Dhammapada verse #40
知身如陶器，住心似城廓，慧劍擊魔羅，守勝莫染著。
Having known this urn-like body,
made firm this mind as fortress town,
with wisdom-weapon one fights Mara
while guarding booty, unattached.
☆☆☆
【第40偈的故事】
舍衛城裡的一群比丘分別獲得佛陀給予的觀想題目後，就到離城很遠，一處適合禪修的叢林去禪修。原先林子裡的守護精靈覺得，如果比丘們要停留在林子裡，那麼它們就不適合棲息在樹上。它們也認為比丘只會停留一夜，所以就離開樹上，到地面上來。
但過了十四天，比丘們仍在林子裡，它們猜測比丘們可能要在此結夏安居。果真如此，它們就被迫要在地面生活一段時間，因次決定發出鬼般的聲音，製造恐怖的景像來嚇走比丘們。從此以後，它們有時候幻化成有身體無頭，或有頭無身體的鬼魅等等。比丘們非常氣憤，就離開林子，回城裡向佛陀報告這件事。佛陀說這是因為他們沒有準備任何的武器，佛陀要他們再回去，但要預先準備好適當的裝備。佛陀就教導比丘們《慈經》，這就是適當的武器裝備。
佛陀告訴比丘們要誦讀《慈經》，並把善意散播給林子裡所有的眾生。對任何眾生也不可心生瞋恨或心懷恐懼。比丘們就回到原來的林子，並且遵照佛陀的方法做，精靈們得到善意心念後，立即展現歡迎的誠意，不再干擾比丘的禪修。他們欣然留在地面上，林子裡因此一片和諧安祥，不再有鬼嚎、魅影的情形。比丘們也可以禪修觀身，而明白人身脆弱無常的道理。
While residing at the Jētavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse, with reference to five hundred monks.
Five hundred monks from Sàvatthi, after obtaining a meditation topic from the Buddha, travelled for a distance of one hundred leagues away from Sàvatthi and came to a large forest grove, a suitable place for meditation practice. The guardian spirits of the trees dwelling in that forest thought that if those monks were staying in the forest, it would not be proper for them to live with their families. So, they descended from the trees, thinking that the monks would stop there only for one night. But the monks were still there at the end of a fortnight; then it occurred to them that the monks might be staying there till the end of the vassa. In that case, they and their families would have to be living on the ground for a long time. So, they decided to frighten away the monks, by making ghostly sounds and frightful apparitions. They showed up with bodies without heads, and with heads without bodies. The monks were very upset and left the place and returned to the Buddha, to whom they related everything. On hearing their account, the Buddha told them that this had happened because previously they went without any protection and that they should go back there armed with suitable protection. So saying, the Buddha taught them the protective discourse Metta Sutta at length (Loving-Kindness) beginning with the following stanza:
Karanãyamattha kusalēna – yaü taü santaü padaü abhisamecca
sakkō ujå ca såjå ca – suvacō c’assa mudu anatimàni.
“He who is skilled in (acquiring) what is good and beneficial,(mundane as well as supramundane), aspiring to attain perfect peace (Nibbàna) should act (thus): He should be efficient, upright, perfectly upright, compliant, gentle and free from conceit.”
The monks were instructed to recite the sutta from the time they came to the outskirts of the forest grove and to enter the monastery reciting it. The monks returned to the forest grove and did as they were told.
The guardian spirits of the trees receiving loving-kindness from the monks reciprocated by welcoming them and not harming them. There were no more ghostly sounds and frightening sights. Thus left in peace, the monks meditated on the body and came to realize its fragile and impermanent nature. From the Jētavana monastery, the Buddha, by his supernature power, learned about the progress of the monks and sent forth his radiance making them feel his presence. To them he said, “Monks just as you have realized, the body is, indeed, impermanent and fragile like an earthen jar.”
但過了十四天，比丘們仍在林子裡，它們猜測比丘們可能要在此結夏安居。果真如此，它們就被迫要在地面生活一段時間，因次決定發出鬼般的聲音，製造恐怖的景像來嚇走比丘們。從此以後，它們有時候幻化成有身體無頭，或有頭無身體的鬼魅等等。比丘們非常氣憤，就離開林子，回城裡向佛陀報告這件事。佛陀說這是因為他們沒有準備任何的武器，佛陀要他們再回去，但要預先準備好適當的裝備。佛陀就教導比丘們《慈經》，這就是適當的武器裝備。
佛陀告訴比丘們要誦讀《慈經》，並把善意散播給林子裡所有的眾生。對任何眾生也不可心生瞋恨或心懷恐懼。比丘們就回到原來的林子，並且遵照佛陀的方法做，精靈們得到善意心念後，立即展現歡迎的誠意，不再干擾比丘的禪修。他們欣然留在地面上，林子裡因此一片和諧安祥，不再有鬼嚎、魅影的情形。比丘們也可以禪修觀身，而明白人身脆弱無常的道理。
While residing at the Jētavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse, with reference to five hundred monks.
Five hundred monks from Sàvatthi, after obtaining a meditation topic from the Buddha, travelled for a distance of one hundred leagues away from Sàvatthi and came to a large forest grove, a suitable place for meditation practice. The guardian spirits of the trees dwelling in that forest thought that if those monks were staying in the forest, it would not be proper for them to live with their families. So, they descended from the trees, thinking that the monks would stop there only for one night. But the monks were still there at the end of a fortnight; then it occurred to them that the monks might be staying there till the end of the vassa. In that case, they and their families would have to be living on the ground for a long time. So, they decided to frighten away the monks, by making ghostly sounds and frightful apparitions. They showed up with bodies without heads, and with heads without bodies. The monks were very upset and left the place and returned to the Buddha, to whom they related everything. On hearing their account, the Buddha told them that this had happened because previously they went without any protection and that they should go back there armed with suitable protection. So saying, the Buddha taught them the protective discourse Metta Sutta at length (Loving-Kindness) beginning with the following stanza:
Karanãyamattha kusalēna – yaü taü santaü padaü abhisamecca
sakkō ujå ca såjå ca – suvacō c’assa mudu anatimàni.
“He who is skilled in (acquiring) what is good and beneficial,(mundane as well as supramundane), aspiring to attain perfect peace (Nibbàna) should act (thus): He should be efficient, upright, perfectly upright, compliant, gentle and free from conceit.”
The monks were instructed to recite the sutta from the time they came to the outskirts of the forest grove and to enter the monastery reciting it. The monks returned to the forest grove and did as they were told.
The guardian spirits of the trees receiving loving-kindness from the monks reciprocated by welcoming them and not harming them. There were no more ghostly sounds and frightening sights. Thus left in peace, the monks meditated on the body and came to realize its fragile and impermanent nature. From the Jētavana monastery, the Buddha, by his supernature power, learned about the progress of the monks and sent forth his radiance making them feel his presence. To them he said, “Monks just as you have realized, the body is, indeed, impermanent and fragile like an earthen jar.”
☆☆☆
中文法句出處：《南傳法句經》 了參法師譯
中文故事出處：《法句經故事集》 達摩難陀長老著 周金言譯
