三論玄義 1.6

1.6

覈人第二。問：佛名大覺、老曰天尊，人同上聖、法俱妙極。苟欲存異，將非杜不二之玄門、傷得一之淵府哉（蓋是道士用三洞、靈寶等經立義）？答：悉達處宮，方紹金輪聖帝；能仁出俗，遂為三界法王。老為周朝之柱史，清虛是九流之派。子若欲令人一法同，何異堆阜共安明等高、螢燭與日月齊照。問：同人者之五情、異人者之神明，迹為柱史、本實天尊，據實而談，齊之一貫。答：《漢書》亦顯品類，以伯陽為賢；何晏、王弼稱老未及聖。設令孔是儒童、老為迦葉，雖同聖迹，聖迹不同。若圓應十方八相成佛，人稱大覺，法名出世，小利即生人天福善、大益即有三乘賢聖，如斯之流為上迹也。至如孔稱素王、說有名儒，老居柱史、談無曰道，辨益即無人得聖，明利即止在世間。如此之類，為次迹矣。

Second, assessing the persons. Question: The Buddha is called the Greatly Awakened One, and Laozi is called the Heavenly Worthy; as persons they are both supreme sages, and their dharmas are equally wondrous and ultimate. If you insist on maintaining differences, would that not block the profound gate of non-duality and harm the deep repository of attaining oneness? (This is Daoist masters establishing doctrines using texts like the Three Caverns and Lingbao scriptures.) Answer: While Siddhārtha resided in the palace, he was to succeed as a gold-wheel-turning sage emperor; when the Muni left secular life, he became the Dharma King of the three realms. Laozi was a scribe of the Zhou court, and his pure emptiness is merely a branch of the nine schools. If you wish to make the persons one and the teachings identical, how does this differ from claiming that an earthen mound is of equal height to Mount Sumeru, or that the light of a firefly or candle shines equally with the sun and moon? Question: Those who resemble others possess the five emotions; those who differ from others possess spiritual illumination. His trace was that of a scribe, but his origin was truly the Heavenly Worthy. Speaking according to reality, they are aligned in a single unity. Answer: The Book of Han also clearly classifies categories, ranking Boyang among the worthy; He Yan and Wang Bi stated that Laozi did not yet reach the level of sage. Even if Confucius was the youth Māṇava and Laozi was Kāśyapa, though their sagely traces were both of sages, sagely traces are not identical. If one perfectly responds to the ten directions and achieves Buddhahood through the eight phases, the person is called the Greatly Awakened One, and the dharma is named world-transcending; its minor benefit brings the blessings and goodness of humans and devas, and its great benefit produces the worthy and noble ones of the three vehicles: such a kind belongs to the superior traces. As for Confucius being called the Uncrowned King and speaking of existence being named Confucianism, and Laozi occupying the post of scribe and speaking of non-being being named the Dao: discerning their benefits, no one attained sagehood; clarifying their advantages, they stopped merely at the mundane. Such kinds belong to the secondary traces.