宋高僧傳 22.27

22.27

系曰：點點師而能劾鬼，別無高潔，軌生物善，亦與古人判冥司事者同邪？通曰：「所作在心，如不從正道力中生，則與五斗米道同。如不從有心符禁中起，則感鬼神歸信驅策之耳。故《善戒經》云：『若須神通應感化度，為示神足。』《莊嚴論》中菩薩以神通變化而為戲喜。又或此是辟支行位人也，故論云：『獨覺依彼彼村落乞食，以身濟度。不以語言示現種種神通境界，為令誹謗者歸向故。』」

The appraisal says: Master Diandian was able to prosecute ghosts, yet possessed no other loftiness or purity to serve as a model for living beings' good. Was he merely identical to the ancients who judged affairs of the underworld administration? The resolution says: "What one does lies in the mind. If it does not arise from the power of the correct path, then it is identical to the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice. If it does not originate from intentional talismans and incantations, then it is a case of ghosts and spirits being moved to take refuge, have faith, and be set to work. Therefore the Shanjie jing states: 'If supernatural powers are needed to transform and deliver [beings] in resonance with them, one manifests supernatural feats.' In the Mahāyāna-sūtrālaṅkāra, the bodhisattva takes supernatural transformations as playful joy. Furthermore, perhaps this was a person at the stage of the pratyekabuddha practice; thus the treatise states: 'The solitary enlightened one relies on this or that village to beg for food and delivers [beings] by means of his physical body. Not through speech does he display various supernatural realms, but to cause those who slander to turn toward [the Dharma].'"