[9] Then, Bhaggava, Jāliya, the pupil of the wooden-bowl ascetic, rose from his seat and said to that assembly: "Well then, sirs, wait but a moment, while I go. Perhaps I shall be able to bring the naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta." Then, Bhaggava, Jāliya, the pupil of the wooden-bowl ascetic, approached the naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta at the wanderers' park at Tiṇḍukakhānu, and having approached, he said to the naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta:
"Come forth, friend Pāṭikaputta! It is better for you to come forth. The very well-known, very well-known Licchavis have come forth …; and the ascetic Gotama is sitting for the day's abiding (divāvihāra) in the venerable one's park. Moreover, friend Pāṭikaputta, this statement was made by you before the assembly at Vesālī: 'The ascetic Gotama too is one who speaks from knowledge (ñāṇavāda) … double that, double that shall I perform.' Come forth, friend Pāṭikaputta, just half-way. Having come the very first of all, the ascetic Gotama is sitting for the day's abiding in the venerable one's park. Moreover, friend Pāṭikaputta, this statement was made concerning you by the ascetic Gotama before the assembly: 'The naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta, friend, is incapable, without giving up that statement …, of coming face to face with me. Even if he should think, "Without giving up that statement … I might go face to face with the ascetic Gotama," his very head might split. Even if it should occur to the venerable Licchavis, "Let us bind the naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta with straps and drag him with yoked oxen," either those straps would break, or Pāṭikaputta would. Indeed, the naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta is incapable, without giving up that statement, without giving up that intention, without relinquishing that view, of coming face to face with me. Even if he should think, "Without giving up that statement … I might go face to face with the ascetic Gotama," his very head might split.' Come forth, friend Pāṭikaputta! By your very coming forth we shall make the victory yours, and the defeat the ascetic Gotama's."
When this was said, Bhaggava, the naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta, saying, "I am coming, friend! I am coming, friend!" just squirmed about right there and could not rise even from his seat. Then, Bhaggava, Jāliya, the pupil of the wooden-bowl ascetic, said to the naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta: "What is it with you, friend Pāṭikaputta? Are your buttocks stuck to the bench, or is the bench stuck to your buttocks? Saying, 'I am coming, friend! I am coming, friend!' you just squirm about right there and cannot rise even from your seat." Even when spoken to thus, Bhaggava, the naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta, saying, "I am coming, friend! I am coming, friend!" just squirmed about right there and could not rise even from his seat.
When, Bhaggava, Jāliya, the pupil of the wooden-bowl ascetic, knew, "This naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta is defeated; saying, 'I am coming, friend! I am coming, friend!' he just squirms about right there and cannot rise even from his seat," he then said to him:
"Once upon a time, friend Pāṭikaputta, this occurred to a lion, the king of beasts: 'Suppose I were to make my lair beside a certain forest thicket. Having made my lair there, in the evening I would emerge from my lair; having emerged from my lair, I would stretch myself; having stretched myself, I would survey the four quarters all around; having surveyed the four quarters all around, I would roar the lion's roar three times; having roared the lion's roar three times, I would set out for my hunting-ground. Having slain the very choicest of the deer herd and eaten the tenderest of the flesh, I would return to that same lair.' Then that lion, the king of beasts, made his lair beside a certain forest thicket; having made his lair there, in the evening he emerged from his lair; having emerged from his lair, he stretched himself; having stretched himself, he surveyed the four quarters all around; having surveyed the four quarters all around, he roared the lion's roar three times; having roared the lion's roar three times, he set out for his hunting-ground. Having slain the very choicest of the deer herd and eaten the tenderest of the flesh, he returned to that same lair.
Now, friend Pāṭikaputta, there was an old jackal, grown fat on the leavings of that very lion, the king of beasts—haughty and strong. Then, friend, this occurred to that old jackal: 'Who am I, and who is the lion, the king of beasts? Suppose I too were to make my lair beside a certain forest thicket. Having made my lair there, in the evening I would emerge from my lair; having emerged from my lair, I would stretch myself; having stretched myself, I would survey the four quarters all around; having surveyed the four quarters all around, I would roar the lion's roar three times; having roared the lion's roar three times, I would set out for my hunting-ground. Having slain the very choicest of the deer herd and eaten the tenderest of the flesh, I would return to that same lair.' Then, friend, that old jackal made his lair beside a certain forest thicket; having made his lair there, in the evening he emerged from his lair; having emerged from his lair, he stretched himself; having stretched himself, he surveyed the four quarters all around; having surveyed the four quarters all around, [thinking,] 'I shall roar the lion's roar three times,' he yelped only a jackal's yelp, he howled only a wretched jackal's howl. What are miserable jackals next to the lion's roar?
Even so, friend Pāṭikaputta, you, living upon the leavings of the Sugata, eating what is left over by the Sugata, presume that the Tathāgatas, the Arahants, the Fully Self-Awakened Ones may be assailed. What are miserable Pāṭikaputtas, and what is the assailing of the Tathāgatas, the Arahants, the Fully Self-Awakened Ones?"
When, Bhaggava, Jāliya, the pupil of the wooden-bowl ascetic, was unable even by this simile to make the naked ascetic Pāṭikaputta move from that seat, he then said to him:
"Surveying himself as 'a lion,'
the jackal conceived, 'I am the king of beasts!'
Yet he yelped only that same jackal's yelp—
what are miserable jackals next to the lion's roar?"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.