百弟子是。時第二賈客五百眾者則今五百羅漢是。時第一天女則舍利弗是。時第二天女則今名滿月比丘婆羅門弟子是(出興起行經上卷)。
Long ago, countless asaṃkhya kalpas past, there were two companies of merchants, five hundred in each, at Vārāṇasī, who gathered their resources, fitted out ships, and crossed the sea. They loosed the moorings and spread the sails and rode the wind straight on, and came to a treasure island where there were exquisite maidens and nothing that was not to be had.
The leader of the first company said: we have toiled and come this far for the sake of resources; we should stay and enjoy ourselves. The second caravan leader said: though there are treasures in plenty here, we should not stay long.
Then a goddess, in pity for these men, said to them from the air: though it is pleasant here it is not to be dwelt in long. Seven days from now this ground will sink. Having said it she vanished.
Then there was also a Māra maiden who wished to make the merchants perish there, and told them from the air: you gentlemen need not fit out and go back. There is no water in this place; and if there were water, how should these treasures and these maidens and the five pleasures be here at all? What the earlier deva said is all false. Having said it she vanished.
The first caravan leader ordered his company: do not go, and do not believe the earlier deva. The second caravan leader told his own: do not be greedy; make ready the ship quickly. What the earlier deva said is sincere and not false. If the water does not come, we can enjoy ourselves here and go back slowly; and if the water truly comes, we shall have made ready and can go.
The Buddha told Śāriputra: seven days later, as the earlier deva had said, the water filled that ground. The second caravan leader took his company and got aboard the ship; the first caravan leader had made no preparations, and on the day the water came he put on armor and weapons and fought with them, and the second caravan leader, from the ship, pierced the first caravan leader’s leg with a lance; it went through and he died at once.
The Buddha told Śāriputra: do you know who the first caravan leader was? He is Devadatta. The second caravan leader is myself. The first company of five hundred merchants of that time are Devadatta’s five hundred disciples now; the second company of five hundred are the five hundred arhats now. The first goddess is Śāriputra; the second goddess is the monk now named Full-Moon, the brahmin’s disciple (Source: Sūtra of the Arising of Practices, first fascicle).
A doublet of the whole fascicle's structure in one entry: two caravan leaders, two goddesses, opposite advice, and a deadline. What distinguishes the second leader is not that he believes the first goddess absolutely but that his reasoning is asymmetric — make ready, and if the water does not come we can enjoy ourselves and go back slowly. He is insuring, not trusting.
The killing at the end is reported flatly and we have translated it so: the first leader, unprepared, puts on armor and fights for a place, and the second, from the deck, runs him through the leg with a lance and he dies. The Buddha then identifies himself as the man with the lance and Devadatta as the man in the water. This entry, like fascicle 36's entry 17 and fascicle 41's entry 15, comes from the Sūtra of the Arising of Practices, which collects the Buddha's own past misdeeds — three of them now in this translation.
14. A Merchant Would Have Killed His Companions to Take the Treasure Alone, and Great-Compassion Killed That One Violent Man
A caravan leader dreams that one of his five hundred merchants means to kill the rest. He reflects for seven days and finds one course, and the Buddha names the merit of it.
定光佛時。有五百賈人入海求寶。有異心者念言。我今悉害賈人獨取珍寶。時閻浮提有大導師。名曰大哀。時寐夢中海神語之。賈眾之中有一賊。欲殺五百伴獨取寶物。假令事逮墮墜地獄中。今仁導師當行權變。令賈人不死賊不獲罪。導師思惟七日。無餘方便。唯當殺此凶人耳。語眾賈者必皆興怒當共殺之。俱墮惡趣。設我獨殺。我當受罪。吾寧自忍百千劫苦。不令賈人普被危害。復令一賊墮地獄中。先為說法。令心欣然踊躍臥寐。佛言。大哀導師猶眾賈人興于大哀以權方便害此一賊。命終之後生第十二光音天上。時大哀者則吾身也。以斯方便超千劫生死。同船五百賈客。斯賢劫中五百佛興者是(出慧上菩薩經一卷)。
In the time of the Buddha Dīpaṃkara, five hundred merchants went to sea to seek treasure, and one among them, of a different mind, thought: I shall now kill all the merchants and take the treasure for myself alone.
