龍王和他的女兒 Erakapattanagaraja Vatthu
Erakapattanagaraja Vatthu
Dhammapada Verse 182
Kiccho manussapatilabho
kiccham maccana jivitam
kiccham saddhammassavanam
kiccho buddhanamuppado.
Verse 182: Hard to gain is birth as man; hard is the life of mortals; hard to get is the opportunity of hearing the Ariya Dhamma (Teaching of the Buddhas); hard it is for a Buddha to appear.
The Story of Erakapatta the Naga King
While residing near Baranasi the Buddha uttered Verse (182) of this book, with reference to Erakapatta, a king of nagas (dragons).
Once there was a naga king by the name of Erakapatta. In one of his past existences during the time of Kassapa Buddha he had been a bhikkhu for a long time. Through worry (kukkucca) over a minor offence he had committed during that time, he was reborn as a naga. As a naga, he waited for the appearance of a Buddha. Erakapatta had a very beautiful daughter, and he made use of her as a means of finding the Buddha. He made it known that whoever could answer her questions could claim her for a wife. Twice every month, Erakapatta made her dance in the open and sing out her questions. Many suitors came to answer her questions hoping to claim her, but no one could give the correct answer.
One day, the Buddha saw a youth named Uttara in his vision. He also knew that the youth would attain Sotapatti Fruition in connection with the questions put by the daughter of Erakapatta the naga. By then the youth was already on his way to see Erakapatta's daughter. The Buddha stopped him and taught him how to answer the questions. While he was being taught, Uttara attained Sotapatti Fruition. Now that Uttara had attained Sotapatti Fruition, he had no desire for the naga princess. However, Uttara still went to answer the questions for the benefit of numerous other beings.
The first four questions were:
1. Who is a ruler?
2. Is one who is overwhelmed by the mist of moral defilements to be called a ruler?
3. What ruler is free from moral defilements?
4. What sort of person is to be called a fool?
The answers to the above questions were:
1. He who controls the six senses is a ruler.
2. One who is overwhelmed by the mist of moral defilements is not to be called a ruler; he who is free from craving is called a ruler.
3. The ruler who is free from craving is free from moral defilements.
4. A person who hankers after sensual pleasures is called a fool.
Having had the correct answers to the above, the naga princess sang out questions regarding the floods (oghas) of sensual desire, of renewed existence, of false doctrine and of ignorance, and how they could be overcome. Uttara answered these questions as taught by the Buddha.
When Erakapatta heard these answers he knew that a Buddha had appeared in this world. So he asked Uttara to take him to the Buddha. On seeing the Buddha, Erakapatta related to the Buddha how he had been a bhikkhu during the time of Kassapa Buddha, how he had accidentally caused a grass blade to be broken off while travelling in a boat, and how he had worried over that little offence for having failed to do the act of exoneration as prescribed, and finally how he was reborn as a naga. After hearing him, the Buddha told him how difficult it was to be born in the human world, and to be born during the appearance of the Buddhas or during the time of their Teaching.
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
| Verse 182: Hard to gain is birth as man; hard is the life of mortals; hard to get is the opportunity of hearing the Ariya Dhamma (Teaching of the Buddhas); hard it is for a Buddha to appear. |
The above discourse benefited numerous beings. Erakapatta being an animal could not attain Sotapatti Fruition then and there.
龍王和他的女兒
人身難得、生活難、得聞正法難、諸佛出現世間也難。(偈 182)
龍王(註)伊羅卡帕塔，在迦葉佛時，雖然是一位比丘，卻不夠理智，念念不忘犯過的錯誤，所以往生成龍。他有一位極美麗的女兒。由於龍具有化身成人形的能力，所以他公開宣稱，若有人可以回答他女兒所提的問題，就可以娶她為妻。因此，每個月兩次，她都化身成人，到公眾場所唱歌跳舞，並且提出她的問題。很多人試著回答她的問題，但都不正確。
有一次，佛陀透過神通，知道一位名叫優塔羅的年輕人，可經由這些問題而證得初果。但優塔羅已經出發，準備前去回答她的問題。佛陀便趕忙攔下他，告訴他問題的正確答案，優塔羅聽完佛陀的答案後，果真證得初果，對龍女的欲望也完全消失。但為了說出答案以俾益他人，他仍照常前往。
他與龍女的應答如下：
問題１：誰是統治者？
回答：掌握六根的人就是統治者。
問題２：德行不足的人可否稱之為統治者？
回答：德行有缺陷的人不可稱之為統治者，毫無私心的人是統治者。
問題３：什麼樣的統治者沒有德行的缺陷？
回答：毫無私心的統治者沒有德行上的缺陷。
問題４：什麼樣的人可稱之為愚癡？
回答：追求感官欲樂的人。
聽完所有的正確答案後，龍王的公主繼續請問有關感官欲望、後有、邪見、無明和克服這些問題的方法。優塔羅遵照佛陀的教導一一回答這些問題。
這時候，伊羅卡帕塔龍王明白了，佛陀已出現在世間，就央請優塔羅帶他前去面見、頂禮佛陀。他向佛陀敘述自己往生成龍的緣由。佛陀向他解釋，人身難得、佛陀難遇、佛法難聞。佛陀說法完畢後，很多舍利弗尊者的弟子證得阿羅漢果，大眾中也有很多人證得初果。
註：龍是佛教和印度文學中著名的神話動物。它們住在地底下，具有創造奇蹟的力量，類似中國文學的龍。
‧摘錄自‧《法句經‧故事集》達摩難陀法師著
Daily Reading of Buddhist Scriptures 每日讀佛經 ཉིན་རེར་དམ་ཆོས་ཀློག་པ། 27 September 2020
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhasa
禮敬 世尊 阿羅漢 等正覺者（三稱）
南無本師釋迦牟尼佛（三稱）
Dhammapada
《法句經》
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ་བཞུགས་སོ། །
14. Buddhavagga
Chapter Fourteen The Buddha
第十四章 佛陀
བཅུ་བཞི་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ལེའུ།
182. Kiccho manussapaṭilābho,
kicchaṃ maccāna jīvitaṃ;
Kicchaṃ saddhammassavanaṃ,
kiccho buddhānamuppādo.
