弘明集 6.7

6.7

又云。蔬餐而已。夫人間有不贍之匱。山澤無委積之儲。方宜取給復乘之以法。所向九折於何得立。若堂堂聖世而有首陽之餓。夫明明時雍而有赴海之死。客於雅懷何如。然體無毛羽不可袒而無衣。腹非匏瓜不可繫而不食。自未造極要有所資。年豐則取足於百姓。時儉則肆力以自供。誠非所宜事不得已。故蝮蛇螫手斬以求全。推其輕重。蓋所存者大。雖營一己不求無獲。求之不必一塗。但令濟之。有理亦何嫌。多方以為煩穢其欲。域使不得妄動。何故執之甚乎。昔伯成躬耕以墾殖。沮溺耦作以修農。陶朱商賈以營生。於陵灌蔬以自供崔文賣藥以繼乏。君平卜筮以補空。張衡術數以馳名。馬鈞奇巧以騁功。此等直是違俗遁世之人耳。未正見有邈然絕塵與。物天隔而咸共嗟詠不輟於口。然沙門之中迹超諸人恥與流輩。動有萬數至於體道。神化超落人封非可算計。而未曾致言。何其黨乎。宜共思校事實。不可古今殊論。眾寡異辭。希簡為貴猥多致賤。恐非求精覈理之談也。云自可廢之以一風俗。是何言與。聖人不誣十室三人必有師資。芳蘭並茂而欲蘊崇焚之。不亦暴乎。其中自有德宇淵邃。器標時望。或翹楚皦潔棲寄清遠。或禪思入微澄神絕境。或敷演微言散幽釋滯。或精勤福業勸化崇善。凡出家之本落髮抽簪之日。皆心口獨誓情到懇至雖生死彌淪玄塗長遠。要自驅策必階於道。金輪之榮忽若塵垢。帝釋之重蔑若粃糠。始皆精誠乃有所感。自非一舉頓詣體備圓足。其間何能不有小失。且當錄其真素。略舉玄黃。安渾舉一概無復甄別。不可以管蔡之釁姬宗盡誅。四兇之暴合朝流放。此何異人苦頭虱因欲并首俱焚。患在足刺遂欲通股全解。不亦濫乎。

"Furthermore, you say, 'They eat only vegetarian food.' Indeed, in the human world there is the scarcity of insufficiency, and mountains and marshes have no accumulated reserves. Just when they should obtain provisions, you burden them with the law; turning nine times in the path, how could they stand firm? If in a grand, sagely age there were the starvation on Mount Shouyang, or in a bright, harmonious era there were the drowning in the sea, how would that accord with your refined sentiments? However, having no fur or feathers on the body, one cannot be bared without clothing; having a stomach that is not an inedible gourd, one cannot hang without eating. Before having reached the ultimate, one must have that by which one is sustained. When the year is plentiful, they obtain sufficiency from the common people; when the season is lean, they exert effort to supply themselves. This is truly not what is ideal, but an inevitable necessity. Therefore, when a viper bites the hand, one cuts it off to preserve the whole. Weighed in their light and heavy aspects, what is preserved is greater. Although they manage their own persons, they do not seek without attaining; seeking need not take only a single path. Provided that relieving needs has principle, why resent multiple means as defiling their desires? Confining them so they cannot act at all—why must you be so obstinate? In antiquity, Bocheng plowed in person to reclaim land; Changju and Jieni worked yoked together to tend agriculture; Tao Zhu traded as a merchant to make a living; the scholar of Wuling watered vegetables to supply himself; Cui Wen sold medicine to stave off lack; Yan Junping performed divination to fill his needs; Zhang Heng won fame through arts and calculations; and Ma Jun displayed success with extraordinary contrivances. These were merely people who went against custom and escaped the world; they were not yet seen as having transcended the dust from afar, severed from the world like heaven, yet all people ceaselessly praised and recited them. However, among the śramaṇas, those whose traces surpass these figures and who are ashamed to associate with their ilk often number in the tens of thousands; as for those who embody the Dao, whose spirit transforms and transcends the human realm, they cannot be calculated, yet you have never spoken of them. How partial you are! We should together consider and compare the facts; you cannot hold differing views for the past and present, or use different words for the few and the many. Valuing the rare and simple while holding the numerous and vulgar in contempt—I fear this is not a discussion that seeks precision and verifies principle. You say, 'They could simply be abolished to unify customs'—what kind of talk is this? The sage does not deceive: in a hamlet of ten households, among three people there must be teachers and elders. When fragrant orchids flourish together, to wish to gather and burn them—is that not cruel? Among them, there are naturally those whose virtuous demeanor is profound and vast, whose capacity marks the aspiration of the times: some are preeminent and pristine, lodging their dwellings in the pure and remote; some have dhyāna contemplation that enters the subtle, purifying their spirit in the transcendent realm; some expound subtle words, dispelling obscurity and resolving blockages; some are diligent in the enterprise of merit, exhorting transformation and exalting good. In general, as for the origin of leaving household life, on the day they shave their hair and draw out their hairpins, all make solitary vows with heart and mouth, their feelings reaching utmost sincerity. Although life and death are vast and submerged, and the mysterious path is long and remote, they must urge themselves on and surely step onto the Dao. The glory of a wheel-turning king is suddenly regarded as dust and dirt; the gravity of Śakra is despised like chaff. At the beginning, all have refined sincerity and thus attain resonance. Unless one attains realization abruptly in a single leap and embodies complete perfection, how could there not be minor faults in between? One should simply record their genuine simplicity and broadly raise their dark and yellow shades; how can you lump everything together into one category with no further discrimination? One cannot, because of the transgression of Guan and Cai, execute the entire Ji clan; nor, because of the violence of the Four Calamities, banish the entire court. How is this different from a person who, suffering from head lice, wishes to burn the head along with them, or, troubled by a thorn in the foot, wishes to sever the entire thigh? Is that not excessive?"