弘明集 8.25

8.25

夫質危秋蔕命薄春氷。業風吹蕩蓬迴化境。所以景公任於緣命。孫子記為行尸。迷徒湫學不識大方。至有疾病衰禍妄甚。妖祟之原淵鬼鸜以為災。渡危厄於遐川。𤐐釣星於懸瘤。雪丹章於華山。乃蹙鬚眉貌謑詬。冥鬼云。三官使者已送先歸逝者。故然空喪辭貨。斯實祭酒頑巾糈之利。蠶食百姓公私並損。致使火宅驚於至聖。歸歌動於人思矣。

One's material constitution is as precarious as an autumn stem, and life is as fragile as spring ice. The winds of karma blow and scatter it, swirling like tumbleweed through realms of transformation. Therefore Duke Jing resigned himself to conditions and fate, and Sunzi recorded people as walking corpses. Deluded followers of shallow learning do not recognize the Great Scope; when encountering sickness, decline, and disaster, their delusions become extreme. Finding the origin of demonic calamities in deep demons and mynas, they treat these as disasters; they cross dangerous straits on distant rivers, hang stones and fish for stars at steep crags, and write red tallies in the snow on Mount Hua. They knit their brows and make ugly grimaces, while subterranean demons say that the envoys of the Three Officials have already sent back the deceased. Thus, they pointlessly squander funeral goods. This is truly the profit of grain and silk for ignorant libationers; like silkworms eating mulberry leaves, they deplete the common people, harming both public and private interests. This causes the Utmost Sage to be alarmed at the burning house, and stirs human longing with songs of return.