182. Hard is it to be born a man; hard is the life of mortals. Hard is it to gain the opportunity of hearing the Sublime Truth, and hard to encounter is the arising of the Buddhas.
182.轉生為人難；活得安樂難；有緣聞法難；有佛出世難。
182.转生为人难；活得安乐难；有缘闻法难；有佛出世难。
༡༨༢༽ མི་ཡི་ལུས་སུ་སྐྱེ་བར་དཀའ། །རྟག་པ་མེད་པའི་མི་ཚེ་དཀའ། །དམ་ཆོས་ཐོས་སྐབས་རྙེད་པར་དཀའ། །སངས་རྒྱས་འབྱུང་དང་ཕྲད་པར་དཀའ། །
Ratana Sutta
Discourse on the Jewels
《三寶經》
1. 任何來此聚會的眾生，無論是住在地上或天空的，但願一切眾生都快樂，願他們細心聆聽我說。
2. 因此一切眾生請諦聽，應向眾人類散播慈愛，他們日夜來供養你們，故應精勤地保護他們。
3. 無論在這世間或其他世間(這是指天界、梵天界或其它世界系)的任何財寶，或在天界的任何殊勝珠寶，都沒有和如來(佛陀)同等的。在佛陀裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
4. 寧靜的釋迦牟尼已徹悟滅盡、離欲、不死與殊勝。沒有任何東西能和法同等。在法裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
5. 至上佛所讚歎的清淨被稱為無間隔的。找不到和此同等的東西。在法裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
6. 具德者讚歎的八種人組成四雙，他們這些應供者是如來的弟子。布施給他們會帶來大果報。在僧團裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
7. 以穩固的心透徹地修行，在喬達摩(佛)的教法裡不再有貪欲，他們已證應證之法。進入了不死，他們輕易地享受所證悟的寧靜。在僧團裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
8. 正如深置地裡的柱子不能被四風動搖，我說，已經徹見聖諦的善士也是如此。在僧團裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
9. 清楚地觀照由擁有深奧智慧者善巧教導之聖諦的人，無論他們多麼放逸，也不會有第八次投生。在僧團裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
10. 對於證得知見者，有三法已被他斷除，即身見、疑與如果他有的戒禁取見。他已完全解脫了四惡道，絕對不會造六種大惡。在僧團裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
11. 無論他透過身或口或意所造的任何惡業，他都不會覆藏它，所謂見道者絕不會這麼做。在僧團裡有此殊勝寶。 以此真實語願得安樂。
12. 佛陀所教、導向涅槃、帶來最高等利益的至上法，就像夏天第一個月的樹林盛開著花。在佛陀裡有此殊勝寶。 以此真實語願得安樂。
13. 至上者、知至上者、給予至上者、帶來至上者教導無比至上法。在佛陀裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
14. 舊的已滅，新的不再生起，他們的心不執著未來生，有的種子已滅，他們不再生起對生命的慾望。那些智者像燈(滅那樣)熄滅。在僧團裡有此殊勝寶。以此真實語願得安樂。
15. 任何來此聚會的眾生，無論是住在地上或天空的，禮敬 人天尊敬的如來佛，願得安樂。
16. 任何來此聚會的眾生，無論是住在地上或天空的，禮敬 人天尊敬的如來法，願得安樂。
17. 任何來此聚會的眾生，無論是住在地上或天空的，禮敬 人天尊敬的如來僧，願得安樂。
It is a free gift.
此是免費贈送的法寶。
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