弘明集 12.22

12.22

外國風俗還自不同。提婆始來。義觀之徒莫不沐浴鑽仰。此蓋小乘法耳。便謂理之所極。謂無生方等之經皆是魔書。提婆末後說經。乃不登高座。法顯後至泥洹始唱。便謂常住之言眾理之最。般若宗極皆出其下。以此推之。便是無主於內。有聞輒變。譬之於射後破奪先。則知外國之律非定法也。

The customs of foreign lands are themselves not uniform. When Deva [Saṃghadeva] first arrived, everyone among [Hui]yi and [Hui]guan bathed in and closely studied his teachings. These were merely Hīnayāna teachings, yet they claimed they were the ultimate truth, asserting that the sūtras of non-arising and the Vaipulya scriptures were all works of Māra. Later, when Deva preached the scriptures, he did not even mount the high seat. Later, when Faxian arrived and the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] was first proclaimed, they claimed the words of permanence were the supreme among all principles, and that the ultimate doctrine of Prajñā fell beneath them. Deducing from this, they simply lack inner mastery and change whenever they hear something new. Comparing it to archery, when a later shot hits the mark, it surpasses the earlier one; thus one knows that the foreign vinaya is not a fixed, immutable rule.