弘明集 12.35

12.35

"The ten thousand realms have disparate customs, and the ways of spirits are difficult to discern: this has an origin. Truly, one of broad view and penetrating understanding should not find it strange. How much more so with the rites of bowing, kneeling, and prostration—why must they be so esteemed? One must return to the original intention of why the former kings esteemed them. Was it merely that they were fond of this bending and folding, sitting and rising in circular steps? Assuredly it was not. Building upon the respect between father and son, they established the hierarchy between lord and minister; they instituted laws and regulations and exalted the ritual order. How could this be in vain? Truly there was a reason. Since there was a reason, how can it be changed? If so, when the names and rites were established, could they have been without feeling? Moreover, is there really a Buddha now, or is there no Buddha? If there is a Buddha, his Dao is inherently broad; if there is no Buddha, what principle is there to take? Even if we grant that it is truly so, that would be an affair beyond this realm. How could affairs beyond this realm be embodied by those within this realm, such that they should deform their corporeal frames, violate ordinary duties, alter ritual canons, and abandon the teaching of names? This is what I deeply doubt. The teaching of names has its origins, not abandoned for a hundred generations. Even when starting before dawn to display it widely, later generations are still in peril. The harms of such peril are difficult to trace; yet now people would gaze from afar with longing toward what is vast, murky, indistinct, and unclarified, discarding rituals in a single morning and abolishing the teachings in the present age, letting the vulgar throng become arrogant and loose toward regulations and laws! This, too, is what I deeply doubt. Even granted that it is truly so, even granted that it exists, I would merely comprehend it in the divine radiance and grasp it within my breast. The grand model of regulations and laws inherently cannot be abolished in the upright court. All these people are subjects of the Jin. In terms of their talents and intelligence, they are ordinary persons. Yet to rely on the difficulty of discerning what is preached, borrow attire to transcend regulations, display the haughty etiquette of foreign customs, and straighten their corporeal frames before the sovereign of ten thousand chariots—this, too, is what I do not accept. You gentlemen are all vessels of the state: in wise speech you should fathom the subtle and hidden; in discussing governance you should prioritize the state's canons. If this is not so, what shall I expound?"