Once there was a fellow desperately in need of water for his thirst. On seeing the blazing fog, he mistook it for water. He pursued it until he reached the Indus River. But he only looked at it without drinking. A bystander asked, "You are suffering from thirst. Now that you have found water, why don't you drink it?"
The fellow answered, "If I could drink up all that water, I would do it. Since there is more water than I can finish, I would rather not drink it at all."
As soon as people heard this, they laughed aloud at him. The heretics, acting against all senses and reasons, think since they are unable to keep all the Buddhist commandments, they refuse to accept any of them. They will never attain the path of Enlightenment and thus subject to transmigration in time to come. They are just like that stupid thirsty fellow who gets laughed at by his contemporaries.
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。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。
The fellow answered, "If I could drink up all that water, I would do it. Since there is more water than I can finish, I would rather not drink it at all."
As soon as people heard this, they laughed aloud at him. The heretics, acting against all senses and reasons, think since they are unable to keep all the Buddhist commandments, they refuse to accept any of them. They will never attain the path of Enlightenment and thus subject to transmigration in time to come. They are just like that stupid thirsty fellow who gets laughed at by his contemporaries.
5 渴见水喻
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。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。
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