弘明集 1.62

1.62

又專誣以禍福為佛所作。可謂元不解矣。聊復釋之。夫吉凶之與善惡。猶影響之乘形聲自然而然。不得相免也。行之由己。而理玄應耳。佛與周孔但共明忠孝信順。從之者吉背之者凶。示其度水之方。則使資舟擑。不能令步涉而得濟也。其誨人之生救厄死之術。亦猶神農甞粒食以充飢虛。黃帝垂衣裳以御寒暑。若閉口而望飽。裸袒以求溫。不能強與之也。夫和鵲之所以稱良醫者。以其應疾投藥不失其宜耳。不責其令有不死之民也。且扁鵲有云。吾能令當生者不死。不能令當死者必生也。若夫為子則不孝為臣則不忠乎。守膏肓而不悟。進良藥而不御。而受禍臨死之日更多咎。聖人深恨。良醫非徒東走。其勢投穽矣。

Furthermore, they slanderously assert that misfortune and fortune are created by the Buddha. This may truly be called a fundamental lack of understanding. Allow me to explain it once again. Auspiciousness and ill fortune correspond to goodness and evil just as shadows and echoes follow forms and sounds—spontaneously and naturally, never failing to correspond. The action arises from oneself; the principle merely responds profoundly. The Buddha, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius together only made clear loyalty, filial piety, trustworthiness, and compliance. Those who follow them meet with good fortune; those who go against them meet with ill fortune. To show people the method for crossing water, one provides boats and oars; one cannot make them cross successfully on foot. The art of instructing people to live and saving them from distress and death is also like Shennong tasting the grains to satisfy empty hunger, and the Yellow Emperor hanging garments to ward off cold and heat. If someone keeps his mouth closed and hopes to be full, or strips naked and seeks to be warm, one cannot force it upon him. The reason Bianque and He are called good physicians is that they prescribe medicine according to the illness without missing what is suitable; they are not blamed for not producing an immortal populace. Moreover, Bianque had a saying: 'I can keep those who ought to live from dying, but I cannot make those who ought to die live.' If a son is unfilial and a minister is disloyal, nursing an incurable malady without waking up, and being offered good medicine yet refusing to take it, then on the day they suffer calamity and face death, they only multiply their blame. The sage laments this deeply; not only does the good physician flee eastward, but the situation is that they have cast themselves into a pit.