Another explanation might be that the precept directly reflected
　　　　  cultic practice and is not explicitly modeled on a textual
　　　　  antecedent. Here is the Fanwang jing precept in its entirety:
　　　　  If a son of the Buddha is to practice with a good mind, he should
　　　　  start by studying the proper decorum, the scriptures and the
　　　　  regulations (lu) of the Mahayana so that he thoroughly understands
　　　　  their meaning and sense. Later he will meet bodhisattvas who are new
　　　　  to this study and who have come a hundred or a thousand li in search
　　　　  of the scriptures and regulations of the Mahayana. In accordance
　　　　  with the dharma he should explain to them all the ascetic practices,
　　　　  such as setting fire to the body, setting fire to the arm, or
　　　　  setting fire to the finger. If one does not set fire to the body,
　　　　  the arm or the finger as an offering to the Buddhas, one is not a
　　　　  renunciant bodhisattva. Moreover, one should sacrifice the feet,
　　　　  hands and flesh of the body as offerings to hungry tigers, wolves,
　　　　  and lions and to all hungry ghosts.
　　　　  Afterwards to each and every one of them one should preach the true
　　　　  dharma, so that one causes the thought of liberation to appear in
　　　　  their minds. If one does not behave in this way, then this is a
　　　　  lesser wrongdoing.(15)
　　　　  Body burners and their exegetical champions (such as Yanshou) could
　　　　  point to this text with some confidence and say that as "renunciant
　　　　  bodhisattvas" they were merely doing as the Buddha had told them.
　　　　  The Shouleng'yan jing, unlike the Fanwang jing, is a meditation
　　　　  sutra rather than a precepts sutra, but the following extract
　　　　  appears in a section of the text that is certainly disciplinary in
　　　　  intent. The Buddha speaks to Ananda about the Vinaya and explains to
　　　　  him those prohibitions against lust, stealing, lying, and killing
　　　　  that he deemed particularly appropriate during the period of the
　　　　  decline of the dharma (mofa).(16) Right in the middle of the
　　　　  discussion of the prohibition against stealing, and (seemingly)
　　　　  apropos of nothing in particular, we find the f6flowing passage:
　　　　  The Buddha said to Ananda, `After my Nirvana, if there is a bhiksu
　　　　  who gives rise to a mental state wherein he is determined to
　　　　  cultivate samadhi, and he is able to burn his body as a torch or to
　　　　  set fire to a finger joint before an image of the Tathagata, or even
　　　　  to burn a stick of incense on his body, then in a single instant he
　　　　  will have repaid the debts of his previous existences since the
　　　　  beginningless past. He will always avoid [being reborn] in the world