弘明集 9.19

9.19

Objection: Now, that a blade possesses sharpness is the merit of the whetstone; thus it can sever scaly dragons in the water and cut down rhinos and tigers on land. If its sharpness is exhausted and its utility spent, its tip and edge must be broken and transformed into a blunt blade. When this happens, sharpness is destroyed while the blade remains; this corresponds to the spirit perishing while the corporeal form remains. Why say that apart from sharpness there is no blade, and that though the names are distinct their essence is one? Since blade and sharpness do not perish together, corporeal form and spirit do not die together. Although you draw an analogy from the familiar, it truly contradicts principle.