弘明集 3.21

3.21

I reply: Does 'covertly shifting away and not abiding' not refer to passing from life into death, from being into non-being? Thus their words say: 'One may suffer distress of the physical form without injury to the mind; one may alter one's dwelling without harboring bitterness over death.' Master Jia also said: 'If transformed into an alien thing, why should one consider it a grief?' These were men who understood the mutations of life and death. Yet petty people vacillate, fretting about death while alive, their minds tied to the boundless and their aspirations fixed on rebirth in heaven. How could the everyday spiritual insight of our peers be so different as this? Moreover, you say that the divine light, marvelous transformations, and measureless lifespans all stem from sincere faith in the profound and wonderful, so that its brilliance is reflected; and that now, immersed in heterodox views, the principle is naturally separated from them as heaven from earth. I reply: At present, I am not seeking its brilliant light from those who are contemptuous and unruly, but only seeking it from those who are sincere and faithful. In examining the teaching of Śākya, it employs skillful means to save living beings. If the responses and verifications were truly like this, why does he not display his marvelous transformations to enlighten the followers of heterodox views? Would he spare nothing for hundreds of thousands of sermons, yet begrudge a brief flash of divine light? In vain making eloquence out of preaching sounds, in the end there is no clarity regarding true wisdom; toiling away all one's years without knowing where to return—is this not lamentable? Moreover, you say that because people cherish reverent devotion within, they prostrate and repent of their transgressions; and that because they realize impermanence, their hearts begrudge nothing, abandoning wives and children to practice giving, without coveting a hundredfold return. I reply: To stir up activities through intricate contrivances is not as good as eliminating greed and stopping contention; to abide by precepts in order to wash away regret is not as good as clipping away worldly glory and desires to preserve simplicity. How much worse is it to entice what people esteem in order to pray for profit, and to forget natural kin in order to demand fame? To call this having no covetousness—I do not believe it. Moreover, you say that Nirvāṇa takes the absence of pleasure as its pleasure, and the Dharma body takes the absence of a body as its body; and if one can truly feed upon and revere this, indulging in indolence will gradually be removed, and one will obtain benefit in non-benefit. I reply: Nirvāṇa takes separation from suffering as its pleasure, and the Dharma body takes receiving the good as its body; this is only how those who feed upon and revere it are kept from cutting themselves off. If it truly returns to non-benefit, what do the diligent obtain that you speak of obtaining in non-benefit? This is evidence that form and spirit are both exhausted, which I fear is not what your refined thesis ought to state clearly. Moreover, you say: 'One who desires this Dao can be said to have desire for desirelessness. As for guiding the coarse and near, it has the reality of shadows and echoes—just as Lord Yu obtained enfeoffment through his benevolent preservation of life, and the Yan family suffered execution due to their fondness for killing. Exerting oneself in marvelous practices to aspire to heaven, and observing the five precepts to distance oneself from hell, though having desire in what is desirable, actually treads the path of daily reduction; this is also heading west to seek Ying—why worry that one will not arrive?'