萬善同歸集 3.45

3.45

答：「上根玄解，何假相施？中下鈍機，須憑事發；不覩正相，但染邪宗。秖如此土，像教未來，惟興外道，罔知真偽，莫辨靈蹤。伏自漢明夢現金身，吳帝瑞彰舍利，爾後國王長者，方知歸敬之門，哲士明人，頓曉棲神之地。是知迹能顯本，相可通真；因筌得魚，理事無廢。是以木母變色，金像舒光；道藉人弘，物由情感。能生淨種，敬假像而開心；不結信緣，遇真儀而不見。是以迷之則本末咸喪；了之則真假俱通。若驗斯文奚生取捨？或廣興供養，發大志誠；意業功深，修因力大。是以貧女獻潘澱，而位登支佛；童子進土[麩-夫+少]，而福受輪王。」

He replied: “For superior faculties of profound understanding, what need is there to rely on phenomenal forms? Those of middling and inferior dull faculties must rely on phenomena to arouse [faith]; without beholding correct forms, they will only be tainted by heterodox traditions. Just as in this land, before the Teaching of Images arrived, only non-Buddhist paths flourished: they did not know true from false, nor could they discern the traces of the wondrous. Ever since Emperor Ming of the Han dreamed of the golden body appearing, and the Emperor of Wu had the auspicious relic manifest, only then did kings and elders know the gate of taking refuge and paying reverence, and philosophers and illuminated persons suddenly understand the abode where the spirit settles. Thus one knows that traces can reveal the source, and forms can lead to truth; one catches the fish by means of the trap, and neither principle nor phenomena are neglected. Therefore, the wooden mother changed her color, and the golden statue emitted radiance; the Way relies on humans to be propagated, and things respond according to sentiment. One who can generate pure seeds opens their mind by revering provisional forms; one who has not forged a karmic condition of faith will not see the true appearance even if encountering it. Therefore, if one is deluded about this, both source and branches are lost; if one understands it, both the true and the provisional are unobstructed. If one examines these accounts, how could one give rise to grasping and rejecting? Or one may broadly raise offerings and generate great sincerity; when the karmic fruit of the mind is deep, the power of cultivating the cause is immense. Therefore, a poor woman offered rice-washing water and attained the rank of a pratyekabuddha; a boy presented earth-flour and received the merit of a cakravartin.”