弘明集 7.13

7.13

The treatise says: "What is noble in principle is the Dao; what is base in affairs is the secular. Now, in abandoning the Chinese to emulate the barbarian, what principle can be adopted? If it is for their Dao, the Dao indeed coincides; if it is for their customs, the customs are heaven-wide apart." The objection says: The supreme Dao is open and all-pervading, and so it is honored without being enfeoffed; the secular is nowhere free from obstruction, and so it is base without being demoted. The base cannot be without encumbrances; the honored are naturally complete in Heaven. Since the realm of being complete in Heaven coincides, the domain of secular encumbrances is also equal. When the Dao coincides and the encumbrances are equal, who is superior and who is inferior? Therefore, both are the transformative work of sages, simply illuminating what is deluded. When delusion is exhausted and understanding arises, self and other are naturally forgotten. Why bother dithering over abandoning and emulating, or fretting between the Chinese and the barbarian?