弘明集 7.26

7.26

昔維摩者內乘高路功亮事外。龍隱人間志揚淵海。神灑十方理正天下。故乃跡臨西土協同幽唱若語其靈變也。則能令乾坤倒覆促延任意。若語其真照也。則忘慮而幽凝言絕者也。如此之人可謂居士。未見君稱居士之意也。君今七慢之岳未摧。五欲之谷未填。慧陽之日未曜。無明之雲未晴。永冥之風未息。夜遊之迷未旋。君既解猶常品而山號居士乎。貧道遙飡器量。知君未堪斯據。此雖大法之淺號。而亦未易可當矣。省君夷夏論意。亦具照來心。貧道踐學大壇希囑茲。況而此所論者。才無玩文之麗。識無鑒幽之效。照無寸光澤無露潤。萬塗斯闕有何義哉。而復內秉茫思獲心闇計。輕弄筆墨仰卜聖旨。或混道佛合同。或論深淺為異。或說神邦優劣。或毀清正虛實。夫苦李繁子而枝折欒大。謬唱而受梟。此皆是上世之成制後賢之殷鑒矣今將示君道佛之名義異也。夫佛者。是正靈之別號。道者。是百路之都名。老子者是一方之哲。佛據萬神之宗。道則以仙為貴。佛用漏盡為妍。仙道有千歲之壽。漏盡有無窮之靈。無窮之靈故妙絕杳然。千歲之壽故乘龍御雲。御雲乘龍者。生死之道也。杳然之靈者。常樂永淨也。若斯者故能琁璣並應。跡臨王城冥疎嶢闕。總委重軒故。放彼萬國誓越三空。龍飛華館整駕道場。於是初則唱於鹿苑。次則集於天宮。中則播於靈鷲。後則扇於熙連。故乃巨光遐照白日覆暉。華軒四蓋梵駕天垂。九天齊歌群仙悟機。敢預有緣莫不雲會歸焉。惟有周皇邊霸道心未興。是以如來使普賢威行西路。三賢並導東都。故經云。大士迦葉者老子其人也。故以詭教五千翼匠周世。化緣既盡迴歸天竺。故有背關西引之邈。華人因之作化胡經也。致令寡見之眾詠其華焉。君未詳幽旨輒唱老佛一乎。人聞大聖現儒林之宗。便使莊孔周老。斯皆是佛。若然者君亦可即老子耶。便當五道群品無非是佛。斯則是何言歟。真謂夸父逐日必渴死者也。君言夷夏論者。東有驪濟之醜。西有羌戎之流。北有亂頭被髮。南有剪髮文身。姬孔施禮於中。故有夷夏之別。戎華者東則盡於虛境。西則窮于幽鄉。北則逾於溟表。南則極乎空閻。如來扇化中土故。有戎華之異也。君責以中夏之性。效西戎之法者。子出自井坎之淵。未見江湖之望矣。如經曰。佛據天地之中而清導十方。故知天竺之土是中國也。周孔有雅正之制。如來有超俗之憲。雅正制故有異於四夷。超俗憲故不同於周孔。制及四夷故八方推德。憲加周孔故老子還西。老子還西故生其群戎。四夷推德故踰增其迷。夫正禮叵易真法莫移。正禮叵易故太伯則於吳越而整服。真法莫移故佛教則東流而無改。緣整服故令裸壤翫裳。法無改故使漢賢落髮。翫裳故使形逼中夏。落髮故使仰齊西風。形逼中夏故使山藏而空慢。遠齊西風故使近見者莫不信也。若謂聖軌無定。應隨方異者。太伯亦可裸步江東。君今亦可未服裳耶。故雖復方類不同聖法莫異。君言義將安取者。謂取正道也。於是道指洞玄為正。佛以空空為宗。老以太虛為奧。佛以即事而淵。老以自然而化。佛以緣合而生。道以符章為妙。佛以講導為精。太虛為奧故有中無無矣。即事而淵故觸物斯奧矣。自然而化故宵堂莫登矣。緣合而生故尊位可昇矣。符章為妙故道無靈神矣。講導為精故研尋聖心矣。有中無無故道則非大也。觸物斯奧故聖路遐曠也。宵堂莫登故云云徒勞也。尊位可昇故智士亡身也。道無靈神故傾顏何求也。研尋聖心故沙門雲興也。爾乃故知道經則少而淺。佛經則廣而深。道經則尠而穢。佛經則弘而清。道經則濁而漏。佛經則素而貞。道經則近而闇。佛經則遠而明。君染服改素實參高風也。首冠黃巾者。卑鄙之相也。皮革苫頂者。真非華風也。販符賣籙者。天下邪俗也。搏頰扣齒者。倒惑之至也。反縛伏地者。地獄之貌也。符章合氣者。姦狡之窮也。斯則明闇已顯真偽已彰。君可整率匹侶迴涉清衢。貧道雅德內顧同奉聖真。豈有惡乎。想必不逆。允於佳示耳。

Formerly, Vimalakīrti inwardly ascended the sublime path and his achievements shone beyond worldly matters. He concealed himself among humans like a dragon, while his aspirations soared in the deep ocean; his spirit sprinkled the ten directions and his principles rectified all under Heaven. Therefore, his traces descended upon the western land to harmonize with mysterious melodies. If one speaks of his spiritual transformations, he was able to turn heaven and earth upside down and contract or prolong [kalpas] at will. If one speaks of his true illumination, he forgot deliberate thoughts, quietly congealed in profundity, and surpassed words. Such a man may truly be called a lay devotee (upāsaka). I have not yet seen your intent in calling yourself a lay devotee. Now, your mountain of the seven arrogances has not yet collapsed; your valley of the five desires has not yet been filled; your sun of wisdom has not yet shone; your clouds of ignorance have not yet cleared; your wind of perpetual darkness has not yet subsided; and your bewilderment from wandering in the night has not yet turned back. Since your understanding remains that of the common sort, how can you arrogate the title of lay devotee in your mountain hermitage? From afar I have taken measure of your capacity, and I know you are not yet qualified to occupy this position. Although this is a modest title in the Great Dharma, it is still not easily assumed. Inspecting the intent of your Essay on Barbarians and Chinese (Yixia lun), I fully illuminate the mind that has come forth. This poor monk walks and studies at the great altar and rarely pays attention to such things, yet what is discussed here possesses neither the beauty of fine writing nor the efficacy of discerning the profound; its illumination lacks an inch of radiance and its moisture lacks the wetness of dew. Lacking in ten thousand ways, what principle does it contain? Furthermore, inwardly holding bewildered thoughts and harboring dark designs in your mind, you frivolously wield brush and ink to divine the sage's intent from below. At times you conflate Daoism and Buddhism as identical, at times you treat depth and shallowness as different, at times you speak of the superiority and inferiority of spiritual lands, and at times you disparage the purity, correctness, emptiness, and reality [of teachings]. Truly, when bitter plums bear dense fruit, their branches break; when Luan Da made false proclamations, he was executed. These are all established precedents from past generations and profound mirrors for later worthy men. Now I will show you that the names and principles of Daoism and Buddhism are different. The Buddha is a distinct designation for the orthodox spirit; the Dao is