弘明集 7.26

7.26

Formerly, Vimalakīrti inwardly ascended the sublime path and his achievements shone beyond worldly matters. He concealed himself among humans like a dragon, while his aspirations soared in the deep ocean; his spirit sprinkled the ten directions and his principles rectified all under Heaven. Therefore, his traces descended upon the western land to harmonize with mysterious melodies. If one speaks of his spiritual transformations, he was able to turn heaven and earth upside down and contract or prolong [kalpas] at will. If one speaks of his true illumination, he forgot deliberate thoughts, quietly congealed in profundity, and surpassed words. Such a man may truly be called a lay devotee (upāsaka). I have not yet seen your intent in calling yourself a lay devotee. Now, your mountain of the seven arrogances has not yet collapsed; your valley of the five desires has not yet been filled; your sun of wisdom has not yet shone; your clouds of ignorance have not yet cleared; your wind of perpetual darkness has not yet subsided; and your bewilderment from wandering in the night has not yet turned back. Since your understanding remains that of the common sort, how can you arrogate the title of lay devotee in your mountain hermitage? From afar I have taken measure of your capacity, and I know you are not yet qualified to occupy this position. Although this is a modest title in the Great Dharma, it is still not easily assumed. Inspecting the intent of your Essay on Barbarians and Chinese (Yixia lun), I fully illuminate the mind that has come forth. This poor monk walks and studies at the great altar and rarely pays attention to such things, yet what is discussed here possesses neither the beauty of fine writing nor the efficacy of discerning the profound; its illumination lacks an inch of radiance and its moisture lacks the wetness of dew. Lacking in ten thousand ways, what principle does it contain? Furthermore, inwardly holding bewildered thoughts and harboring dark designs in your mind, you frivolously wield brush and ink to divine the sage's intent from below. At times you conflate Daoism and Buddhism as identical, at times you treat depth and shallowness as different, at times you speak of the superiority and inferiority of spiritual lands, and at times you disparage the purity, correctness, emptiness, and reality [of teachings]. Truly, when bitter plums bear dense fruit, their branches break; when Luan Da made false proclamations, he was executed. These are all established precedents from past generations and profound mirrors for later worthy men. Now I will show you that the names and principles of Daoism and Buddhism are different. The Buddha is a distinct designation for the orthodox spirit; the Dao is a general name for the hundred paths. Laozi is a philosopher of one region; the Buddha presides over the ancestor of the ten thousand spirits. The Dao values transcendents; the Buddha employs the extinction of outflows as perfection. The way of transcendents has a lifespan of a thousand years; the extinction of outflows possesses an inexhaustible spirit. Because of the inexhaustible spirit, it is wonderfully supreme and profound; because of the thousand-year lifespan, they ride dragons and drive the clouds. Driving the clouds and riding dragons is the path of birth and death; the profound spirit is constant joy and eternal purity. Being such, he was able to correspond with the revolving celestial jade, descending in bodily traces upon the royal city, leaving behind the towering palaces in the dark distance; abandoning the heavy carriages altogether, he renounced those ten thousand states and vowed to transcend the three empties. Flying like a dragon to the splendid halls, he prepared his chariot for the place of awakening. Thereupon, he first proclaimed it in the Deer Park, next gathered them in the heavenly palaces, in the middle disseminated it on the Vulture Peak, and at the end fanned [the flames of teachings] by the Hiraṇyavatī. Therefore, his immense light shone from afar and eclipsed the radiance of the white sun. Flowery carriages with four canopies and the Brahmā chariot descended from heaven; the nine heavens sang together and the host of transcendents awakened to the mechanism [of truth]. None who ventured to partake of the conditions failed to gather like clouds and take refuge. Only with the kings of Zhou, as peripheral hegemons, did the intention toward the Way not arise. For this reason, the Tathāgata sent Samantabhadra to exercise awe-inspiring authority along the western paths, while three worthies together guided the eastern capital. Therefore the scripture says: 'The Great Being Kāśyapa was the person of Laozi.' Thus with deceptive teachings of five thousand words he assisted and guided the Zhou generation. When the conditions for conversion were exhausted, he returned to Tianzhu. Hence there was the distant departure westward through the pass. Chinese people subsequently fabricated the Scripture of Converting the Barbarians (Huahu jing), leading those of scarce vision to chant its embellishments. Without examining the profound purport, how could you rashly proclaim that Laozi and the Buddha are one? When people hear that the Great Sage manifested as the ancestor of the Ruist forest, they immediately make Zhuangzi, Confucius, the Duke of Zhou, and Laozi out to be all Buddhas. If that were so, could you also be Laozi? Then the host of beings in the five destinies would all be Buddhas! What kind of talk is this? One may truly say that Kuafu chasing the sun will surely die of thirst. In your Essay on Barbarians and