弘明集 8.49

8.49

The Miehuo lun states: The ultimate Dao is the supreme principle, and its truth converges in oneness; the true realm of the wondrous Dharma is fundamentally devoid of duality. When the Buddha reaches the ultimate, [his nature] is vacuous, profound, and formless, yet all phenomena respond at once; quiescent and without mind, yet his profound wisdom illuminates ever wider. The subtle reckonings covertly align so that none can see their limits; their dark function is used daily so that none perceives how it is so. However, once words and images arose, provisional names were established. What barbarian speech calls bodhi, Han speech calls Dao. As for the manifestation of his traces: a golden countenance expresses his holiness; in responding to the secular, he manifests birth in a royal palace. To rescue the ignorant, he began with the four dhyānas; to advance wisdom, he made the ten stages the stairs. Gathering nāgas and ghosts, he guides them equally; embracing all wriggling creatures, his compassion is impartial. His expedient teachings are inexhaustible, not failing to respond because of distinctions between Dao and secular; his wondrous transformation is without exterior, so how could it block sentiments between Hua and the Rong? Therefore, with one sound he expounds the Dharma, yet through diverse translations all understand together; in the One Vehicle he displays the teaching, yet different sutras return to the same canonical purport. Because of expediency, the teachings of Confucius and Śākyamuni differ, yet the Dao harmonizes and their understanding is identical; because of wondrousness, barbarian and Han tongues are divided, yet the transformation penetrates. It is only because affinities are refined or crude that the teachings divide into Dao and secular; lands have east and west, so states are bounded as inner and outer. Their encompassing of divine transformation and molding of all living beings do not differ. By this, he can pull up the six destinies and assemble the great chiliocosm. The Dao is truly supreme; the Dharma is truly most revered. Yet although the ultimate Dao is one, divergent paths give rise to delusion: ninety-six schools all call themselves 'the Dao'. Listening to their names, heterodoxy and orthodoxy cannot be distinguished; verifying their teachings, truth and falsity divide of themselves. Examining the teachings established by the Daoists, there are three grades: the highest promotes Laozi, the next recounts immortals, and the lowest inherits Zhang Ling. Taking the Grand Supreme as the source, we examine the Scribe of the Pillar who happily retired—he was truly a great worthy. Writing books to discuss the Dao, he valued non-action; the principle returns to quiescent oneness, and transformation is rooted in emptiness and gentleness. However, the three times are not recorded, and karmic deeds of wisdom are unheard of. This is merely a good book for guiding the secular, not a wondrous scripture for transcending the world. As for the petty path of the immortals, it is termed the 'five supernatural knowledges': their merits culminate in birth in the heavens, and their forms fly through the air. Having supernatural powers, they still cannot escape the outflows; long-lived though they may be, they cannot be without an end. Their merit does not come from ingesting elixirs; their virtue follows karmic practice. Thereupon, foolish and deceitful occultists multiplied their false fabrications: Zhang Ling, the Rice Bandit, wrote records of ascending to heaven, and Ge Xuan, an uncouth fellow, composed biographies of immortals. The foolish are deluded by this; can the wise be deceived? Now, if one traces back to Master Li, the defects of the teaching are like that; if one takes immortals as a model, the essence is inferior like this. The upper and middle [grades] deemed wondrous are still not worth counting, so how much less the emulation of Zhang Ling and Lu Xiu, sacrificial matters, petitions, and talismans! Establishing a teaching of Five Pecks and wishing to rescue the three realms—how could a mosquito bearing a mountain ever endure it? Claiming the name of the Great Dao, yet its teaching is coarser than the secular; raising the title of the Grand Supreme, yet its methods plumb the lowest folly. How is this known? Greed for long life and fear of premature death are shared by all conscious beings; therefore, fleshy fungus and stone blossoms are used deceitfully to claim flight. Loving sex and pursuing passions are the same throughout the world; therefore, the 'Yellow Book' and copulation are falsely proclaimed as reaching earthly immortality. All living beings cherish the fullness of flesh and skin; therefore, they treasure and conserve mucus and saliva to water the spiritual root. Avoiding calamity and fearing sickness are the constant worries of the common people; therefore, they execute and bind mountain spirits and demons to gratify foolish emotions. Relying on intimidation and brandishing martial might is an old custom of the vulgar; therefore, petty clerks, soldiers, hooks, and cavalry are used to stir shallow minds. As for lustful techniques to dispel calamity and wicked methods of sorcery, their principles are so filthy and their words so shameful that they cannot be transmitted in writing. Because such things accord with the vulgar crowds, house after house converts to their sect. For this reason, Zhang Jiao and Li Hong spread their poison at the close of the Han, and Lu Song and Sun En filled the close of the Jin with chaos. The remnants swept by these waves truly formed great followings. Without the rank of Marquis, they casually registered households; without the tallies of tigers and bamboos, they illicitly demanded rent and taxes. Squandering estates and bewitching men and women, in times of difficulty they gnawed at the state like scorpions, and in times of peace they harmed the people like woodworms, damaging governance and sprouting rebellion. How could this be the same as the Buddha? Moreover, can the Mahāprajñāpāramitā or Nirvāṇa be compared to the Primordial Supreme or Great Clarity? Why should the wondrous marks of the golden countenance envy a ghost chamber or an empty room? Subduing heavenly Māra, one does not admire the frauds of deceptive sorcery; purely cultivating the precepts, how could one equal the ugliness of completing talismans? Amassing great vows in a square inch [of the heart]—how could that compare to harboring officials and generals in the cinnabar field? Resounding a great bell with the Brahma voice—how could that compare to striking heavenly drums with the lips and teeth? Comparing them by outward traces, the refined and the crude are already far apart; investigating them by ultimate principle, how could truth and falsity remain hidden? To mock the refined with the crude and slander the true with the false is like a blind man facing Li Zhu and saying, 'I can see!'