弘明集 1.21

1.21

The questioner said: "To beg for someone on the road with one's father's wealth cannot be called kindness. To kill oneself in place of another while both parents are still alive cannot be called benevolence. Now the Buddhist scriptures say: 'Crown Prince Sudāna gave his father's wealth to distant people; he bestowed the state's precious elephant upon enemies; he gave his wife and children away to others.' To fail to respect one's parents while respecting others is called a transgression against propriety. To fail to love one's parents while loving others is called a transgression against virtue. Sudāna was unfilial and unbenevolent, yet Buddhists honour him—is this not bizarre?" Mouzi said: "The principle of the Five Classics is to establish the eldest son of the primary wife as heir. King Tai saw Chang's resolve and replaced the eldest with the youngest as heir, ultimately bringing the Zhou's royal work to completion and attaining the great peace. The principle of taking a wife requires that one must inform one's parents. Shun married without informing them in order to complete the cardinal human relationship. An upright knight requires an offering and an invitation. A worthy minister awaits being summoned. Yi Yin carried a tripod to seek an audience with Tang; Ning Qi tapped the horns of an ox to petition Qi. Tang thereby achieved kingship, and Qi thereby attained hegemony. According to propriety, men and women do not touch hands when giving or receiving; yet if an elder brother's wife is drowning, one rescues her by hand—this is accommodating urgent necessity through expedience. If one perceives the great, one is not constrained by the small. How could a great man be bound by common convention? Sudāna saw the impermanence of the world and knew that wealth and goods are not one's own treasures; therefore he gave freely without restraint to attain the Great Dao. His father's state received its blessings, and enemies could not invade. When he attained Buddhahood, his parents and brothers all crossed over the world. If this is not filial piety, if this is not benevolence, what then is benevolence and filial piety?"