a general name for the hundred paths. Laozi is a philosopher of one region; the Buddha presides over the ancestor of the ten thousand spirits. The Dao values transcendents; the Buddha employs the extinction of outflows as perfection. The way of transcendents has a lifespan of a thousand years; the extinction of outflows possesses an inexhaustible spirit. Because of the inexhaustible spirit, it is wonderfully supreme and profound; because of the thousand-year lifespan, they ride dragons and drive the clouds. Driving the clouds and riding dragons is the path of birth and death; the profound spirit is constant joy and eternal purity. Being such, he was able to correspond with the revolving celestial jade, descending in bodily traces upon the royal city, leaving behind the towering palaces in the dark distance; abandoning the heavy carriages altogether, he renounced those ten thousand states and vowed to transcend the three empties. Flying like a dragon to the splendid halls, he prepared his chariot for the place of awakening. Thereupon, he first proclaimed it in the Deer Park, next gathered them in the heavenly palaces, in the middle disseminated it on the Vulture Peak, and at the end fanned [the flames of teachings] by the Hiraṇyavatī. Therefore, his immense light shone from afar and eclipsed the radiance of the white sun. Flowery carriages with four canopies and the Brahmā chariot descended from heaven; the nine heavens sang together and the host of transcendents awakened to the mechanism [of truth]. None who ventured to partake of the conditions failed to gather like clouds and take refuge. Only with the kings of Zhou, as peripheral hegemons, did the intention toward the Way not arise. For this reason, the Tathāgata sent Samantabhadra to exercise awe-inspiring authority along the western paths, while three worthies together guided the eastern capital. Therefore the scripture says: 'The Great Being Kāśyapa was the person of Laozi.' Thus with deceptive teachings of five thousand words he assisted and guided the Zhou generation. When the conditions for conversion were exhausted, he returned to Tianzhu. Hence there was the distant departure westward through the pass. Chinese people subsequently fabricated the Scripture of Converting the Barbarians (Huahu jing), leading those of scarce vision to chant its embellishments. Without examining the profound purport, how could you rashly proclaim that Laozi and the Buddha are one? When people hear that the Great Sage manifested as the ancestor of the Ruist forest, they immediately make Zhuangzi, Confucius, the Duke of Zhou, and Laozi out to be all Buddhas. If that were so, could you also be Laozi? Then the host of beings in the five destinies would all be Buddhas! What kind of talk is this? One may truly say that Kuafu chasing the sun will surely die of thirst. In your Essay on Barbarians and Chinese, you say: 'In the east there is the ugliness of the Li and Ji; in the west there is the sort of the Qiang and Rong; in the north there are disheveled hair and loose locks; in the south there are cut hair and tattooed bodies. The Ji and Confucius applied propriety in the center, and therefore there is the distinction between barbarians and Chinese.' As for the barbarians and the Chinese: the east terminates at the empty boundary; the west exhausts the obscure regions; the north surpasses the outer sea; and the south reaches the extreme of the void realm. The Tathāgata fanned his conversion in the Middle Land; therefore there is the difference between barbarians and Chinese. You reprove [people] for using the nature of the Central Huaxia to emulate the methods of the Western Rong; you have merely emerged from the depths of a well and have not yet beheld the expanse of the rivers and lakes. As the scripture states: 'The Buddha presides over the center of heaven and earth and purely guides the ten directions.' Hence we know that the land of Tianzhu is the Middle Kingdom. The Duke of Zhou and Confucius had elegant and orthodox institutions; the Tathāgata has regulations that transcend the mundane. Because of the elegant and orthodox institutions, they differ from the four barbarian tribes; because of the regulations transcending the mundane, he is not the same