(24) TO CULTIVATE THE BOILED SESAME

Once upon a time, a stupid man who, after eating the raw sesame, found it not as tasty as the boiled kind. He said to himself, "I would boil the sesame before cultivating it. This way I could produce better sesame."

He then boiled and cultivated it as he had planned. However, the attempt failed altogether.
So are the people at large who consider it difficult to follow Bodhisattva's practice, due to the strict requirement of eternities of the strenuous efforts. Finding no pleasure, they think that it will be easier for them to become Arahant's by cutting quickly off the transmigration, without realizing that they would never attain Buddhahood that way, just as the boiled seed that would never grow.
This is just like the story of the stupid who tried to cultivate boiled sesame.

24种熬胡麻子喻

昔有愚人，生食胡麻子，以为不美，熬而食之为美，便生念言：不如熬而种之，后得美者。便熬而种之，永无生理。

世人亦尔，以菩萨旷劫修行，因难行苦行，以为不乐，便作念言：不如作阿罗汉，速断生死，其功甚易。后欲求佛果，终不可得。如彼焦种，无复生理。世间愚人，亦复如是。

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