摩訶止觀 5.278

5.278

本既不齊，迹亦不齊。佛迹世世是正天竺金輪剎利；莊、老是真丹邊地小國，柱下書史、宋國漆園吏，此云何齊？佛以三十二相、八十種好纏絡其身；莊老身如凡流，凡流之形痤小醜篾。經云：「閻浮提人，形狀如鬼。」云何齊佛？佛說法時放光動地，天人畢會叉手聽法；適機而說，梵響如流，辯不可盡。當於語下言不虛發，聞皆得道。老在周朝，主上不知，群下不識，不敢出一言諫諍，不能化得一人；乘壞板車出關西，竊說尹喜，有何公灼？又漆園染毫題簡，句治改足，軋軋若抽；造《內、外篇》以規顯達，誰共同聞？復誰得道？云何得齊？如是不齊，其義無量，倦不能說。云何以邪而干於正？

Since the source is already unequal, the traces are also unequal. The Buddha's traces through life after life are as a golden-wheel-turning kṣatriya in proper India; Zhuangzi and Laozi were in small border states of Zhen-dan, a keeper of the archives beneath the pillars, and an official of the lacquer garden in the state of Song—how could they be equal? The Buddha's body was adorned with the thirty-two marks and eighty minor characteristics; the bodies of Zhuangzi and Laozi were like ordinary mortals, and the forms of ordinary mortals are dwarfish, ugly, and wretched. A sutra says: "The people of Jambudvīpa have forms like ghosts." How could they equal the Buddha? When the Buddha preached the Dharma, he emitted light and shook the earth, devas and humans gathered completely, listening to the Dharma with palms joined; he spoke in accord with their capacities, his brahma-voice flowing like a torrent, his eloquence inexhaustible. Immediately upon his words, not an utterance was in vain, and all who heard attained the way. Laozi lived during the Zhou dynasty: his ruler did not recognize him, the multitude of subjects did not know him, he dared not utter a single word to remonstrate or dispute, and he was incapable of converting a single person; riding a broken wooden cart west through the pass, he secretly instructed Yin Xi—what public brilliance was there in that? Moreover, the one of the lacquer garden dipped his brush and inscribed bamboo slips, editing and polishing phrase by phrase, straining as if drawing silk; he composed the *Inner and Outer Chapters* aiming for prominence and renown, but who heard them together with him? And who attained the way? How could they be equal? Such inequalities are boundless in meaning; I weary of recounting them. How can the heterodox interfere with the orthodox?