弘明集 9.8

9.8

內兄范子真著神滅論。以明無佛。自謂辯摧眾口日服千人。予意猶有惑焉。聊欲薄其稽疑。詢其未悟。論至今所持者形神。所訟者精理。若乃春秋孝享為之宗廟。則以為聖人神道設教立禮防愚。杜伯關弓伯有被介。復謂天地之間自有怪物。非人死為鬼。如此便不得。詰以詩書校以往事。唯可於形神之中。辯其離合。脫形神一體存滅罔異。則范子奮揚蹈厲金湯邈然。如靈質分途興毀區別。則予剋敵得俊。能事畢矣。又予雖明有佛而體佛不與俗同爾。兼陳本意係之論左焉。

My maternal cousin Fan Zizhen composed the Treatise on the Extinction of the Spirit to demonstrate that there is no Buddha. He considered himself able to crush the mouths of the multitude with his debate and subdue a thousand people daily. In my mind there were still doubts. I merely wished to diminish his hesitation and inquire into what he had not awakened to. In the treatise up to the present, what is maintained is corporeal form and spirit, and what is contested is subtle principle. As for the ancestral temples established for the spring and autumn filial sacrifices, he considers them to be the Sages' establishing teachings and setting up rituals through the way of the spirits to guard against the foolish. Du Bo drawing his bow and Boyou donning armor, he again claims that strange beings naturally exist between heaven and earth, and that it is not that dead humans become ghosts. If so, one cannot interrogate him with the Odes and Documents or verify it with past events. One can only debate their separation and union within corporeal form and spirit. If corporeal form and spirit are of one essence, with no difference in their existence and extinction, then Master Fan's vigorous stride and metal ramparts would be far beyond reach. If the wondrous spirit and material substance diverge, and their emergence and destruction are distinct, then I will overcome the foe and obtain distinction, and my capable task will be complete. Furthermore, although I clarify that there is a Buddha, my realization of the Buddha is not identical to that of the common world. I concurrently state my original intent, appending it to the left of the treatise.