佛祖歷代通載 22.6

22.6

辯曰。夫根深果茂。源遠流長。虎嘯風生。龍吟霧起。聖人利見皆有深源。昔植善因今感妙果。我佛世尊三無數劫積行累功。六度無捨而求菩提。棄身命如恒河沙。捐國城如微塵數。莊嚴世界誘掖群生。然後應然燈記。補迦葉位。下生中印託化王宮。七步周行指天地而猶貴。三十二相映日月而爭輝。四王捧足出塵寰。六年行滿而成道。現身百億國土。說法四十九年。播聲教於人天。摧外道於雙樹。化緣事畢却返無為。應物適時如是示現。何待老子始化尹喜變身。掩他神功矜為己勝。佛生周昭之代。老降定王之朝。世隔一十七帝。年經三百餘祀。化已滿於天下。教已滿於龍宮。家仰仁慈之風。國遵釋氏之範。豈假李耳重整煩陀再現。援前著後諂誑庸愚。昔日過關。雇徐甲而為從。奚有天人侍衛乎。乘鹿柴車。何有七寶之座乎。廣顙聃耳。焉有萬丈之身乎。狡侫不經欺賢誷聖。鯤化為鵬。蓋緣自變。蛇蛻為雉。匪假他功。此皆物理自然。陰陽感召。待時而發。非他使然。老子自是凡人。身為臣子。何能別生神聖更使尹喜作佛。昧自心靈瞎他眼目。悖禮慢聖殃報拔舌。善惠仙人將登八地。遇然燈佛受無生記。此乃世尊往昔之號。既然成佛功成果滿。化緣事畢入於涅槃。遷神常樂之鄉。永入無為之境。豈可作佛事畢更作善惠仙人。將後著前一何錯亂。妄竊不真壞人視聽。夫上天雖樂終是輪迴。不免三災之殃。難逃五衰之苦。聖人超出生死苦樂兩忘。高超三界之津獨步六塵之表。何返歸天上却入囂塵。雜污我聖人。欺謾我大覺。此同棄天子之尊嚴。慕廝養之賤役。捨華堂之廣廈。悅蔀屋之茅簷。汝欣賈奕之榮。我恥糞土之辱。隋大臣楚國公楊素行經樓觀。見壁間畫像問道士曰。此何圖也。道士對曰。老子化胡成佛圖。素曰。承聞老子化胡。胡人不受。老子變身作佛。胡人方受。是則佛能化胡。道不能化。何言老子化胡也。道士不能加答。善哉楊素之言。此通人之論云。若胡人不先知有佛。詎肯受佛之化乎。以此考之。則印土先有佛矣。而言尹喜作佛老子始變。何欺吾門之深。乎（樓觀尹喜故宅在開之南。今道士居之仍在）。

Refutation: When roots are deep, the fruit is lush; when a spring is distant, the stream runs long. When the tiger roars, the wind rises; when the dragon chants, the mists gather. The auspicious appearance of sages always has deep origins: having planted good causes in the past, they now elicit wondrous fruit. Our Buddha, the Bhagavān, accumulated practices and piled up merit throughout three incalculable kalpas, seeking bodhi through the six pāramitās without withholding anything, casting away body and life as numerous as the sands of the Gaṅgā, and abandoning kingdoms and cities as numerous as fine dust motes. Adorning worlds and guiding sentient beings, he then responded to Dīpaṃkara's prediction, succeeded to the rank of Kāśyapa, descended to be born in Central India, and took birth in the royal palace. Pacing seven steps all around, he pointed to Heaven and Earth as the most venerable; his thirty-two marks vied in brilliance with the sun and moon. The Four Heavenly Kings held up his feet to bear him out of the worldly dust; with his six years of practice fulfilled, he achieved the Way. He manifested his body across a hundred kotis of lands, expounded the Dharma for forty-nine years, spread his voice and teachings throughout the human and heavenly realms, and destroyed the non-Buddhists beneath the twin trees. Once the matters of his transformative ties were concluded, he returned to the unconditioned. Such were his manifestations according to conditions and appropriate to the times. Why would he have needed Laozi to first transform Yin Xi into a Buddha, concealing another's divine achievements and claiming them as his own superior deeds? The Buddha was born in the era of King Zhao of Zhou, whereas Lao[zi] descended in the reign of King Ding; separated by seventeen sovereigns and more than three hundred years, the [Buddha's] transformation had already filled the world, and his teaching had already filled the dragon palaces. Households looked up to the breeze of his benevolence; the realm honored the standards of the Śākya clan. How could it rely on Li Er to reorganize it, or on Fantuo to reappear? Tacking the earlier onto the later is flattery and deceit played upon the foolish! Formerly, when crossing the pass, he hired Xu Jia as his attendant—how could he have had devas and humans as his escort? Riding a rustic cart, how could he have had a seven-jeweled throne? With a broad forehead and drooping ears, how could he have had a body of ten thousand fathoms? This is deceitful, heterodox absurdity, cheating the worthy and slandering the sages! When the kun transforms into the peng, it is due to self-transformation; when a snake molts into a pheasant, it does not rely on another's power. These are all the nature of things, elicited by yin and yang, bursting forth when the time arrives, not caused by another. Laozi was simply an ordinary man, himself a subject and minister; how could he produce another divinity and further cause Yin Xi to become a Buddha? This is blinding one's own mind and gouging out the eyes of others. Flouting propriety and slighting the sages incurs the karmic retribution of having one's tongue ripped out! The Sage Shanhui, when about to ascend to the eighth bhūmi, met Dīpaṃkara Buddha and received the prophecy of non-arising: this was the former name of the Bhagavān. Since he had already attained Buddhahood, his merit realized and his fruit perfected, and once the matters of his transformative ties were concluded, he entered nirvāṇa, conveying his spirit to the realm of permanent bliss and forever entering the sphere of the unconditioned. How could he, having completed the deeds of a Buddha, become the Sage Shanhui again? Tacking the later onto the earlier—what utter confusion! Fraudulently stealing what is untrue corrupts people's sight and hearing. Now, although the heavens are joyful, they are still within saṃsāra, not exempt from the calamity of the three disasters and unable to escape the suffering of the five signs of decay. The Sage transcends birth and death, forgetting both suffering and joy; he soars high above the fords of the three realms and walks alone beyond the six dusts. Why would he turn back to the heavens and re-enter the worldly clamor, polluting our Sage and deceiving our Great Awakened One? This is like abandoning the majestic dignity of the Son of Heaven to long for the menial labor of a groom, or abandoning the spacious halls of a splendid mansion to delight in the thatched eaves of a humble shack. You rejoice in the glory of the Jiayi Heaven; I feel shame at the disgrace of dung. Under the Sui, Grand Duke of Chu Yang Su, passing by Louguan, saw the murals on the wall and asked the Daoist: 'What picture is this?' The Daoist replied: 'It is the picture of Laozi Converting the Hu and Becoming a Buddha.' Su said: 'I have heard that when Laozi tried to convert the Hu, the Hu people would not accept him; only when Laozi transformed into a Buddha did the Hu people accept him. If so, it is the Buddha who was able to convert the Hu, and the Dao that was unable to convert them. Why say that Laozi converted the Hu?' The Daoist could give no answer. Excellent indeed were Yang Su's words—this is the argument of an understanding man! If the Hu people had not known beforehand that there was a Buddha, how would they have been willing to accept the transformation of a Buddha? Examining it by this, India already had a Buddha beforehand. Yet they say that Yin Xi became a Buddha and Laozi only then transformed—how deeply have they deceived our school! (The Louguan was originally the residence of Yin Xi, south of the pass; Daoists still reside there today.)