At that time in Jambudvīpa there was a great caravan leader named Great-Compassion. Asleep, he dreamed that the sea-spirit said to him: among the merchants there is one thief who means to kill five hundred companions and take the treasure for himself alone; and should the deed be done he will fall into hell. Now, sir, as caravan leader, you should act with expedient means, so that the merchants do not die and the thief does not incur the offense.
The caravan leader reflected for seven days and there was no other expedient: only to kill this violent man. If I tell the merchants, they will certainly be enraged and will kill him together, and all of them will fall into the evil destinies. But if I kill him alone, I shall bear the offense. I would rather endure a hundred thousand kalpas of suffering myself than let the merchants be universally endangered and one thief fall into hell besides. And he first taught him the Dharma, so that his mind was glad and he leapt for joy, and lay down and slept.
The Buddha said: the caravan leader Great-Compassion, as though he were the merchants themselves, gave rise to great compassion and by expedient means killed this one thief; and after his life ended he was born above in the twelfth heaven, the Ābhāsvara. The Great-Compassion of that time is myself; and by this expedient means I passed over a thousand kalpas of birth and death. The five hundred merchants in the same ship are the five hundred buddhas who arise in this Fortunate Kalpa (Source: Sūtra of the Bodhisattva Jñānottara, one fascicle).
This is the locus classicus for killing by skillful means, and its reasoning should be set out exactly as the text gives it. The caravan leader knows from a dream that one merchant means to murder five hundred. He reflects for seven days and finds three possible outcomes: tell the merchants, and they will kill the man themselves and all fall into the evil destinies; do nothing, and five hundred die and the murderer goes to hell; or kill the man himself and take the offense on himself alone. He chooses the third, saying that he would rather bear a hundred thousand kalpas of suffering.
Note the two details that are easy to miss and that carry the weight. First, the deliberation takes seven days and the text says explicitly that there was no other expedient — the killing is a last resort reached by exhaustion, not a shortcut. Second, before killing him he teaches him the Dharma, so that the man's mind is glad and he falls asleep happy; the mental state at death is being managed as carefully as the act itself.
The reckoning at the end is what makes this a scripture of skillful means rather than a tragedy: he is born in the Ābhāsvara heaven, and the act passes him over a thousand kalpas of birth and death. Read alongside entry 13 of this same fascicle, where a killing on a sinking island is reported without any such accounting, the difference is instructive.
15. Five Hundred Merchants Meet a Makara Fish and Escape by Calling on the Buddha
The makara story again, this time as pure crisis: the sail taken in, the ship going faster, two suns and a white mountain and a black mountain seen from the masthead.
昔有五百賈客。乘船入海。值摩竭魚出頭張口欲食眾生。時日少風而船去如箭。薩薄主語眾人言。船去太疾可捨帆。如言捨下。船去轉駃不可得止。薩薄主問樓上人言。汝見何等。我見上有兩日出。下有白山。中有黑山。薩薄主驚言。此是大魚當奈何哉。我與汝等今遭困厄。入此魚腹無有活理。汝等各隨所事一心求之。於是眾人各隨所奉。一心歸命求脫此厄。所求逾篤船去逾疾。須臾不止當入魚口。於是薩薄主告諸人言。我有大神號名為佛。汝等各捨本所奉神一心稱之。時五百人俱發大聲稱南無佛。魚聞佛名。自思惟言。今日世間乃復有佛。我當何忍傷害眾生。即便閉口。水皆倒流轉得遠魚。五百賈人善心生。皆得解脫(出雜譬喻經第六卷)。
Long ago five hundred merchants took ship to sea and met a makara fish, which put out its head and opened its mouth, meaning to eat living beings. At that time there was little wind, and yet the ship went like an arrow.
