Summary
s.1The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa begins with the dramatic story of an outcaste girl named Prakṛti, who falls in love with the venerable Ānanda but is subsequently led by the Buddha to liberation and arhathood. In order to explain these events to the upper-caste community of Śrāvastī, the Buddha narrates the story of a learned outcaste king, Triśaṅku, who sought to marry his son, Śārdūlakarṇa, to the daughter of an eminent brahmin named Puṣkarasārin. In this story, the outcaste king advances various arguments against the notion of caste and displays at length his brahmanical—mostly astrological—learning from past lives. When the brahmin’s pride is finally overcome, he grants his daughter’s hand in marriage. At the end of his narration, the Buddha reveals that he was the outcaste king at that time, and that Prakṛti and Ānanda were the brahmin maiden and the outcaste prince, thus showing that caste designations have little meaning in the light of karma and merit across multiple lives.
s.1《虎耳譬喻經》以一個名叫自在的旃陀羅女子的戲劇故事開始。她愛上了尊者阿難，後來被佛陀引領走向解脫和阿羅漢果。為了向舍衛城的上層種姓社群解釋這些事件，佛陀講述了一個博學的旃陀羅國王三香木王的故事。他想把兒子虎耳與一位著名婆羅門蓮華根的女兒聯姻。在這個故事中，旃陀羅國王提出了許多反對種姓觀念的論證，並詳盡展示了他前世中來自婆羅門教的學問——主要是占星術方面的知識。當婆羅門的驕傲最終被克服後，他同意把女兒嫁給虎耳。在他敘述結束時，佛陀揭示自己當時就是那位旃陀羅國王，而自在和阿難分別是婆羅門少女和旃陀羅王子，由此表明在業力和多世功德的光照下，種姓區別意義不大。