大乘百法明門論解 2.36

2.36

I replied, "I speak by taking the words of the sages and tracing the Way of the sages to its origin, that is all!" The Way of the sages is practiced by relying upon their nature! The sages fully realize that nature, while the common and foolish merely possess that nature; although the distinction between fully realizing and merely possessing is different upon examination, when one inspects the nature that is fully realized or possessed, there is no difference. Since the nature is equal, if one does not hold oneself and others accountable to the Way, one deceives both others and oneself. The offense of deceiving oneself is small, but the offense of deceiving others is great; yet the offense of deceiving others is not as grave as the even greater offense of deceiving many future generations. If later people look upon their predecessors, treat [teachings] carelessly and casually as trivial gossip, and transmit them indiscriminately to one another, this will cause later people to deceive yet later people again. If it is like this, then how rare it would be for the sages' Way of the two benefits not to degenerate into mere words and verses! Alas! I would rather risk the offense of speaking boldly than commit the offense of deceiving others. If one wishes to be completely blameless, how could one ever escape?