The caravan leader said to the company: the ship goes too fast; we may take in the sail. They took it in as he said, and the ship went faster still and could not be stopped.
The caravan leader asked the man in the masthead: what do you see? I see two suns rising above, and a white mountain below, and a black mountain between. The caravan leader said in alarm: this is a great fish — what is to be done? I and you are now in this distress, and going into this fish’s belly there is no hope of living. Let each of you seek with a single mind from whatever you serve.
At this the company each turned to what they honored and with a single mind took refuge and sought release from this distress; and the harder they sought, the faster the ship went, and in a moment it would not stop and would go into the fish’s mouth.
At this the caravan leader told them: I have a great spirit whose name is Buddha. Let each of you set aside the spirit you serve and call on him with a single mind. Then the five hundred with one voice cried aloud: homage to the Buddha.
The fish heard the Buddha’s name and thought to itself: today then there is a Buddha in the world again. How can I bear to harm living beings? And it closed its mouth at once, and the water all flowed backward and they got away from the fish; and a good mind arose in the five hundred merchants and they were all set free (Source: Miscellaneous Parables Sūtra, fascicle 6).
16. A Merchant Is Forced by a Friend to Drink and Breaks the Precept, Is Driven Abroad by His Parents, and Is Still Feared by Ghosts
The longest entry: a man driven from home for a single cup of wine, whose four remaining precepts still frighten three household ghosts out of a house, and who then loses even those and has to be taught them back by a man-eating ghost through the wall of a jar.
有一縣人。皆奉行五戒十善。縣界無釀酒者。中有大姓家子。欲遠賈販。臨途父母語曰。汝勤持五戒奉行十善。慎莫飲酒犯佛重戒。行到他國見故同學。歡喜歸家出蒲陶酒欲共飲之。辭曰。吾國奉佛戒無敢犯者。且辭親近父母又戒相別久會同心雖喜悅。不宜使吾犯戒違親教也。主人言。吾與卿同師恩則兄弟。吾親則是子親。父母相飲豈可違之。若吾在卿家必從子親。事不獲已乃從飲之。事訖還家具白於親。父母報言。汝違吾教加復犯戒。亂法之漸非孝子也。無得說之。便以所得物逐令出國。子以犯戒為親所驅。乃到他國住客舍家。主人事三鬼神。能作人形。對人飲食與人語言。事之積年居財空盡。而家疾病死喪不絕。私共論之。鬼知人意。鬼共議言。此人財產空訖。正為吾等未曾有益。今相厭患。宜求珍寶以與之。便行盜他國王庫藏好寶積置園中。報言。汝事吾歷年勤苦甚久。今欲福汝使得饒富。主人言。受大神恩。鬼曰。汝園中有金銀可往取之。主人欣然。入園見物負摙歸舍。辭謝受恩。明日欲設飯食。願屈顧下。施設皆辦。鬼神詣門。見舍衛國人在主人舍。便奔走而去。主人追呼。既已顧下。委去何為。神曰。卿舍尊客吾焉得前。重復驚走。主人思惟。