佛祖歷代通載 20.124

20.124

屏山曰。元城之說。為佛者慮盡矣。為儒者慮似未盡也。佛書精微幽隱之妙。佛者未必盡知。皆儒者發之耳。今已章章然矣。或祕而不傳其合於吾書者。人將謂五經之中初無此理。吾聖人真不知有此事。其利害亦非細也。吾欲盡發其祕。使天下後世共知六經之中有禪。吾聖人已為佛也。其為孔子地。不亦大乎。彼以寂寞枯槁為佛法。以報應因果廢人事。或至亂天下者。正以儒者不讀其書為所欺耳。今儒者盡發其祕。維摩敗根之議。破落空之偏見。般若施身之戒。攻著相之愚。夫上無蕭衍之禍。下無王縉之惑矣。雖極口而談著書而辨。其亦可也。學者其熟思之。

Pingshan said: "Yuancheng's theory considered everything for the Buddhists, but seems not to have considered everything for the Confucians. The subtle, abstruse, and hidden marvels of the Buddhist scriptures are not necessarily fully understood by Buddhists; it is Confucians who have revealed them. Today this is already clearly evident. If one conceals and does not transmit what harmonizes with our texts, people will say that no such principle originally existed in the Five Classics, and that our sages genuinely did not know of this matter; the consequences of this are by no means trivial. I wish to reveal all their secrets so that the world and future generations will collectively know that Chan exists within the Six Classics, and that our sages were already Buddhas. Is this not a great way to protect Confucius? Those who take loneliness and withered silence to be the Buddhist teachings, or who abandon human affairs on account of karmic retribution and cause and effect—sometimes even plunging the world into chaos—do so precisely because Confucians do not read their scriptures and are deceived by them. Now, if Confucians reveal all their secrets—using Vimalakīrti's discussion on rotten roots to smash the biased view of falling into emptiness, and the Prajñā admonitions on donating the body to attack the stupidity of clinging to form—then above there will be no calamity like Xiao Yan's, and below there will be no delusion like Wang Jin's. Even if one speaks of it to the utmost and writes books to debate it, that is entirely permissible. Let scholars reflect deeply on this!"