弘明集 4.46

4.46

釋曰。豈其相迫一何務德。居吾語子。又何壯辭。凡為物之長。豈爭之所得。非唯不爭。必將下之。不可見尊冠百神便謂與百神爭長。無乃取之滕薛棄之體仁知。謂物有始卒無不死之地。求之域內實如來趣。前釋所謂勝類諸區有誠亦宜然者也。至如山經所圖仙傳所記。事關世載已不可原。況復道絕恒情理隔常照。必以於我。不然皆當絕棄。此又所不得安。

[Zheng Daozi] explains: “How could I be pressing you?”—how dedicated to virtue! “Sit, and I shall tell you”—what forceful words! In general, as for being the leader of all things, how could that be gained through contention? Not only does one not contend, one must surely place oneself below them. One must not, upon seeing that he stands atop the hundred spirits, immediately say that he contends with the hundred spirits for supremacy. Is this not taking from Teng and Xue while abandoning the embodiment of benevolence? You know that things have a beginning and an end, and that there is no land without death; seeking this within our realm is indeed as your intention suggests. As for what was explained before regarding the regions of superior kinds, in truth they are also like this. As for what is depicted in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* and recorded in the biographies of immortals, these matters concern historical eras and can no longer be traced; how much more so for the Dao, which cuts off mundane feelings, and principle, which transcends ordinary perception! If one must discard and abandon everything that does not appear so to oneself, this too is something one cannot rest content with.