吾宅之中無有異人。正有此人耳。即出言語恭設已竟。因問之曰。卿有何功德吾所事神畏子而走。客具說佛功德五戒十善。實犯酒戒為親所逐。尚餘四戒故為天神所護。卿神不敢當之。主人語言。欲奉持五戒。因從客受三自歸五戒。一心精進不敢懈怠。問佛在處可得見不。客曰。在舍衛國給孤獨園。主人一心到彼經歷一亭。中有一女。正是噉人鬼婦。行路逈遠時日逼暮。從女寄宿。女即報言。慎勿留此。宜急前去。男子問曰。用何等故將有意乎。女人報言。吾已語卿用復問為。男子自念。前舍衛國人完佛四戒我神尚為畏之。我已受三歸五戒。心不懈怠。何畏懼乎。遂自留宿。時噉人鬼見護戒威神去亭四十里。一宿不歸。明日進見鬼所噉人骨骸狼藉。心怖而悔退。自思惟。我在本國衣食足用。空為此人所化。言佛在舍衛國。未覩奇妙乃見骸骨縱橫。不如携此女人將歸本土共居如故。即時迴還。因從女人復求留宿。女人謂男子。何復還耶。答曰。行計不成故迴還耳。復寄一宿。女言卿死矣。吾夫是噉人鬼。方來不久。卿急去此。男子不信遂止不去。便迷惑婬意復生。不復信佛三歸五戒。天神即去鬼得來還。女人恐鬼食此男子。藏之甕中。鬼聞人氣謂婦言。爾得肉耶。吾欲噉之。婦言。我不行何從得肉。婦問鬼。卿昨何以不歸。鬼言。坐汝所為而舍宿尊客。令吾被逐。甕中男子踰益恐怖。不復識三自歸。婦言。何以不得肉乎。鬼言。正為汝舍佛弟子。天神逐我出四十里外。露宿震怖于今不安故不得肉。婦因問夫。佛戒云何。鬼言。我大飢極急以肉來不須問此。此是無上正真之戒。非吾所敢說也。婦言。為說之。我當與卿肉。鬼類貪殘食欲食無止。婦迫問之。因便為說三歸五戒。鬼初說一戒時婦輒受之。至第五戒心執口誦。男子於甕中識五戒隨受之。天帝釋知此二人心自歸佛。即遣善神五十人擁護兩人。鬼遂走去。到明日。婦問男子。怖乎。答曰大怖。蒙仁者恩。心悟識佛。婦言男子。昨何以迴還。答曰。吾見新久死人骸骨縱橫恐畏故還耳。婦言。骨是吾所棄者也。吾本良家之女。為鬼所略取吾作妻。悲窮無計。今蒙仁恩。得聞佛戒離於此鬼。又言。賢者欲到何所。男子報言。吾欲到舍衛國見佛。婦曰善哉。吾隨賢者見佛。便俱前行逢四百九十八人。因相問訊。諸賢者從何所來欲到何所。答曰。吾等從佛所來。問言。卿等已得見佛何為復去。報言。佛口說經意中罔罔故尚不解令還本國。兩賢者具說本末。以鬼畏戒高行之人。意乃開解俱還見佛。佛遙見之則笑。口中五色光出。阿難長跪。佛不妄笑將有所說。佛語阿難。汝見是四百九十八人還不。此諸人等今得其本師。來見佛者皆當得道。時五百人來至佛所一心聽經。心開意解皆作沙門。得阿羅漢道。然此二人是四百九十八人前世之師也。人求道要。當得其本師及其善友。爾乃解耳(出戒消災經)。
There was a district whose people all upheld the five precepts and the ten wholesome deeds, and within the district’s borders there was no one who brewed liquor. Among them there was a son of a great house who wished to go far away to trade, and as he set out his parents said to him: apply yourself to keeping the five precepts and practise the ten wholesome deeds, and be careful not to drink liquor and break the Buddha’s weighty precept.
Travelling, he came to another country and met an old fellow-student, who was glad and took him home and brought out grape wine, wishing to drink together. He declined: my country serves the Buddha, and none dares transgress the precepts. Besides, I took leave of my parents and they warned me; and though we have been parted long and it is a pleasure to meet with one of like mind, it is not right to make me break the precepts and go against my parents’ instruction.
The host said: you and I had one teacher, and our friendship is that of brothers; my parents are your parents. If your father and mother had you drink, could you go against them? And if I were at your house I should certainly follow your parents. Unable to help it, he then drank with him.
