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《賢愚因緣經》中，有一則有趣的故事說的是：有一修道有成者與波旬魔鬥法，尊者將死狗屍化為寶冠戴在魔頭上；魔盡其神力不能去除，求遍諸天，皆是無用，只得請求尊者慈悲除穢。為了達到目的魔，曲意奉承
，將尊者比作法力無邊的佛陀。不料尊者回答道：佛之於他，百千萬倍不可比喻；況且
他生在佛法末世，無緣看到如來，須魔示現佛相，以便觀之。恰恰魔有這般神通，於是雙方約定：尊者不得禮拜假佛。
可當佛身赫然出現時，尊者卻俯下身去。
魔有些不高興，恢復原形後，責問尊者為何禮他。尊者回答：「我自禮佛，不禮於你 」。
魔無言可答，只得再次謝罪，請求去除死狗。尊者告訴他，如果你起慈悲心，愛護眾生，死狗變成寶飾；若懷惡意，寶飾仍成死狗。魔因此有了畏懼，經常去發善想。
這個波旬是個有意思的魔頭，他曾在釋迦牟尼將成佛時，率領各路魔眾進行圍攻，結果敗下陣來。這次蠻橫的結果，使他有了點自知之明，至少他還有點恭敬心；否則他為何不在對手禮拜自己的化身之後，沾沾自喜呢？應該說：這位尊者請魔化佛，在客觀上
起了一次教化作用。這對世人也是一種教化 ，一個能化身為佛的魔，竟然不能去除頭上的狗屍，這說明了什麼？
而那位尊者更是有意思的修行者。他雖然身在人間，卻已具有很大的神通，能用遊戲的方式，向魔王進行嚴肅的告誡。最精彩的
是他那句「我自禮佛，不禮於你」，這不是一句「不卑不亢」就能解釋的，也不是悠然輕鬆所能形容的。只有心無障礙，才能這般從容自在。
至於始終沒露面的佛，也可以說在虛空中亮過相了。魔王畏懼佛，聖者尊崇佛；僅此一面，就能體現法界一心，萬德具足的佛相了。佛之所以佛，魔之所以魔，人之所以人
，法界原來如此啊！
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There is an interesting story in the Sutra of the Causes
and Conditions of the Virtuous and the Foolish. A
cultivator was fighting with the demon Papiyan. The
cultivator transformed a dog's corpse into a crown and
placed it on the demon's head. Papiyan used all its
spiritual powers, but could not take it off. He asked
for help from the gods, but to no avail. Finally he
pleaded with the cultivator to have mercy and remove the
filthy thing. In order to achieve his goal, Papiyan was
willing to do anything. He even compared the cultivator
to the Buddha, who has limitless Dharma-power. The
cultivator unexpectedly replied that the Buddha was a
hundred million times better than he, and that no
comparison was possible. Since he had been born in the
Dharma-Ending Age and had no opportunity to see the Thus
Come One, the cultivator wanted the demon to manifest in
the form of a Buddha for him to take a look. Papiyan
happened to have the spiritual powers to do this, and so
they both agreed that the cultivator would not pay
respect to the phony Buddha.
However, when the demon appeared in
the form of a Buddha, the cultivator bowed. Papiyan was
irritated, and after resuming his original form he asked
the cultivator why he had bowed. The cultivator replied,
"I was paying respect to the Buddha, not to you."
Papiyan was speechless, and could
only ask the cultivator to forgive him and remove the
dog's corpse from his head. The cultivator told him, "If
you bring forth compassion and cherish all living
beings, the dead dog will become jewelled ornament; if
you harbor mean thoughts, the jewelled ornament will
turn into a dead dog." Papiyan became afraid and
constantly brought forth good thoughts.
Papiyan was an interesting demon
king. He led the demonic hordes to attack Shakyamuni
Buddha right before he attained Buddhahood, but his
efforts to disrupt the Buddha's cultivation failed.
Because of that failure, he at least learned to have a
bit of respect for the Buddha. That's why he was not
secretly delighted when the cultivator bowed to him when
he was appearing as a Buddha. Objectively speaking, when
the cultivator asked Papiyan to transform himself into a
Buddha, the demon learned a lesson. This incident also
carries a teaching for us: the demon could transform
himself into a Buddha, but could not remove a dog's
corpse from his head--what does that indicate?
The cultivator was an interesting
practitioner. Even though he was in the human realm, he
had great spiritual powers and was able to give advice
to Papiyan in a fun way. The best part was his
statement, "I was paying respect to the Buddha, not to
you." That was not a matter of decency or
comfortableness. Only a person with no attachments
whatsoever can be so natural and at ease.
The Buddha, who never appeared in
this story, actually made his presence felt. From the
demon king’s fear of the Buddha and the cultivator's
respect for the Buddha, we can perceive the form of
Buddha, whose mind encompasses the Dharma Realm and who
is endowed with all virtues. That's why the Buddha is a
Buddha, demons are demons, and human beings are human
beings--the Dharma Realm is just that way.
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