弘明集 9.78

9.78

[The guest] objected: The existence or non-existence of the Buddha rests on whether the spiritual principle endures or perishes. Since there are past arguments on this, I shall speak briefly for now. Today, I specifically point out its harms and benefits, and discuss its advantages and disadvantages, in order to rectify your excessive words, sir. You say: 'The Buddhists corrupt customs, damage moral transformation, waste wealth, and diminish labor.' If certain people do this, it is not the fault of the Buddha. The Buddha's establishment of the teaching was fundamentally based on cherishing life, detesting killing, cultivating goodness, and prioritizing charity. Cherishing life does not simply mean desiring the proliferation of birds and beasts, but taking the human spirit as paramount. Detesting killing—how could it mean pardoning fugitives without distinction? It means judging and investigating with compassion. Cultivating goodness does not necessarily require gazing at the sixteen-foot form, but considers loyalty and trustworthiness supreme. Prioritizing charity does not casually cause the exhaustion of wealth on earth and timber, but considers relieving emergencies as excellence. If lineages are terminated, then the Dharma-seed will surely not be transmitted; if everyone builds Buddhist monasteries, there will also be no land for cultivation. Even ordinary people still know this, so how could our Maitreya take pleasure in such things? Nowadays, stubborn śramaṇas and confused secular people do not give coarse clothes to those who are cold, nor grant bran and beans to those who are hungry; instead, they compete to gather ignorant monks and vie to construct numerous Buddhas. Relatives are abandoned and ignored; ancestral offerings are neglected and uncultivated. Fine silks are shredded upon banners, and red gold is tied down beneath stupas, calling this a field of merit and anticipating retributive karma. These people have not deeply comprehended the Buddha nor understood the subtlety of the Dharma. Although they call the Buddha 'Buddha', how could they know the true intent of taking refuge in the Buddha? Though they designate monks as 'monks', how could they comprehend the purpose of relying on the Saṅgha? In these cases, the spirit will not bestow blessings; I do not approve of them either. Now, the methods of the Six Schools each have their degenerations: Confucianism erred in being eccentric, Mohism erred in being narrow-minded, Legalism erred in being harsh, and the School of Names erred in deceit. All of this was caused by later exponents losing the transmission and falling into delusion. Today, you do not execute Confucius and Mo Di for eccentricity and narrow-mindedness, nor hold Han Fei and Deng Xi accountable for harshness and deceit, but exclusively condemn our Tathāgata and disparage this Right Awakening. This is like being enraged at wind and waves and destroying the boat and oars! Nowadays, rebellious persons and worthless scoundrels deceive sovereign and parents above and betray their peers below; some do not fear manifest laws, yet suddenly fear the dark tribunals; dreading the fierceness of Yama and fearing the cruelty of Ox-Head, they then repent their defilements and evil, and transform themselves toward goodness. This is its benefit! Furthermore, the principle of sin and merit should not differ from worldly teachings nor run contrary to human nature. If there is one who serves his sovereign with loyalty, attends to his parents with pure filial piety, and acts with trust toward friends—if such a person, because of a single flaw, had his virtue obscured, was spurned, and merely because of harming an insect or fish were plunged into hell, this would certainly not be so. In loyalty, none surpassed Yi Yin; in filial piety, none was greater than Zeng Can. Lord Yi slaughtered an animal to feed Tang; Master Zeng cooked a bird to nourish Dian. If both were equally driven to boiling cauldrons and jointly pushed onto trees of blades, then great merit would be drowned by minor faults, and serving superiors would conflict with bestowing kindness on subordinates. In the past, when Mizi hijacked a carriage, he was still pardoned from execution because of broad righteousness. Alas, could one say that the Spiritual Master is inferior to the Lord of Wei? Therefore, one knows that this is a prevention against cruel men, not an admonition for benevolent men. If you can observe that the transgressions of those wayward people do not lie with the Buddha, discern that these fortunes and misfortunes are instructional expedients, resolve to extinguish the branches to honor the root without uprooting the root to exhaust the branches, and contemplate forgetting the self to propagate the Dharma rather than subordinating the Dharma to benefit the self—then though he may be called 'not a Buddha', I will surely call him a Buddha!