弘明集 1.46

1.46

The questioner asked: All Daos are non-action, which is one. Why do you distinguish and enumerate them, saying that they are different? This causes learners to become suspicious; I consider it wasteful and of no benefit. Mouzi said: All are called 'grasses', yet the natures of the various grasses cannot be fully spoken of; all are called 'metals', yet the natures of the various metals cannot be fully spoken of. Sharing a category but differing in nature: all ten thousand things are like this, how could it be only the Dao? In ancient times, Yang [Zhu] and Mo [Di] blocked the path of the Confucian scholars; carriages could not advance and men could not walk. Meng Ke refuted them, and only then did people know which way to turn. Master Kuang played the zither, awaiting those who understood his sound in the future; the sages instituted models, hoping that gentlemen would behold them. When jade and stone are in the same casket, Yi Dun changes countenance; when purple displaces vermilion, Zhongni sighs in sorrow. The sun and moon are not unbright, but the multitude of dark clouds obscures their light; the Buddha's Dao is not unrighteous, but the multitude of private biases conceals its impartiality. Therefore I distinguish and separate them. The wisdom of Zang Wenzhong and the uprightness of Weisheng Gao, which Zhongni did not approve of, were both words to rectify the world. How could this be wasteful and of no benefit?