弘明集 8.7

8.7

The mysterious texts, spreading like clouds, thread together the beauty of emptiness and existence; what achievement of sages and worthies has not arisen from this? They are truly an oceanic abyss for scholars, the sun and moon for the living populace. For this reason, Sadāprarudita Bodhisattva, shining equally with great compassion, thundered sound and light on the dark paths, subdued dust-like bandits in perilous marshes, floated the spiritual vessel on the winds of faith, and gathered up floating lives in the waters of suffering. One hears that the various scriptures of the Dao are fabricated with an admixture of mundane ideas, and their doctrinal traces are perverse and perilous; therefore they are not transmitted. How strange! The conversion of the Dao is uselessly locked away and prohibited. Observing today's scholars, they pay no heed to strict codes; as soon as they receive gold and silk, they hand over their scriptures. When poor people approach them, they never behold them to their dying day. Greed for profit without compassion—no perversion exceeds this. Furthermore, their arts and recipes are filthy, turbid, and impure: they click teeth to make heavenly drums, swallow saliva to make sweet wine springs, use horse dung as spiritual firewood, and old rats as mushroom drugs. Relying on this to seek the Way, how could one attain it? In the past, the First Emperor of Qin and Emperor Wu of Han failed to lighten their bodies; they sent Xu Fu and Gongsun afar into the obscure clouds and waves to pray for and await communion with transcendents, yet not a trace of response appeared. If one calms the mind and dispels desires, one's affairs will neighbor the Way. Why would one resort to the toil of sudden exertions, swallowing saliva and gnashing teeth?