唐護法沙門法琳別傳 3.27

3.27

帝曰。法琳雖毀朕宗祖。非無典據。特可赦其極犯。徙在益部為僧。法師見放意不自得。因作悼屈原篇。用申厥志。其詞曰。何天道之幽昧兮。乖張列宿。使忠正之屈原兮。而見放逐。讒佞從旨兮。位顯名彰。直言不諱兮。遂焉逢殃。和璞捐於山澤兮。燕石為珍。西施嬮而不幸兮。嫫母見親。撫心思念屈原兮。博達廣識。君王不察其貞正兮。斥逐去國。納讒諂之詃惑兮。自昏厥德。燕蘇棄於荒野兮。蘩𧂉見殖。鸋鴃鳴嘯於君林兮。鵷鸞戢翼。豺狼當路而從橫兮。麟麕伏匿。鳳鳥尚知懷德兮。見覆巢而高翔。麒麟猶忻有道兮。矚不仁而騰驤。忠諫之不入兮。箕子佯狂。杜伯之諒直兮。遭尤逢殃。比干正而剖心兮。伍子胥貞而抉眼痛。清白之屈原兮。沈汨羅而不返。時京邑僧侶有流言於法師曰不能靜思澄神。求出要道。而浪製破邪辯正。忤擾天庭。致使主上瞋嫌釋教翻覆。汝若所陳必當寧容徙汝劍南。若於佛法有功。何乃陵遲若是。法師聞之謂三五友人曰。琳聞。主憂臣辱。主辱臣亡。弈謂僧是禿丁佛為胡鬼。斯言可忍孰不可容。于時大德如雲名僧若雨。縱引四含八藏。措筆無由。徒解九部三乘。置言何地。琳遂不量疎薄。誓紐頹綱。因乃捃摭典墳搜揚子集。曉其未喻挫彼邪言。遂使佞傅無辭李劉緘默。信知寸有所大。尺有不長。用珠彈鴞未若泥梗。

The Emperor said: "Although Falin defamed my ancestors, it was not without canonical basis. We specially pardon his capital offense and banish him to Yibu to be a monk." The Dharma Master, seeing that he was exiled, was displeased in his mind, and therefore composed the piece 'Lamenting Qu Yuan' to express his intent. Its words were: "How obscure and dim is the Way of Heaven! / It disrupts the orderly constellations. / Causing the loyal and upright Qu Yuan / to be exiled and driven out. / The slanderous and flatterers comply with intentions, / their positions eminent, their names renowned; / those of straightforward speech without evasions / subsequently meet with calamity. / The jade of He is discarded in mountains and marshes, / while stones of Yan are prized as treasures. / Xi Shi is spurned and unfavored, / while Mo Mu is shown affection. / Touching my heart, I reflect on Qu Yuan, / broadly learned and of wide knowledge; / the ruler did not perceive his loyalty and uprightness, / driving him away to leave the state. / Listening to the delusion of slander and flattery, / he dimmed his own virtue. / The fragrant herbs of Yan and Su are cast into the wilderness, / while coarse weeds are planted. / The shrike cries and shrieks in the ruler's forest, / while the phoenix and luan fold their wings. / Jackals and wolves block the road in rampage, / while the qilin and roe deer hide in concealment. / The phoenix still knows to cherish virtue, / soaring high upon seeing overturned nests; / the qilin still delights in possessing the Way, / galloping away upon beholding lack of benevolence. / When loyal admonitions were not accepted, / Jizi feigned madness; / Du Bo was sincere and upright, / yet met with blame and suffered calamity. / Bi Gan was upright and had his heart cut out; / Wu Zixu was loyal and had his eyes gouged out. / How painful that the pure and clean Qu Yuan / sank into the Miluo and never returned!" At that time, among the monks of the capital there were rumors circulating against the Dharma Master, saying that he was unable to quiet his thoughts and clarify his spirit to seek the essential path of transcendence, but recklessly composed the Poxie lun and Bianzheng lun, offending and disturbing the imperial court, causing the sovereign to harbor anger and suspicion against the teachings of Śākya and overturn them. "If what you set forth was truly appropriate, why would you be exiled to Jiannan? If you had merit with respect to the Buddha's Dharma, why would it fall into decay like this?" Hearing this, the Dharma Master said to a few friends: "Lin has heard: when the ruler is troubled, the minister is humiliated; when the ruler is humiliated, the minister dies. Fu Yi said that monks are bald louts and the Buddha is a foreign ghost. If such words can be tolerated, what cannot be borne? At that time, great virtuous ones were numerous like clouds, and famous monks poured like rain; yet even if they cited the four Āgamas and the eight piṭakas, they had no means to put brush to paper; though they understood the nine divisions and the three vehicles in vain, where could they place their words? Lin then, without measuring my own shallow inadequacy, vowed to re-tie the collapsed net. Therefore, I gathered from the ancient classics and searched among the philosophers and anthologies, enlightening those who had not yet understood and crushing those perverse words, so that the flatterer Fu had no words to say, and Li and Liu fell silent. Truly do I know that an inch may have its length, and a foot may have its shortness; using a pearl to shoot at an owl is not as good as using a mud pellet."