When it was over he went home and told his parents everything. His parents answered: you have gone against my instruction and have broken the precept besides. To disturb the Dharma by degrees is not a filial son. Say nothing of it. And they took what he had brought and drove him out of the country.
Driven out by his parents for breaking the precept, the son came to another country and lodged in an inn. The master of the house served three ghost-spirits who could take human form, eat and drink face to face with people, and talk with them; and he had served them for years and his household goods were used up, and sickness and death in the house did not stop.
They discussed it privately, and the ghosts knew what the man was thinking, and conferred: this man’s property is used up, and it has all been for our sake, and we have never done him any good; and now he is weary of us. We ought to find him treasure and give it to him. And they went and stole fine treasure from another king’s storehouse and piled it in his garden.
They told him: you have served us for years with diligence and long hardship; we now wish to bless you and make you rich. The master said: I have received the great spirits’ kindness. The ghosts said: there is gold and silver in your garden, and you may go and take it. The master went in delight and saw the goods in the garden and carried them home on his back, and thanked them for the kindness received: tomorrow I shall set out food; I ask you to condescend to come down.
Everything was set out, and the ghost-spirits came to the gate; and, seeing the man from the kingdom of Śrāvastī in the master’s house, they ran off. The master pursued them and called: you had already condescended to come down; why abandon us and go? The spirits said: there is an honoured guest in your house and I cannot come forward. And again they ran off in fright.
The master reflected: there is no unusual person in my house; there is only this man. So he brought him out, spoke with him, and, the offering being over, asked him: what merit have you, that the spirits I serve fear you and run away? The guest told him in full of the Buddha’s merit and the five precepts and the ten wholesome deeds: I truly broke the liquor precept and was driven out by my parents; and there are four precepts left to me, and so I am still protected by the gods, and your spirits dare not face them.
The master said: I wish to receive and keep the five precepts. And he received the three refuges and the five precepts from the guest, and applied himself with a single mind and did not dare to be slack. He asked: where is the Buddha? Can he be seen? The guest said: at Anāthapiṇḍada’s park in the kingdom of Śrāvastī.
The master, with a single mind, went there, and passing a wayside station he came to a woman who was in fact the wife of a man-eating ghost. The road was long and remote and the day was drawing to dusk, and he asked the woman for lodging. The woman answered at once: be careful not to stay here; you had better go on quickly. The man asked: for what reason? Have you some intention? The woman answered: I have told you already; why ask further?
The man thought to himself: the man from Śrāvastī kept four of the Buddha’s precepts and my spirits feared him; and I have received the three refuges and the five precepts and my mind is not slack. What have I to fear? And he stayed the night.
Then the man-eating ghost, seeing the majestic power of the guarded precepts, went forty li from the station and did not come home for one night. The next day he went on and saw the bones of the people the ghost had eaten lying scattered, and his heart was frightened and he repented and drew back.
He thought to himself: in my own country I had clothing and food enough, and I have been converted by this man for nothing; he said the Buddha was in Śrāvastī, and I have not seen anything marvellous, and have seen bones lying every which way. Better to take this woman and go back to my own land and live together as before. And he turned back at once, and asked the woman for lodging again.
The woman said to him: why have you come back? He answered: my plan for the journey has not succeeded, and so I have turned back — and he lodged again for one night. The woman said: you are a dead man. My husband is a man-eating ghost and will be back before long; get away from here quickly. The man did not believe her and stayed and would not go; and, deluded, a lustful thought arose in him again and he no longer believed in the Buddha, the three refuges, and the five precepts. The gods then departed, and the ghost was able to come back.
The woman, fearing the ghost would eat this man, hid him in a jar. The ghost smelled a human smell and said to his wife: have you got meat? I wish to eat it. His wife said: I have not been out; where should I get meat? And his wife asked the ghost: why did you not come home yesterday? The ghost said: it was because of what you did in lodging an honoured guest; I was driven out. The man in the jar was the more terrified and no longer remembered the three refuges.