Chinese, you say: 'In the east there is the ugliness of the Li and Ji; in the west there is the sort of the Qiang and Rong; in the north there are disheveled hair and loose locks; in the south there are cut hair and tattooed bodies. The Ji and Confucius applied propriety in the center, and therefore there is the distinction between barbarians and Chinese.' As for the barbarians and the Chinese: the east terminates at the empty boundary; the west exhausts the obscure regions; the north surpasses the outer sea; and the south reaches the extreme of the void realm. The Tathāgata fanned his conversion in the Middle Land; therefore there is the difference between barbarians and Chinese. You reprove [people] for using the nature of the Central Huaxia to emulate the methods of the Western Rong; you have merely emerged from the depths of a well and have not yet beheld the expanse of the rivers and lakes. As the scripture states: 'The Buddha presides over the center of heaven and earth and purely guides the ten directions.' Hence we know that the land of Tianzhu is the Middle Kingdom. The Duke of Zhou and Confucius had elegant and orthodox institutions; the Tathāgata has regulations that transcend the mundane. Because of the elegant and orthodox institutions, they differ from the four barbarian tribes; because of the regulations transcending the mundane, he is not the same as the Duke of Zhou and Confucius. Because their institutions reached the four barbarians, the eight directions defer to their virtue; because his regulations surpassed the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, Laozi returned to the west. Because Laozi returned to the west, he gave birth to those hosts of Rong; because the four barbarian tribes deferred to virtue, their confusion increased all the more. Orthodox propriety cannot be altered; the true Dharma cannot be displaced. Because orthodox propriety cannot be altered, Taibo adjusted his garments in Wu and Yue; because the true Dharma cannot be displaced, the Buddhist teachings flowed east without change. Because he adjusted his garments, he caused a naked land to enjoy clothes; because the Dharma has no change, it caused Han worthies to shave their hair. Enjoying clothes made their forms approximate the Central Huaxia; shaving their hair made them look up and align with the Western wind. Forms approximating the Central Huaxia caused the mountains to hide [their wildness] and arrogance to vanish; distantly aligning with the Western wind caused those who observed them closely to all have faith. If you claim that sage tracks are not fixed and should vary according to the region, Taibo could just as well have walked naked east of the river, and you today could also go without wearing clothes! Therefore, although regions and types differ, the sage Dharma does not vary. When you ask which principle should be adopted, it refers to adopting the correct Dao. Thereupon, the Dao designates the Dongxuan as orthodox, while the Buddha takes emptiness of emptiness as the principal doctrine. Laozi takes the Great Void as the profound, while the Buddha is abyssal right within phenomena. Laozi transforms through natural spontaneity, while the Buddha arises through the confluence of conditions. The Dao takes talismans and registers as the wondrous, while the Buddha takes lecturing and guiding as the quintessential. Taking the Great Void as the profound means that within being there is no non-being; being abyssal right within phenomena means that in touching things all is profound. Transforming through natural spontaneity means that the night chamber cannot be ascended; arising through the confluence of conditions means that the exalted position can be mounted. Taking talismans and registers as the wondrous means the Dao has no spiritual deity; taking lecturing and guiding as the quintessential means scrutinizing the sage's mind. Because within being there is no non-being, the Dao is not great; because in touching things all is profound, the sage path is far and vast. Because the night chamber cannot be ascended, endless talk is in vain; because the exalted position can be mounted, wise men sacrifice their lives. Because the Dao has no spiritual deity, what is sought by bowing the face? Because lecturing and guiding scrutinize the sage's mind, śramaṇas rise like clouds. Thus one knows that Daoist scriptures are few and shallow, while Buddhist scriptures are broad and deep; Daoist scriptures are meager and defiled, while Buddhist scriptures are vast and pure; Daoist scriptures are turbid and have outflows, while Buddhist scriptures are plain and chaste; Daoist scriptures are near and dark, while Buddhist scriptures are distant and bright. When you dyed your robes and altered your plain attire, you truly joined this lofty wind. Crowning the head with a yellow turban is the mark of the low and base; covering the head with animal hide is truly not the Chinese style; peddling talismans and selling registers is the perverse custom of the realm; slapping the cheeks and clicking the teeth is the utmost of inverted confusion; binding the hands behind the back and lying prone on the ground is the appearance of hell; talismans and registers for blending qi are the extremity of deceit and treachery. Thus light and dark have been displayed, and true and false have been manifested. You ought to lead your companions to turn around and tread the pure avenue. This poor monk inwardly reflects on noble virtue and together we shall revere the sage truth—how could there be any malice? I expect you will not oppose it, and will assent to this fine instruction.