弘明集 12.51

12.51

Your letter says: 'Although the monks harbor deep reverence in their minds, they do not take physical bending as their ritual.' / I object: Regarding the reverence of monks, do they really omit physical form entirely and only preserve the mind? In repentance and prostration, they are also earnest in bodily practice. Reaching to their teachers and up to the senior elders, they bow and kneel before them just as worldly people do, differing only slightly in the details of their protocol. Since they cannot forget physical form toward them, why do they neglect ritual decorum toward the sovereign? Furthermore, as for the principle of a teacher, his virtue lies in aiding awakening; but the ruler's Dao fosters all life, so the principle ought to reside in the root. Is not the principle of serving the three rulers of life not the ultimate requirement of human feelings and reason?