弘明集 8.49

8.49

滅惑論曰。至道宗極理歸乎一。妙法真境本固無二。佛之至也。則空玄無形而萬象並應。寂滅無心而玄智彌照。幽數潛會莫見其極。冥功日用靡識其然。但言象既生假名。遂立胡言。菩提漢語曰道。其顯跡也。則金容以表聖。應俗也則王宮以現生。拔愚以四禪為始。進慧以十地為階。總龍鬼而均誘。涵蠢動而等慈。權教無方不以道俗乖應。妙化無外豈以華戎阻情。是以一音演法殊譯。共解一乘敷教異經。同歸經典。由權故孔釋教殊而道契解同。由妙故胡漢語隔而化通。但感有精麁故。教分道俗。地有東西故國限內外。其彌綸神化陶鑄群生無異也。用能振拔六趣總攝大千。道惟至極法惟最尊。然至道雖一岐路生迷。九十六種俱號為道。聽名則邪正莫辯。驗法則真偽自分。案道家立法。厥品有三。上標老子。次述神仙。下襲張陵。太上為宗尋柱史嘉遯。實惟大賢。著書論道貴在無為。理歸靜一化本虛柔。然而三世不紀慧業靡聞。斯迺導俗之良書。非出世之妙經也。若乃神仙小道名為五通。福極生天體盡飛騰。神通而未免有漏。壽遠而不能無終。功非餌藥德沿業修。於是愚狡方士偽託遂滋。張陵米賊述紀昇天。葛玄野竪著傳仙。公愚斯惑矣。智可罔歟。今祖述李叟。則教失如彼憲章神仙則體劣如此。上中為妙猶不足算。況効陵魯醮事章符。設教五斗。欲拯三界。以蚊負山庸詎勝乎。標名大道而教甚於俗。舉號太上而法窮下愚。何故知耶。貪壽忌夭含識所同。故肉芝石華譎以翻騰。好色觸情世所莫異。故黃書御女誑稱地仙。肌革盈虛群生共愛。故寶惜涕唾以灌靈根。避災苦病民之恒患。故斬縛魑魅以快愚情。憑威恃武俗之舊風。故吏兵鉤騎以動淺心。至於消災婬術厭勝姦方。理穢辭辱非可筆傳。事合泯庶故。比屋歸宗。是以張角李弘毒流漢季。盧悚孫恩亂盈晉末。餘波所被寔蕃有徒。爵非通侯而輕立民戶。瑞無虎竹而濫求租稅。糜費產業蠱惑士女。運屯則蝎國。世平則蠧民傷政萌亂。豈與佛同。且夫涅槃大品寧比玄上大清。金容妙相何羨鬼室空屋。降伏天魔不慕幻邪之詐。淨修戒行豈同畢券之醜。積弘誓於方寸。孰與藏官將於丹田。響洪鍾於梵音。豈若鳴天鼓於脣齒。校以形迹精麁已懸。覈以至理真偽豈隱。若以麁笑精以偽謗真。是瞽對离朱曰我明也。

