dn23:21.0 2.10. The Simile of the Fire-Worshiping Matted-Hair Ascetic
BAGIAN 21
dn23:21.1 “Well then, chieftain, I shall give you a simile.
dn23:21.2 For by means of a simile some sensible people understand the meaning of what is said.
dn23:21.3 Once upon a time, a certain fire-worshiping matted-hair ascetic settled in a leaf hut in a wilderness region.
dn23:21.4 Then a caravan came out from a certain country.
dn23:21.5 It stayed for one night not far from that ascetic’s hermitage, and then moved on.
dn23:21.6 The ascetic thought,
dn23:21.7 ‘Why don’t I go to that caravan’s campsite? Hopefully I’ll find something useful there.’
dn23:21.8 So he went, and he saw a little baby boy abandoned there.
dn23:21.9 When he saw this he thought,
dn23:21.10 ‘It’s not proper for me to look on while a human being dies.
dn23:21.11 Why don’t I bring this boy back to my hermitage, nurse him, provide for him, and raise him?’
dn23:21.12 So that’s what he did.
dn23:21.13 When the boy was ten or twelve years old, the ascetic had some business come up in the country.
dn23:21.14 So he said to the boy,
dn23:21.15 ‘My dear, I wish to go to the country.
dn23:21.16 Serve the sacred flame.
dn23:21.17 Do not extinguish it.
dn23:21.18 But if you should extinguish it, here is the hatchet, the firewood, and the bundle of drill-sticks. Light the fire and serve it.’
dn23:21.19 And having instructed the boy, the ascetic went to the country.
dn23:21.20 But the boy was so engrossed in his play, the fire went out.
dn23:21.21 He thought,
dn23:21.22 ‘My father told me to serve the sacred flame.
dn23:21.26 Why don’t I light it again and serve it?’
dn23:21.27 So he chopped the bundle of drill-sticks with the hatchet, thinking,
dn23:21.28 ‘Hopefully I’ll get a fire!’
dn23:21.29 But he still got no fire.
dn23:21.30 He split the bundle of drill-sticks into two, three, four, five, ten, or a hundred parts. He chopped them into splinters, pounded them in a mortar, and swept them away in a strong wind, thinking,
dn23:21.31 ‘Hopefully I’ll get a fire!’
dn23:21.32 But he still got no fire.
dn23:21.33 Then the matted-hair ascetic, having concluded his business in the country, returned to his own hermitage, and said to the boy,
dn23:21.34 ‘I trust, my dear, that the fire didn’t go out?’
dn23:21.35 And the boy told him what had happened.
dn23:21.47 Then the ascetic thought,
dn23:21.48 ‘How foolish is this boy, how incompetent! For how on earth can he seek a fire so irrationally?’
dn23:21.49 So while the boy looked on, he took a bundle of fire-sticks, lit the fire, and said,
dn23:21.50 ‘Dear boy, this is how to light a fire.
dn23:21.51 Not the foolish and incompetent way you sought it so irrationally.’
dn23:21.52 In the same way, chieftain, being foolish and incompetent, you seek the other world irrationally.
dn23:21.53 Let go of this harmful misconception, chieftain, let go of it!
dn23:21.54 Don’t create lasting harm and suffering for yourself!”