弘明集 3.22

3.22

I reply: To speak of guiding the coarse and near, and to compare retribution to shadows and echoes—is that not fine? Yet what shadows and echoes depend on must match the form and sound. How could an ordinary form produce a shadow of eighty thousand yojanas? If what one is mired in is 'desiring desirelessness', one is still ordinarily mired in what one desires. The ears and eyes have different offices, and crafts have distinct professions; when it comes to minor arts, one's thoughts cannot even be combined. Therefore, when metals and stones are harmoniously tuned, Mount Tai cannot display its height; when the wild swan is about to alight, the dark autumn cannot convey its purpose. Yet you wish to accomplish desirelessness through having desires, and to approach daily reduction through expectation; although you speak of heading west, you are ever further from Ying—what can be done about this? Moreover, you say: 'If the death of the body and the extinction of the spirit are the true nature of things, one should merely join forces with the Duke of Zhou and Confucius to extend education; why deceive them with immortality and dupe them with the Buddha's principles, causing them to burn their hair and skin and sever their marital unions, thereby harming the meaning of fully realizing one's nature?' I reply: The Chinese and the barbarians naturally differ. Why? The people of the Central Kingdom are endowed with a clear and harmonious qi, harboring benevolence and embracing righteousness; hence the Duke of Zhou and Confucius clarified the teachings on nature and practice. The people of foreign states receive a nature that is unyielding, greedy, and wrathful; hence the clan of Śākya was strict with the articles of the five precepts. This is what your letter calls 'the sage has no constant mind, but accords with the nature of things.' As for warnings against violence, none is more fitting than hell; as for joys that entice to good, none is more splendid than heaven. To seek to eradicate the root of cruelty is not what is meant by the Golden Mean. The Duke of Zhou and Confucius did otherwise: they followed people's heavenly nature and removed what was excessive. Licentiousness and theft were made evident in the five punishments; offenses concerning wine were clarified in the Announcements of Zhou. In the spring hunts they did not encircle the marshes; seeing a beast alive, they could not bear to see it die. With the five transgressions and three drives, they angled but did not use a net. Thus benevolence and love were universally spread, their grace extending even to pigs and fish. For the auspicious rites there were standard sacrificial platters; the elderly were able to eat meat; spring plowing, autumn harvesting, sericulture and weaving were done in their proper seasons. The three luminaries were moved to descend, and all the hundred spirits were sacrificed to in order. Compared to what those others do, is this not magnificent? Furthermore, you distinguish the reward of making offerings and sprinkling, and impose severe penalties for doubting the Dharma; you recount the magistrate of Pu's inquiry as the basis for encouragement and conversion, and expound the reply concerning vapor and breath to clarify the verification of a future life. Those who respectfully wear the robes, open their eyes wide, and boast of these doctrines have indeed erred in their state of mind. Your treatise also claims: 'The spiritual principle and demeanor of Gidara and Śrī were not behind those of the monk Dao-lin.' Sir, since you have made clear that ordinary men cannot assess nearby matters, how can you now comprehend their superiority or inferiority from a hundred years ago and thousands of miles away? As for the monk Dao-lin, he had the appearance of a monk yet a heavenly spirit; he seemed to have a deep understanding of the true and the false, and refused entirely to avoid the scriptures, protect his masters, or embellish illusory doctrines; for this I respect him. Sun Xinggong's treatise says: 'Zhu Fahu's depth and discernment, Yu Falan's purity and erudition'—which scholar of the Central Kingdom do you wish to compare them to? And when Prince Ying of Chu built the Monastery of Benevolence, or Ze Rong gave aid to the famished along the road, did they truly have a pure and authentic demeanor? In the past, while in the eastern city, the śramaṇa Daohan came from Wu; he earnestly advised and used analogies with great sincerity. Thereupon he stayed three nights, explaining for me the causes and conditions of refining the form and clarifying the spirit, and the verifications of the arising and passing away of sin and blessing, all with systematic order. Folding my hands, I listened to his upright words, forgetting to sleep until daybreak. Upon reflection, I considered that the means by which a scholar establishes himself, makes his name known, shows good faith, and practices the Dao truly rely on the foundation of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius. Zilu said that when he heard something, before he could put it into practice, his only fear was that he would hear something else; the things I must practice are already many—why should I hastily abandon these to pursue those? Furthermore, examining the institutions that establish rituals in accord with human feelings, I know that [the idea of] a future life is extravagant; probing the ceaseless grief that lasts for one's whole life, I realize that receiving a physical form cannot happen again. The sages are my teachers; would the Duke of Zhou and Confucius deceive me? Because of your deep affection, Sir, I have laid out the beginning and the end in full. I think an elder of great wisdom does not tire of instructing others, and will not remain silent on this matter. I have already sent for the Mingfo lun, and hope that once it arrives, my mind might be illuminated. He Chengtian speaks.