弘明集 4.16

4.16

When discussing benevolence and righteousness, you say: 'Few act out of true feeling; many act for profit.' Speaking of bestowing beneficence, you allow for disregarding the worthy and forgetting repayment. Since those acting out of true feeling are already few, who can disregard the worthy? Since those acting for profit are many, how can you speak of forgetting repayment? If one can take scholars who delight in giving as the standard to look for among those wishing for benevolence, expound the idea of forgetting repayment, and distinguish the mind tending toward righteousness, then righteousness is truly found right here, and seeking benevolence is not far off. As for rescuing the classes of living beings into the realm of no death, their blessings extending over myriads of things and their veneration surpassing a hundred spirits—this purport is grandly fabricated and beyond what the original treatise encompassed. Is it not that 'when the army of Qin was about to flee, its envoy spoke insolently'? How could I be pressing you hard? Sit, and I shall tell you! When a sage is above, he does not vie for superiority with the hundred spirits. There is a beginning and there is an end; how could there be a realm of no death? Distinguishing and clarifying the unseen and manifest, thoroughly examining myriad things, up from the first knotted cords down to the flourishing of cultural teachings, their nature is led by the Dao. Therefore, they cut off designations of intimacy and praise. Violations of heaven and earth do not harm the measure of universal love. Hunting and fishing nourish both the worthy and the base. The catches of the three grades indeed fill the banquet halls and kitchens. Metal and stone sound forth brilliance; pipes and flutes harmonize the measure. 'Intoxicated with wine, sated with virtue, aiding these ten thousand years.' Those who dwell in retirement broaden the enterprise that renews daily; those who serve in office propagate the teachings of former kings. Sincerity is manifest to the enlightened lord; moisture extends over myriad creatures. Dragon-patterned robes adorn the spectacle; ringing jades regulate the pace. This is indeed the joyous realm of Yao and Confucius! When unappreciated, one 'reclines in the valley of Kao' to cultivate one's own person; one kills a chicken and makes millet merely to lodge one's feelings. Some bore tripods and engaged in butchering and cooking to spread their illustrious names for ages to come; others slaughtered sheep and brandished knives, their high ambitions transcending the floating clouds. Such is also the mindset of the gentleman. Why must one demean the extending of blessings through accumulated goodness, longing without proof for future lifetimes, turning one's back in this life on genuine joy while alive, wearily toiling in vain without a destination? Chasing the wind and catching shadows is not the beauty of the Mean; admiring foreigners and being dazzled by the bizarre departs from the attainment of comprehensive minds. Squatting in homage and bowing in yielding can ultimately never stand together. I venture to wish that you, my friend, would discard duality and follow unity. As for the two masters of Shu and Liang, and the worldly metaphor of relay couriers and runners, they are not pertinent to the original thesis; hence I will not discuss them in full again.