弘明集 1.26

1.26

The questioner said: "Nothing surpasses sincerity in affairs; nothing surpasses reality in explanations. Laozi removed ornate expressions and exalted simple, unadorned speech. The Buddhist scriptures, when explaining things, do not point directly to the matter, but vainly employ extensive parables and metaphors. Parables and metaphors are not the essence of the Dao; bringing together differences to make them identical is not the subtlety of affairs. Although their diction is copious and their speech broad, it is still like a cartload of jade fragments, not to be regarded as a treasure." Mouzi said: "Matters that have been witnessed together can be explained according to reality; when one person has seen something and another has not, it is difficult to speak of it with sincerity. Formerly, a person who had never seen a qilin asked one who had seen it: 'What is a qilin like?' The one who had seen it said: 'A qilin is like a qilin.' The questioner said: 'If I had seen a qilin, I would not have asked you; but to say a qilin is like a qilin—how can that be understood?' The one who had seen it said: 'A qilin has the body of a water deer, the tail of an ox, the hooves of a deer, and the back of a horse.' Then the questioner understood. Confucius said: 'Is he not a gentleman, who is not provoked though others do not understand him?' Laozi said: 'The space between Heaven and Earth, is it not like a bellows?' He also said: 'To compare the Dao to all under heaven, it is like streams and valleys to rivers and oceans'—how could this be mere ornate expression? The Analects says: 'One who governs with virtue may be compared to the North Star'—drawing upon heaven to illustrate humanity. Zixia said: 'It is like grass and trees, distinguished by their species.' The Three Hundred Poems adduce objects to categorize kinds. From the diverse masters to the apocrypha and the secret essentials of the Sages, none do not draw comparisons and take up metaphors. Why do you alone detest that the Buddha, in preaching the scriptures, adduces parables and metaphors?"