弘明集 11.12

11.12

釋法明白。巨論爰降。敬覽移日。馥若幽蘭。清若蕙風。貧道器非霜頴運非庖生。動乖理間獨躓疑族。良由辭訥旨滯劇難星陳。愚謂貳暗寄奇鑒觀示見。鞠躬歌讚感動靈變。並趣道之津梁。清升之嘉會。故宜寄觀雙舉疑驗兩行。豈得罷絕示見頓漏神采。齊軌姬孔同範世訓。放光動地徒為空言。夫法身凝寂妙色湛然。故能隱顯順時行藏莫測。顯則乘如而來。隱則善逝而去。即言求旨何愆十號哉。餘暉所映足光季俗。信者豈以熒燭增疑。正向旦白黑比肩。塔像經書彌滿世界。學者豈以無證自悔。又引七經義兼未來。積善餘慶積惡餘殃。雖新新生滅交臂代謝。善惡之業不得不受。此乃過明三世愈亮七經。徵翰檢實則聞命矣。前論云。帝王姬孔訓止當世。來生之事存而不論。故其隱見廢興權實莫辨。似若矛盾義將安寄。當仁不讓。伏聽淵賾。前疏粗述至聖沈浮。而義据未照辭況未泯。謹更詳究共弘至道。夫群生長寢於三有。眾識永惛於六塵。潛移為吞噬之主。相續為迴轉之輪。形充逆旅之館。神當過憩之賓。往來三惡而苦楚。經離八難而酸辛。欣樂暫娛憂畏永劫。一身死壞復受一身。雖世智辨聰群書滿腹。百家洞了九流必達。知死生有命富貴在天。鬼神莫之要。聖哲不能豫。未免謬見以翳情。疑似以干慮。寄懷於巫精。投誠於符呪。執邪以望正。存偽以待真。遲迴於兩心。躊躇於二逕。放光動地。其可見乎。所以玄籍流布列筌待機。機動必感。感而後應者也。自有棲志玄宅下操淵達逾明。一生若朝露。辨三世之不虛。縱轡於清真之術。斂控於濁偽之衢。植德耘邪而薈蔚。樹福灌正而扶疏。苦節競辰於寸陰。潔己爭逝於桑榆。懷誠抱向感而遂通。豈不親映光榮而覩其靈變哉。若耳眼所自了。或通夢之所見。如漢明因夢以感聖。大法於是而來遊。帝主傾誠以歸德。英豪斂袵以服化。沙門齊肩於王公。僧尼直躬於天子。九十六種孰為高哉。宋武皇帝始登帝位。夢一道人提鉢就乞。因而言曰。君於前世施夷衛佛一鉢之飯。居得斯位。遣問嚴公徵其虛實。嚴公即送七佛經呈聞。吳主孫權初疑佛法無驗。當停罷省遂獲舍利。光明照宮。金鐵不能碎。爐冶不能融。今見帝京建初寺是。吳郡有石佛。浮身海水。道士巫師人從百數。符章鼓舞一不能動黑衣五六朱張數四。薄爾奉接遂相勝舉。即今見在吳郡北寺。淳誠至到者莫不有感。朱張連世奉佛。由覩驗。致郭文舉祇崇三寶正信堅明。手探虎鯁深識安危。蘭公拂嚴雪於猛獸。護公感枯泉而洪流。並高行逸群清神邁俗。皆有異迹。世咸記焉。自茲以外。不可勝論。貧道少情學業。迄于白首孤陋寡聞。彰於己誠直言朴辭。未必可採不亢當。伏慚悚。謹白。

