唐護法沙門法琳別傳 3.24

3.24

勅訓朝野令諷誦焉。若將孔老二家比方佛法。遠則遠矣。所以然者。孔老設教。法天制用。不敢違天。諸佛設教。天法奉行。不敢違佛。以此言之。實非比對明矣。吳主善之。因謂闞澤曰。卿博學精通覽無不悉。宜加太子太傅。領侍中尚書令如故。又梁武帝會三教詩曰。小年學周孔。弱冠窮六經。中復觀道書。有名與無名。晚年開釋卷。猶日映眾星。又案。宋光祿大夫顏之推云。佛家三世之事。信而有徵。萬行歸空千門入善。豈徒九經百氏之博哉。明非堯舜周孔老莊所及也。又牟子論曰。堯舜周孔老氏之化。比之於佛。猶白鹿之與麒麟。又後周王褒庭誥曰。道家之義則隳支體黜聰明。棄義絕仁離形去智。此域中之教也。釋氏之教。見苦斷集。證滅修道。明因辯果。革凡成聖。斯為教之極也。又今祕書監虞世南帝王略論亦言。老子之義。谷神不死玄牝長存。久視長生乘龍駕鶴。此區中之教也。夫釋氏之法。空有不滯人我兼忘。超出生死歸於寂滅。此象外之談也。且夫優劣之跡訓誥如然而大小之來在乎。

issuing an imperial decree to instruct the court and commoners to recite them. If one compares the two schools of Confucius and Laozi with the Buddha's Dharma, the distance is great indeed! Why is this so? When Confucius and Laozi established teachings, they took heaven as the model to regulate applications, not daring to oppose heaven; when the Buddhas established teachings, heavenly principles were put into practice, and they dared not oppose the Buddha. Speaking from this, it is truly clear that they are not comparable.' The Lord of Wu approved this, and thereupon said to Kan Ze: 'You are broadly learned, profoundly proficient, and have examined everything. You should be promoted to Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, concurrent with your previous positions as Palace Attendant and Minister of the Secretariat.' Moreover, Emperor Wu of the Liang wrote in his poem 'Gathering the Three Teachings': 'In early years I studied Zhou and Confucius; / coming of age, I exhausted the Six Classics. / In middle age I again observed Daoist books, / of the named and the nameless. / In late years I opened the Buddhist scrolls, / like the sun outshining the multitude of stars.' Furthermore, it is recorded that Yan Zhitui, Grand Master for Splendid Happiness of the Song, said: 'The matters of the three periods of time in the Buddhist school are trustworthy and have evidence; the ten thousand practices return to emptiness, and the thousand gates enter into goodness. How could it merely be the breadth of the Nine Classics and the hundred schools? Clearly it is beyond what Yao, Shun, Zhou, Confucius, Laozi, and Zhuangzi could reach.' Furthermore, the Master Mou's treatise states: 'The transformative teachings of Yao, Shun, the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, and Laozi, compared to the Buddha, are like white deer compared to the qilins.' Furthermore, Wang Bao of the Northern Zhou stated in his Court Admonitions: 'The principles of the Daoist school demolish the limbs and extinguish perception, abandon righteousness and sever benevolence, departing from form and discarding wisdom; this is a teaching within the realm. The teaching of the Śākyan lineage sees suffering, abandons its arising, realizes its cessation, and cultivates the path, clarifying causes and discerning effects, transforming the ordinary into the sagely; this is the ultimate of teachings.' Furthermore, the present Director of the Palace Library, Yu Shinan, also stated in his Diwang luelun: 'The principle of Laozi is that the valley spirit does not die, and the mysterious female endures forever; seeing long and living long, riding dragons and harnessing cranes; this is a teaching within the world. The Dharma of the Śākyan lineage does not stagnate in emptiness or existence, and forgets both self and others, transcending birth and death to return to quietude and cessation; this is a discourse beyond forms.' Now, the traces of superiority and inferiority are indeed as set forth in these instructions and admonitions, yet the advent of great and small rests with