[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [弘明集](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2102) › 3.25 # 弘明集 3.25 弘明集 3.25 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [3.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2102.3.25) 夫雖云善權感應顯昧各依罪福。昔佛為眾又放光明。皆素積妙誠故得神遊。若時言成已著之筌。故慢者可覩。光明發由觀照邪見無緣瞻灑。今覩經而不悛其慢先灑。夫復何益。若誠信之賢獨朗神照。足下復何由知之而言者。會復謂妄說耳。恒星不見夜明也。考其年月即佛生放光之夜也。管幼安風夜泛海。同侶皆沒。安於闇中見光。投光赴島。闔門獨濟。夫佛無適莫。唯善是應而致應。若王祥郭巨之類不可稱說。即亦見光之符也。豈足下未見便無佛哉。又陳周孔之盛。唯方佛為弘。然此國治世君王之盛耳。但精神無滅冥運而已一生瞬息之中八苦備有。雖剋儒業以整俄頃。而未幾已滅三監之難。父子相疑兄弟相截。七十二子雖復升堂入室。年五十者曾無數人。顏夭冉疾由醢予族賜滅其鬚匡陳之苦。豈可勝言。忍飢弘道諸國亂流。竟何所救。以佛法觀之。唯見其哀。豈非世物宿緣所萃耶。若所被之實理。於斯猶未為深弘。若使外率禮樂內修無生。澄神於泥洹之境。以億劫為當年。豈不誠弘哉。事不傳後理。未可知。幸勿據麁跡而云。周孔則不然也。人皆謂佛妄語。山海經說死而更生者甚眾。崑崙之山廣都之埜。軒轅所之之國。氣不寒暑。鳳卵是食甘露是飲。廕玕琪之樹歃朱泉之水。人皆數千歲不死。及化為黃能入于羽淵申生伯有之類。丘明所說亦不少矣。皆可權此之麁以信彼之精者也。承昔有道聞佛法而斂者。必不啻作蒲城之死士可矣。當由所聞者未高故耶。足下所聞者高。於今猶可豹變也。人是精神物但使歸信靈極。粗稟教戒。縱復微薄亦足為感。感則彌升。豈非脫或不滅之良計耶。昔不滅之實事如佛言。而神背心毀自逆幽司。安知今生之苦毒者非往生之故爾耶。輕以獨見傲尊神之訓。恐或自貽伊阻也。 > Now, although they are called skillful means, manifestation and obscurity in spiritual response each depend on faults and blessings. Formerly, when the Buddha emitted bright light for the assembly, it was because they had long accumulated marvelous sincerity that they attained this spiritual wandering. If timely words have become an already manifest snare, the arrogant can behold them; but bright light arises from contemplative illumination, and those with deviant views have no cause to gaze upon its radiant sprinkling. Now, if they behold the scriptures without repenting their arrogance, what benefit would there be in sprinkling it beforehand? If sincere and faithful worthies alone are illuminated by this spiritual radiance, how would you, sir, know of it? If one speaks of it, you will just call it false talk again. When the constant stars were invisible, the night became bright; calculating the year and month, it was precisely the night when the Buddha was born and emitted light. When Guan You'an sailed the sea on a stormy night, his companions all drowned; You'an saw a light in the dark, hastened toward the light to reach an island, and his entire household alone was saved. The Buddha has neither partiality nor indifference; he responds solely to goodness. Responses brought about by cases like Wang Xiang and Guo Ju are beyond reckoning; these too are tallies of seeing the light. How could it be that just because you have not seen it, there is no Buddha? You also recounted the flourishing of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, asserting that only when compared to the Buddha can they be considered grand. Yet that was merely the flourishing of rulers governing the world in this land. The spirit, however, is not extinguished, but moves mysteriously on; within the fleeting moment of a single life, the eight sufferings are fully present. Though one may accomplish the Confucian enterprise to regulate a brief moment, before long it was extinguished: the revolt of the Three Overseers, fathers and sons suspecting each other, and brothers cutting each other down. Although seventy-two disciples ascended the hall and entered the chamber, scarcely a few reached the age of fifty. Yan \[Hui\]'s early death, Ran \[Geng\]'s affliction, \[Zhong\] You made into mincemeat, \[Zai\] Yu's clan exterminated, \[Duanmu\] Ci having his beard shaved, and the hardships in Kuang and Chen—how can they be fully recounted? Enduring hunger to propagate the Dao while the various states fell into turmoil, what was ultimately saved? Viewing it through the Buddha's Dharma, one sees only sorrow; is this not the convergence of past karma of worldly beings? If measured by the real principle conveyed, this cannot yet be considered profound and grand. If one externally conforms to rites and music while internally cultivating non-arising, clarifying the spirit in the realm of Nirvāṇa and regarding a hundred million kalpas as a single season, would that not truly be grand? These matters were not transmitted to posterity, and their principle cannot yet be known; I hope you will not rely on coarse traces to say that the Duke of Zhou and Confucius were not like this. People all claim that the Buddha spoke falsely; yet the Shanhai jing speaks of many who died and were reborn. In the Kunlun Mountains and the wilderness of Guangdu, the lands traversed by Xuanyuan, the air is neither cold nor hot; people eat phoenix eggs, drink sweet dew, rest under the shade of jade trees, and sip the waters of the vermilion spring, living for several thousand years without dying. As for turning into a yellow bear and entering the Yu Abyss, or the likes of Shen Sheng and Boyou, what Zuo Qiuming recounted is likewise not scarce. One can use the coarseness of these accounts to believe in the refinement of those \[in Buddhism\]. I have heard that in the past, those who possessed the Dao and heard the Buddha's Dharma and restrained themselves surely went beyond being dead men of Pucheng. This was likely because what they heard was not yet elevated, was it not? What you have heard is elevated; even now, you can undergo a leopard-like transformation. Man is a spiritual being; if you merely take refuge with faith in the spiritual ultimate and roughly receive the teachings and precepts, even if slight and feeble, it will suffice to bring about a response. When there is a response, one will ascend ever higher; is this not a fine plan in case one is not extinguished? If the reality of non-extinction in the past was as the Buddha said, and the spirit turned away while the mind slandered, going against the unseen authorities, how do you know that the bitter poisons of this life are not the result of past lives? If, relying lightly on your own partial views, you treat the teachings of the revered spirit with arrogance, I fear you may bring obstacles upon yourself. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 3.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2102.3.24) - [Next: 3.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2102.3.26) - [Up: 3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2102.3) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2102~en-mt.3.25) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2102.3.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2102.3.25) · Pramāṇa