禪林寶訓 2.70

2.70

Venerable Yuanji Cen wrote a colophon saying: 'As we are far from the Buddha's time, the orthodox lineage has grown faint; the frivolous and degenerate trends prevail, leaving no place untouched. The predecessors have withered away, and the younger generation has nothing to be known for; the exemplary models of the monastic grove have almost been swept to the ground. Even if there are those who rescue and support it, people conversely treat them as "Barbarian Wang." Now viewing Chan Master Ben of Shushan's "Disputing Flattery," the words are far-reaching and the meaning expansive; it is profound, clear, and thoroughly capable of admonishing their illness. But foolish and mediocre people, with their dim and narrow understanding, are infatuated with the realm of evil and flattery, and will surely take the finest ghee to be poison' (from *Conglin Shengshi*).