弘明集 5.9

5.9

省更生論。括囊變化窮尋聚散。思理既佳。又指味辭致亦快。是好論也。然吾意猶有同異。以令萬物化為異形者。不可勝數。應理不失。但隱顯有年載。然今萬化猶應多少有。還得形者無。緣盡當須冥遠耳目不復開逐。然後乃復其本也。吾謂形既粉散。知亦如之。紛錯渾化為異物。他物各失其舊。非復昔日。此有情者所以悲歎。若然則足下未可孤以自慰。

I have examined your Treatise on Rebirth. It encompasses transformations and exhausts the investigation of gathering and dispersing. Its conceptual reasoning is fine, and its expressive flavor and style are delightful; it is indeed a good treatise. However, my opinion still holds differences. Regarding the myriad things transforming into different corporeal forms, they are countless; responding to principle, they do not err, yet their concealment and manifestation span years and ages. Now, among the myriad transformations, there should still be more or less some. Are there none who regain their corporeal forms? When conditions are exhausted, they must become dark and distant, their ears and eyes no longer opening or pursuing; only then do they return to their root. I maintain that when the corporeal form turns to dust and disperses, sentience does likewise, chaotically mingling and transforming into different things. Other things each lose their former state and are no longer as in past days. This is why sentient beings lament. If this is so, then you cannot yet take solace in this alone.