禪林寶訓 3.37

3.37

Shantang said: "The way of the buddhas and patriarchs is nothing other than attaining the mean; exceeding the mean leads to deviation and crookedness. The affairs of the world must not be pushed to extremes; pushing them to extremes leads to calamity and disorder. Among people past and present who were neither temperate nor cautious, many were brought to the brink of peril and ruin! Yet who is without fault? Only when worthy and eminent individuals amend them without begrudging it is it called praiseworthy." (Letter to Zhao Chaoran)