The Miehuo lun states: The ultimate Dao is the supreme principle, and its truth converges in oneness; the true realm of the wondrous Dharma is fundamentally devoid of duality. When the Buddha reaches the ultimate, [his nature] is vacuous, profound, and formless, yet all phenomena respond at once; quiescent and without mind, yet his profound wisdom illuminates ever wider. The subtle reckonings covertly align so that none can see their limits; their dark function is used daily so that none perceives how it is so. However, once words and images arose, provisional names were established. What barbarian speech calls bodhi, Han speech calls Dao. As for the manifestation of his traces: a golden countenance expresses his holiness; in responding to the secular, he manifests birth in a royal palace. To rescue the ignorant, he began with the four dhyānas; to advance wisdom, he made the ten stages the stairs. Gathering nāgas and ghosts, he guides them equally; embracing all wriggling creatures, his compassion is impartial. His expedient teachings are inexhaustible, not failing to respond because of distinctions between Dao and secular; his wondrous transformation is without exterior, so how could it block sentiments between Hua and the Rong? Therefore, with one sound he expounds the Dharma, yet through diverse translations all understand together; in the One Vehicle he displays the teaching, yet different sutras return to the same canonical purport. Because of expediency, the teachings of Confucius and Śākyamuni differ, yet the Dao harmonizes and their understanding is identical; because of wondrousness, barbarian and Han tongues are divided, yet the transformation penetrates. It is only because affinities are refined or crude that the teachings divide into Dao and secular; lands have east and west, so states are bounded as inner and outer. Their encompassing of divine transformation and molding of all living beings do not differ. By this, he can pull up the six destinies and assemble the great chiliocosm. The Dao is truly supreme; the Dharma is truly most revered. Yet although the ultimate Dao is one, divergent paths give rise to delusion: ninety-six schools all call themselves 'the Dao'. Listening to their names, heterodoxy and orthodoxy cannot be distinguished; verifying their teachings, truth and falsity divide of themselves. Examining the teachings established by the Daoists, there are three grades: the highest promotes Laozi, the next recounts immortals, and the lowest inherits Zhang Ling. Taking the Grand Supreme as the source, we examine the Scribe of the Pillar who happily retired—he was truly a great worthy. Writing books to discuss the Dao, he valued non-action; the principle returns to quiescent oneness, and transformation is rooted in emptiness and gentleness. However, the three times are not recorded, and karmic deeds of wisdom are unheard of. This is merely a good book for guiding the secular, not a wondrous scripture for transcending the world. As for the petty path of the immortals, it is termed the 'five supernatural knowledges': their merits culminate in birth in the heavens, and their forms fly through the air. Having supernatural powers, they still cannot escape the outflows; long-lived though they may be, they cannot be without an end. Their merit does not come from ingesting elixirs; their virtue follows karmic practice. Thereupon, foolish and deceitful occultists multiplied their false fabrications: Zhang Ling, the Rice Bandit, wrote records of ascending to heaven, and Ge Xuan, an uncouth fellow, composed biographies of immortals. The foolish are deluded by this; can the wise be deceived? Now, if one traces back to Master Li, the defects of the teaching are like that; if one takes immortals as a model, the essence is inferior like this. The upper and middle [grades] deemed wondrous are still not worth counting, so how much less the emulation of Zhang Ling and Lu Xiu, sacrificial matters, petitions, and talismans! Establishing a teaching of Five Pecks and wishing to rescue the three realms—how could a mosquito bearing a mountain ever endure it? Claiming the name of the Great Dao, yet its teaching is coarser than the secular; raising the title of the Grand Supreme, yet its methods plumb the lowest folly. How is this known? Greed for long life and fear of premature death are shared by all conscious beings; therefore, fleshy fungus and stone blossoms are used deceitfully to claim flight. Loving sex and pursuing passions are the same throughout the world; therefore, the 'Yellow Book' and copulation are falsely proclaimed as reaching earthly immortality. All living beings cherish the fullness of flesh and skin; therefore, they treasure and conserve mucus and saliva to water the spiritual root. Avoiding calamity and fearing sickness are the constant worries of the common people; therefore, they execute and bind mountain spirits and demons to gratify foolish emotions. Relying on intimidation and brandishing martial might is an old custom of the vulgar; therefore, petty clerks, soldiers, hooks, and cavalry are used to stir shallow minds. As for lustful techniques to dispel calamity and wicked methods of sorcery, their principles are so filthy and their words so shameful that they cannot be transmitted in writing. Because such things accord with the vulgar crowds, house after house converts to their sect. For this reason, Zhang Jiao and Li Hong spread their poison at the close of the Han, and Lu Song and Sun En filled the close of the Jin with chaos. The remnants swept by these waves truly formed great followings. Without the rank of Marquis, they casually registered households; without the tallies of tigers and bamboos, they illicitly demanded rent and taxes. Squandering estates and bewitching men and women, in times of difficulty they gnawed at the state like scorpions, and in times of peace they harmed the people like woodworms, damaging governance and sprouting rebellion. How could this be the same as the Buddha? Moreover, can the Mahāprajñāpāramitā or Nirvāṇa be compared to the Primordial Supreme or Great Clarity? Why should the wondrous marks of the golden countenance envy a ghost chamber or an empty room? Subduing heavenly Māra, one does not admire the frauds of deceptive sorcery; purely cultivating the precepts, how could one equal the ugliness of completing talismans? Amassing great vows in a square inch [of the heart]—how could that compare to harboring officials and generals in the cinnabar field? Resounding a great bell with the Brahma voice—how could that compare to striking heavenly drums with the lips and teeth? Comparing them by outward traces, the refined and the crude are already far apart; investigating them by ultimate principle, how could truth and falsity remain hidden? To mock the refined with the crude and slander the true with the false is like a blind man facing Li Zhu and saying, 'I can see!'