idem 四毒蛇. The Fanyimingyi under this heading gives the parable of a man who fled from the two bewildering forms of life and death, and climbed down a rope (of life) 命根, into the well of impermanence 無常, where two mice, night and day, gnawed the rattan rope; on the four sides four snakes 四蛇 sought to poison him, i. e. the 四大 or four elements of his physical nature); below were three dragons 三毒龍 breathing fire and trying to seize him. On looking up he saw that two 象 elephants (darkness and light) had come to the mouth of the well; he was in despair, when a bee flew by and dropped some honey (the five desires 五欲) into his mouth, which he ate and entirely forgot his peril.

A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, William Edward Soothill and Lewis Hodous

四蛇===（譬喻）以喻地水火風之四大也。仁王經下曰：「識神無形，假乘四蛇，無明保養，以為樂車。」智度論十二曰：「篋中有四蛇，王敕罪人令看禮養育。（中略）四毒蛇者，四大。」最勝王經曰：「地水火風共成身，隨彼因緣招異果。同在一處相違害，如四毒蛇居一篋。於此四種毒蛇中，地水二蛇多沈下，風火二蛇性輕舉，由此背違眾病生。」

丁福保《佛學大辭典》