弘明集 12.37

12.37

尚書令冠軍撫軍都鄉侯臣充。散騎常侍左僕射長平伯臣翌。散騎常侍右僕射建安伯臣恢。尚書關中侯臣懷守。尚書安昌子臣廣等言。詔書如右。臣等闇短。不足以讚揚聖旨宣暢大義。伏省明詔震懼屏營。輒共尋詳有佛無佛。固非臣等所能定也。然尋其遺文鑽其要旨。五戒之禁實助王化。賤炤炤之名行。貴冥冥之潛操。行德在於忘身。抱一心之情妙。且興自漢世迄于今日。雖法有隆衰而弊無妖妄。神道經久未有比也。夫誼有損也況必有益。臣之愚誠實願塵露之微增潤嵩海。區區之況上卑皇極。今一令其拜遂壞其法。令修善之俗廢於聖世習實生常必致愁懼隱之。臣心竊所未安。臣雖矇蔽豈敢以偏見疑誤聖聽。直謂世經三代人更明聖。今不為之制無虧王法而幽冥之格可無壅滯。是以復陳愚誠。乞垂省察。謹啟。

Your subjects, He Chong, Prefect of the Masters of Writing, Champion General, Pacifying Army, and District Marquis; Chu Yi, Cavalier Regular Attendant, Left Vice Director, and Earl of Changping; Zhuge Hui, Cavalier Regular Attendant, Right Vice Director, and Earl of Jian'an; Feng Huai, Master of Writing, Intendant, and Marquis within the Passes; and Xie Guang, Master of Writing and Viscount of Anchang, say: The imperial decree is as stated to the right. We subjects are benighted and deficient, insufficient to praise and elevate Your sagely intent or to broadcast and propagate the great principle. Prostrating ourselves and reviewing the enlightened decree, we are shaken with fear and apprehension. We have investigated and deliberated together: whether there is a Buddha or no Buddha is assuredly not something that your subjects can determine. Yet examining the surviving texts and delving into their essential purports, the prohibitions of the five precepts truly assist the royal transformation. They disparage glaring reputations and conduct, and value hidden, dark integrity. The practice of virtue lies in forgetting one's body, embracing the subtle sentiment of a single mind. Furthermore, since its rise in the Han era down to the present day, although the teaching has experienced rises and declines, in terms of abuses there have been no妖 or delusion; in terms of spirits enduring through time, there has been no parallel. Even when there is harm, there must be benefit; how much more so when there must be benefit! The foolish sincerity of your subjects truly desires that the insignificance of dust and dew may add moisture to Mount Song and the ocean; our humble circumstances lower us before the imperial ultimate. If now we make them bow in a stroke, their Dharma will be ruined, causing the custom of cultivating the good to be abolished in a sagely age; when habit becomes nature, it will surely bring sorrow and dread. Concealing this within our subjects' hearts, we privately feel uneasy. Although we are blind and ignorant, how could we dare use a partial view to deceive the sagely hearing? We merely maintain that through three generations of reigns, the people have experienced enlightened sages. If now we do not make regulations for them, there will be no defect in the royal law, and the patterns of the unseen realm may remain free of obstruction. Therefore we state our foolish sincerity again, begging You to deign to examine and inspect it. Respectfully submitted.