5 Seeing Water and Getting Thristy

5渴见水喻

Long ago there was a stupid, unwise man who was extremely thirsty and in need of water. Seeing a mirage, he mistook it for water and ran after it. He followed it all the way to the Indus River. Then he just stood by the river and stared at it, without drinking.

A bystander said, “You were so thirsty and desperate for water. Now you have found water, why don’t you drink it?”

The stupid man replied, “If I could drink it all, I would drink it. But there is so much of it I could never drink it all. Therefore, I’m not going to drink any of it.”

Hearing this, the crowd laughed loudly. This is like those of outside ways who stubbornly hold to their views and think themselves, incapable of keeping all the Buddha’s precepts. They therefore refuse to receive any of them. Because of this, they have no share in future enlightenment, but turn and flow in birth and death. They are like the man who was laughed at because he saw the water but refused to drink.

译文

过去有一个人，愚痴无智慧，渴极了须要饮水，见炎热时远处野地里腾升的水气，以为是水，即便追寻而去，直逐至印度河边。既已到了河边，却定定地看着不饮。傍人说道：「你这么渴，望着水气而奔逐，如今到了水边，为何不饮呢?」愚人答道：「倘若可以饮尽的话，我便饮了。而今这水极多，完全不可饮尽，所以就不饮了。」众人当时听了这话，都哄然地嗤笑他。

这就好比那些外道，执着于事理的某一端，认为自己不能完全受持佛法的戒律，于是便索性一戒也不受持了，致使将来毫无得道的缘分，流转于生死苦海之中，不得出离。就如那个愚人见了水，却不饮，为当时人所笑，道理正是一致的。

原典

过去有人，痴无智慧，极渴须水，见热时焰，谓为是水，即便逐走，至辛头河①。既至河所，封视不饮。傍人语言：「汝患渴逐水，今至水所，何故不饮?」愚人答言：「若②可饮尽，我当饮之。此水极多，俱不可尽，是故不饮。」尔时众人闻其此语，皆大嗤笑。

譬如外道，僻取于③理，以己不能具持佛戒，遂便不受，致使将来无得道分，流转生死。若彼愚人见水不饮，为时所笑，亦复如是。

注释

①辛头河：即印度河，系俗语Simdhu的音译，玄奘《大唐西域记》作信度河，系梵文Sindhu的音译。

②「若」，《丽藏》作「君」，形似有误，今从宋、元、明三藏改。

③「于」，《丽藏》作「其」，今从宋、元、明三藏改。

源流

《中阿含经》卷三十二：譬如有人以渴入池而反渴还。(见《中华大藏经》第三十一册第六八四页)

解说

佛经中多有受持一戒而得道的记载。世间众生于浩瀚之法海，取其一瓢而饮，受持而行，也可祛除生死烦恼。《法句譬喻经》卷二载：有位大商贾，名叫波利，与五百估客入海求宝。当时海神掬着一捧水问波利道：「海水多呢，还是这一掬水多?」他答道：「这一掬水为多。海水虽多，无益于应急时用，不能救那饥渴之人：这一掬水虽少，恰碰上渴者，便可持用与他，以救性命。」(可参见《大正藏》第四册第五八五页)