as the Duke of Zhou and Confucius. Because their institutions reached the four barbarians, the eight directions defer to their virtue; because his regulations surpassed the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, Laozi returned to the west. Because Laozi returned to the west, he gave birth to those hosts of Rong; because the four barbarian tribes deferred to virtue, their confusion increased all the more. Orthodox propriety cannot be altered; the true Dharma cannot be displaced. Because orthodox propriety cannot be altered, Taibo adjusted his garments in Wu and Yue; because the true Dharma cannot be displaced, the Buddhist teachings flowed east without change. Because he adjusted his garments, he caused a naked land to enjoy clothes; because the Dharma has no change, it caused Han worthies to shave their hair. Enjoying clothes made their forms approximate the Central Huaxia; shaving their hair made them look up and align with the Western wind. Forms approximating the Central Huaxia caused the mountains to hide [their wildness] and arrogance to vanish; distantly aligning with the Western wind caused those who observed them closely to all have faith. If you claim that sage tracks are not fixed and should vary according to the region, Taibo could just as well have walked naked east of the river, and you today could also go without wearing clothes! Therefore, although regions and types differ, the sage Dharma does not vary. When you ask which principle should be adopted, it refers to adopting the correct Dao. Thereupon, the Dao designates the Dongxuan as orthodox, while the Buddha takes emptiness of emptiness as the principal doctrine. Laozi takes the Great Void as the profound, while the Buddha is abyssal right within phenomena. Laozi transforms through natural spontaneity, while the Buddha arises through the confluence of conditions. The Dao takes talismans and registers as the wondrous, while the Buddha takes lecturing and guiding as the quintessential. Taking the Great Void as the profound means that within being there is no non-being; being abyssal right within phenomena means that in touching things all is profound. Transforming through natural spontaneity means that the night chamber cannot be ascended; arising through the confluence of conditions means that the exalted position can be mounted. Taking talismans and registers as the wondrous means the Dao has no spiritual deity; taking lecturing and guiding as the quintessential means scrutinizing the sage's mind. Because within being there is no non-being, the Dao is not great; because in touching things all is profound, the sage path is far and vast. Because the night chamber cannot be ascended, endless talk is in vain; because the exalted position can be mounted, wise men sacrifice their lives. Because the Dao has no spiritual deity, what is sought by bowing the face? Because lecturing and guiding scrutinize the sage's mind, śramaṇas rise like clouds. Thus one knows that Daoist scriptures are few and shallow, while Buddhist scriptures are broad and deep; Daoist scriptures are meager and defiled, while Buddhist scriptures are vast and pure; Daoist scriptures are turbid and have outflows, while Buddhist scriptures are plain and chaste; Daoist scriptures are near and dark, while Buddhist scriptures are distant and bright. When you dyed your robes and altered your plain attire, you truly joined this lofty wind. Crowning the head with a yellow turban is the mark of the low and base; covering the head with animal hide is truly not the Chinese style; peddling talismans and selling registers is the perverse custom of the realm; slapping the cheeks and clicking the teeth is the utmost of inverted confusion; binding the hands behind the back and lying prone on the ground is the appearance of hell; talismans and registers for blending qi are the extremity of deceit and treachery. Thus light and dark have been displayed, and true and false have been manifested. You ought to lead your companions to turn around and tread the pure avenue. This poor monk inwardly reflects on noble virtue and together we shall revere the sage truth—how could there be any malice? I expect you will not oppose it, and will assent to this fine instruction.