Shi Faming speaks: Your grand treatise has been graciously bestowed upon me. I have read it reverently for days. It is as fragrant as hidden orchids and as pure as a thoroughwort breeze. As for this poor monk, my capacity is not sharp like frost, and my fortune is not that of Ding the cook: with every step I fail to strike between the joints of principle, and alone I stumble over points of doubt. This is truly because my words are halting and my meaning is obstructed, so that it is utterly difficult to array them like stars. In my foolish view, relying on the unseen relies on the extraordinary, while observing appearances demonstrates manifestation. Bowing, singing praises, and moving spiritual transformations are all ferries toward the Dao and splendid gatherings for pure ascent. Therefore, it is appropriate that relying [on the unseen] and observing [manifestation] be raised together, and that doubt and verification proceed side by side. How could one totally extinguish visible manifestations and suddenly leave behind spiritual radiance, making [the Buddha's] path merely conform to the Duke of Zhou and Confucius and sharing the same mold as worldly instruction, so that emitting light and shaking the earth become mere empty words? The Dharma-body is coagulated and quiescent, and the wondrous form is limpid and clear. Thus it can hide or manifest in accordance with the times, and its movements and concealments cannot be measured. Manifesting, it comes as one who has ridden Suchness; hiding, it departs as the Well-Gone One. When seeking the meaning from the words, how does it fault the Ten Epithets? The illumination cast by its lingering light is enough to brighten the latter-day world. How could believers increase their doubt on account of a glimmering candle? At dawn, monastics and laity stand shoulder to shoulder, and stupas, images, and scriptures fill the world. How could scholars regret their efforts due to a lack of verification? Moreover, you cite the Seven Classics as also containing the meaning of the future: 'Accumulating goodness brings surplus celebration; accumulating evil brings surplus calamity.' Although arising and ceasing anew with each thought exchange across arms in alternate succession, the karmic deeds of good and evil must inevitably be experienced. This illuminates the three times all the more and renders the Seven Classics even clearer. Examining the texts and investigating the facts, I respectfully hear your instruction. The previous treatise stated that emperors, kings, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius confined their teachings to the present world, preserving the matters of future lives without discussing them. Thus, whether they concealed or manifested, discarded or promoted, the expedient and the real could not be distinguished; it seemed contradictory, and where was the principle to rest? In the face of benevolence, one does not yield: I bow and listen to your profound subtlety. The previous letter roughly set forth the emergence and submersion of the Supreme Sage, but its doctrinal basis was not yet clear and its verbal illustrations were not yet dispelled. I now respectfully examine it in greater detail to jointly promote the Supreme Dao. Living beings sleep for long in the three realms of existence, and their consciousnesses are perpetually darkened by the six sense-dusts. Subtly shifting, they become the prey of devouring predators; continuing in succession, they turn on the revolving wheel. The body serves as an inn for travellers; the spirit acts as a guest pausing in transit. Passing back and forth in the three evil destinies, they suffer bitter pain; undergoing the eight difficulties, they endure misery and distress. Joys and pleasures are momentary delights, while sorrow and fear last for eternal kalpas. One body dies and disintegrates, and another body is received again. Even if worldly wisdom and eloquence are keen, all the books fill the belly, the hundred schools are thoroughly comprehended, and the nine lineages of thought are mastered, knowing that life and death have their destiny and wealth and honor depend on Heaven, yet ghosts and spirits cannot demand it, nor can sages and philosophers anticipate it. They still fail to avoid erroneous views obscuring their feelings and doubts and hesitations disturbing their thoughts. They lodge their hopes in shamans and spirits, and entrust their sincere faith to talismans and incantations. Grasping the heterodox, they look toward the upright; harboring the false, they wait for the true. Hesitating between two minds and wavering between two paths, how could the emitting of light and shaking of the earth ever be seen by them? Therefore, the profound texts were spread abroad and the nets of words were set out waiting for opportune capacities. When the capacity is moved, resonance inevitably follows; only after resonance is there a response. There are those who naturally lodge their intent in the profound abode and whose base conduct is deep, penetrating, and ever clearer. Viewing a single lifetime as like morning dew, they discern that the three times are not empty. They give free rein to their steeds on the path of purity and truth, and draw their reins on the thoroughfare of turbidity and falsehood. Planting virtue and weeding out evil, their [goodness] grows luxuriant; cultivating merit and watering righteousness, it spreads forth wide. Competing for every inch of time in austere discipline, purifying themselves, they vie to advance before the twilight years. Harboring sincerity and embracing aspiration, their resonance immediately penetrates. How could they not personally reflect that brilliant glory and witness its spiritual transformations? As for what is clearly understood by ears and eyes, or what is seen through dreams—it was like Emperor Ming of the Han, who was moved by the Sage through a dream, whereupon the Great Dharma came travelling [to China]. The sovereign poured out his sincere heart to take refuge in virtue; heroes straightened their robes to submit to conversion. Śramaṇas stood shoulder to shoulder with kings and dukes, and monks and nuns held themselves upright before the Son of Heaven. Among the ninety-six varieties [of non-Buddhists], which could be considered higher? When Emperor Wu of the Song first ascended the imperial throne, he dreamed of a Daoist practitioner carrying an alms-bowl who approached him to beg, and thereupon said to him: 'In a past life, you offered a single bowl of rice to Vipaśyin Buddha, and on that account you obtain this throne.' He dispatched someone to inquire of Master Yan to verify its truth, and Master Yan immediately submitted the Sūtra on the Seven Buddhas for imperial perusal. Sun Quan, the ruler of Wu, initially doubted that the Buddha-Dharma had any verification and was about to abolish it; he then obtained a relic, whose radiance illuminated the palace, which gold and iron could not crush, and which kilns and smelters could not melt. The present Jianchu Monastery in the imperial capital is that place. In Wu commandery there was a stone Buddha that floated upon the seawater. Daoist masters and shamans, followed by hundreds of people, used talismans, petitions, drumming, and dancing, but could not move it at all. Five or six monks in black robes and three or four members of the Zhu and Zhang families simply made a slight gesture of reverent reception, and they lifted it together with ease. It is present now in the North Monastery of Wu commandery. Among those whose pure sincerity reached the utmost, none failed to have a resonance. The Zhu and Zhang families served the Buddha for successive generations because they had witnessed this verification. Guo Wenju worshipped the Three Jewels, his right faith firm and clear; he reached into a tiger's throat to remove a bone, deeply understanding peace and peril. Master Lan brushed severe snow off a fierce beast, and Master Hu caused a parched spring to gush a torrential flow through his resonance. All of them possessed lofty conduct that surpassed the crowd, and their pure spirits transcended the vulgar world; all had extraordinary traces that were recorded by the world. Beyond these, they cannot be counted. This poor monk had little love for study in his youth, and now having reached white hair, I remain shallow, solitary, and of narrow hearing. Displaying my sincere feelings in straightforward words and simple phrasing, they may not necessarily be worthy of selection or appropriate. I bow in shame and trepidation. Respectfully spoken.