英文：

　　Once upon a time there was a man who dropped a silver bowl into the sea while crossing it. he pondered, "i'm going to make a mark on the water. i'm carrying on my journey now. but i'll come back for it later."

　　After two months' travel during which he visited ceylon and many other countries. on seeing a river, he jumped into the water looking for the bowl he had lost before.

　　"What are you doing there?" people asked.

　　He replied, "i have lost my bowl. now i would like to get it back."

　　People went on, "when did you lose it?"

　　He answered, "i lost it crossing the sea."

　　Again people asked, "how long ago did you lose it?"

　　He answered, "i lost it two months ago."

　　People asked, "since you lost it two months ago in the sea, why are you looking for it here in the river?"

　　He answered, "i made a mark on the water where i lost the bowl. this water looks the same as the other. there seems no difference. that's why i'm doing this."

　　People went on, "though all waters are identical, the place that you have lost it is there. how can you find it here?"

　　Everybody jeered at him.

　　The heretics, who do not practice the right religious belief, but a fallacious one, suffer from their useless mortification in seeking deliverance. those men are just like the stupid man who has lost his bowl in the sea and looked for it in the river.

　　古文：

　　昔有人乘船渡海，失一銀釪，墮于水中。即便思念：“我今畫(huà)水作記，舍之而去，后當(dāng)取之。”

　　行經(jīng)二月，到師子諸國(guó)，見(jiàn)一河水，便入其中，覓本失釪。

　　諸人問(wèn)言：“欲何所作？”

　　答言：“我先失釪，今欲覓取。”

　　問(wèn)言：“于何處失？”

　　答言：“初入海失。”

　　又復(fù)問(wèn)言：“失經(jīng)幾時(shí)？”

　　言：“失來(lái)二月。”

　　問(wèn)言：“失來(lái)二月，云何此覓？”

　　答言：“我失釪時(shí)，畫(huà)水作記。本所畫(huà)水，與此無(wú)異，是故覓之。”

　　又復(fù)問(wèn)言：“水雖不別。汝昔失時(shí)，乃在于彼；今在此覓，何由可得？”

　　爾時(shí)眾人，無(wú)不大笑。

　　亦如外道，不修正行，相似善中，橫計(jì)苦因，以求解脫，狀如愚人，失釪于彼，而于此覓。

　　譯文：

　　從前有一乘船渡海的人，不慎把銀制的器皿掉到海里。當(dāng)時(shí)他想：“我現(xiàn)在就在水面上做個(gè)記號(hào)，以后再來(lái)打撈。”過(guò)了兩個(gè)月，他到達(dá)師子國(guó)，看到一條河，就到水中尋找那只丟失的銀盆。旁邊的人問(wèn)道：“想做什么呢？”他回答：“我以前丟失了一只銀盆，現(xiàn)在想找回來(lái)。”旁人又問(wèn)：“在什么地方丟的？”回答說(shuō)：“在剛渡海的時(shí)候。”又接著問(wèn)：“丟了多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間？”回答說(shuō)：“丟失了兩個(gè)多月了。”又問(wèn)：“丟失兩個(gè)月了，為何在這里找呢？”他回答：“我丟失銀盆時(shí)，在水面做了記號(hào)，原來(lái)在水面劃的記號(hào)，與這里沒(méi)有不同，所以在這里尋找。”旁人又接著再問(wèn)：“水雖沒(méi)有不同，但你以前丟失是在別處，現(xiàn)在卻在這里尋找，怎么可以找到呢？”這時(shí)周圍的人都對(duì)此大笑不止。

　　這就好比外道的修行者，不去參悟佛理，專門修習(xí)相似善法，刻意苦行，來(lái)求得解脫。就像愚蠢的人，在海中丟失銀器，卻在河中尋找。