His wife said: why did you not get meat? The ghost said: it was precisely because you lodged a disciple of the Buddha; the gods drove me out forty li and I slept in the open in terror and am not easy even now, and so I got no meat.
His wife then asked her husband: what are the Buddha’s precepts? The ghost said: I am very hungry; bring meat quickly and do not ask about this. These are the unsurpassed, true and real precepts and not what I dare to speak of. His wife said: tell me and I shall give you meat. Ghosts by kind are greedy and cruel and their appetite for food has no stopping, and, pressed by his wife, he then told her the three refuges and the five precepts.
As the ghost spoke the first precept his wife received it, and at the fifth she held it in her mind and recited it with her mouth; and the man in the jar, recognizing the five precepts, received them along with her. Śakra, lord of the gods, knew that these two persons had turned to the Buddha in their hearts, and sent fifty good spirits to guard the two of them, and the ghost ran off.
When day came the woman asked the man: were you afraid? He answered: greatly afraid. By your kindness my mind has awoken and I know the Buddha. The woman said: why did you turn back yesterday? He answered: I saw the bones of the newly and long dead lying every which way and turned back in fear.
The woman said: the bones are what I have thrown away. I was originally a daughter of a good family, and was carried off by the ghost, who took me for a wife, and in my grief there was nothing to be done. Now, by your kindness, I have heard the Buddha’s precepts and am free of this ghost. And she said: worthy sir, where do you wish to go? The man answered: I wish to go to the kingdom of Śrāvastī and see the Buddha. The woman said: excellent — I shall follow you and see the Buddha.
So they went on together and met four hundred and ninety-eight people, and greeted one another: worthy sirs, where have you come from and where do you wish to go? They answered: we have come from the Buddha. They asked: you have already seen the Buddha; why go away again? They answered: what the Buddha spoke of the sūtras was vague in our minds, and so, not understanding it, we are going back to our own country.
The two worthy ones told them the whole matter from the beginning, and how the ghost feared the precepts and one of lofty conduct; and their minds then opened in understanding, and they all went back together to see the Buddha.
The Buddha saw them from afar and smiled, and light of five colors came from his mouth. Ānanda knelt at length: the Buddha does not smile idly; there must be something to be said. The Buddha told Ānanda: do you see these four hundred and ninety-eight coming back? These people have now got their original teacher, and those who come to see the Buddha will all attain the path.
Then the five hundred came to where the Buddha was and listened to the sūtra with one mind, and their minds opened and their thoughts were released, and they all became śramaṇas and attained the path of an arhat. And these two were the teachers of those four hundred and ninety-eight in a former life. Whoever seeks the path must get their own original teacher and good friends, and only then do they understand (Source: Sūtra on the Precepts Dispelling Calamity).
The longest entry in the fascicle and the most carefully constructed. Its argument is about margins. A man breaks one precept out of five, under pressure from a friend using an argument about hospitality he cannot answer; his parents drive him out; and the four precepts he has left are still enough that three resident ghosts flee a house rather than face him. That is the first half.
The second half takes the same margin away. Having received the full five precepts, the convert stays a night at a station where the man-eating ghost is driven forty li off; and then, discouraged by a heap of bones and the failure to see anything marvellous, he turns back, and his mind fills with lust, and the text says plainly what follows: he no longer believed, the gods departed, and the ghost was able to come home. He is then hidden in a jar, too frightened to remember the three refuges, and has to hear the precepts recited back to him by the ghost — who says of them, before being bribed into speaking, that they are the unsurpassed true precepts and not what he dares to speak of.
Two things in the ending deserve notice. The woman is not rescued; she gets herself free by making her hungry husband trade the precepts for meat, and she receives each one as he speaks it. And the four hundred and ninety-eight monks going home in confusion are turned around not by the Buddha but by these two, whom the Buddha then identifies as their teachers in a former life. This closes fascicle 43.